Coordinates Grid Games | Calendar Pieces | Free Printable
Coordinates Grid Games
These coordinates grid games activity gives students daily clues to draw a picture on a coordinate plane. The students will have to use vocabulary words such as parallel lines, y-axis and x-axis, perpendicular lines, and vertical to complete the picture.
You may want to teach the vocabulary before doing the activity.
February is official here, and today I wanted to share a new set of calendar pieces. They are pink and red to fit in with a Valentine’s Day theme, and all month long the students get to work on drawing a picture using a coordinate system and clues given daily.
Don’t be fooled thinking this is easy, though. Sometimes you will find that there are simple instructions like draw a point at (18,5).
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Coordinate System Interactive Game
More often than not the clues contain vocabulary words that will lead them to the point if followed correctly.
So what do your students need to know to complete the picture?
First, they must understand which is the x-axis and the y-axis. The x is the horizontal line on a coordinate system, while the y is the vertical line.
Secondly, they must know cardinal directions. In other words, how can you travel north, south, east, and west on a grid system?
Thirdly, you need to review or teach a set of vocabulary words. To complete this challenge they will need to know…
- Congruent – I always taught this as congruent starts with c and so does the word copy. Anything that is congruent has the exact same size and shape.
- Parallel – lines that will not intersect because they are the exact distance apart
- Perpendicular – lines that intersect to form right angles
- Vertical – a line that is north and south
- Horizontal – a line that is east to west
- Line segment – a part of a line that has two endpoints
Coordinate System Lesson
Before you get too far into the calendar, I would highly recommend letting the children explore a math dictionary. This site has kid-friendly definitions and there are cute activities for each vocabulary word.
This site also allows students to visually see what they are learning. I would simply give them the six words to learn and then let them write the definition and draw a picture. They could keep the definitions close by to help them as they work through the clues.
When the month is over, they should have a picture that looks like this.
Math Coordinates Exercises
Make sure you have the following to play this coordinate system game:
- card stock paper
- pocket calendar
- math journals for children to keep up with predictions
You may also be interested in more practice or an assessment for this skill. You can check it out at my TpT Store.
Need some other coordinate system lessons? Check out these awesome FREEBIES!
Coordinate Grid Games Printable
Below is the free coordinate system game printable. To download this printable, click on the download button, then save it to your device to print it.
