It may not sound all that exciting to you, but any time my kids have the opportunity to be outside learning, they take it.įor example, you might say the number pairs (2,5), (3,5), (4,5). You call out coordinates and have your child place the wadded up paper into the holes in the fence. You need a chain link fence and wadded up paper (tissue paper works great!). I was looking into our backyard, and that’s when it hit me.
This last activity is one that I came up with when looking out my window as my son was learning about coordinate planes. This is such an exciting way to practice this skill, and the best part is, you are legitimately learning while playing!! Hooray for fun.
To begin, you say a letter and a number (A-2) and the other person says “Hit!” or “Miss!” Then depending on your opponent’s answer, you plan your attack. The whole point of the game is to take “shots” at your opponents’ ships in an effort to sink his fleet based on location points on a grid. This may come as a surprise to you, but the game Battleship is coordinate graphing in game form. It is so much fun to play, and we highly recommend it! Battleship The players must always be thinking of how each 4 in a row can come to be. However, each time a disc is placed, the game intensifies. While you don’t have a specifically labeled x-axis and y-axis, you must understand the concept of “over and up” before placing your disc to guarantee a win.Ĭonnect 4 is a game of strategy, and neither player has an advantage over the other. There are seven columns and six rows for the discs to be placed in. The premise is that you want to have 4 of your discs in a row before your opponent. This game is ideal for introducing the concept of coordinate graphs. While there are many games that use a grid pattern for play (think checkers and chess), two games are perfect for practicing the skill of coordinate graphing. So, now the only question you need to ask is, how can I make learning this skill fun? I am so glad you asked! Engaging Graphing Activities Trust me, they’ll understand at this point, and they can thank me later. Finally, and possibly most importantly, say, “You will want to know how the “over and up” of coordinate graphing works if you want to master Tetris.”.
#COORDINATE GRAPH HOW TO#
Say, “If you ever want to live on your own or travel anywhere, you need to know how to read a map…in case your GPS quits working and you have a detour.” Then refer to #1 for a more thorough explanation.If not, I hope you enjoy eating sand.” Then you can remind them that this skill helps them understand longitude and latitude. Say, “If you ever get lost in the middle of a desert, you will hope and pray that the person looking for you knows and understands coordinates.So, I have concocted constructed 3 quality answers that will encourage them to love coordinate graphs.
Now that we’ve reviewed what coordinate graphs actually are, we need to have answers ready for the inevitable “why do I need to know this?” The way you answer this loaded question will either help your child learn to love this skill or just blow it off as another useless piece of information. When you break it down like that, it’s so much easier to recall! When Will I Ever Need to Know This? This is the same as remembering to start at the /x/ axis first, and then the /y/ axis. Go “over” (because /o/ comes first in the alphabet) and then “up” (because /u/ comes second). If you can remember the phrase “over and up,” you will be plotting coordinate points correctly in no time!! In the alphabet, the letter /x/ comes before /y/, and the letter /o/ comes before /u/. My son had difficulty with this, so I taught him a little trick. However, if you struggle remembering whether to start on the x-axis or the y-axis, coordinate plotting can become your nemesis. This skill isn’t that difficult if you understand the starting point is the x-axis (or the horizontal line) and the y-axis (the vertical line) is the end point. A coordinate graph, or a coordinate plane, is simply a grid with points on it.