In this 40-day module, students develop a coordinate system for the first quadrant of the coordinate plane and use it to solve problems. Students use the familiar number line as an introduction to the idea of a coordinate, and they construct two perpendicular number lines to create a coordinate system on the plane. Students see that just as points on the line can be located by their distance from 0, the plane's coordinate system can be used to locate and plot points using two coordinates. They then use the coordinate system to explore relationships between points, ordered pairs, patterns, lines and, more abstractly, the rules that generate them. This study culminates in an exploration of the coordinate plane in real world applications. VDOE supported resource guides students through identifying coordinates and plotting points.

This lesson integrates computer science through discovering graphing on a coordinate plane for 6th graders all the way to a review for 8th graders with extensions that include slope.

Students will first follow a set of instructions in a buddy-programming setting, then create a game in which sprites move to specific coordinates to capture food items. Then, pairs will use pair-share-think to offer feedback on other games and compare/contrast programming blocks. 

Identifying coordinates of a point and graphing ordered pairs Mathematics Instructional Plans (MIPs) help teachers align instruction with the Mathematics Standards of Learning (SOL) by providing examples of how the knowledge, skills and processes found in the SOL and curriculum framework can be presented to students in the classroom.