Explore the Cartesian Plane by Plotting Coordinates

Plotting coordinates on a Cartesian plane is an important skill for year 6 students to know. If you need an engaging activity to help your students with this concept, we have you covered! Teach Starter has created a match-up activity for your students to practise plotting coordinates and describing the process for graphing on the Cartesian plane.  

This resource includes:

• Instructional page
• 36 matching cards
• Recording sheet
• Answer key

To complete this activity, students must match three cards: the coordinates, the Cartesian plane with the plotted point, and the written description of the point’s location on the grid. Students then record their responses on the answer sheet provided.

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

If you have a mixture of above and below-level learners, check out these suggestions for keeping students on track: 

🆘 Support Struggling Students

Provide a dry-erase Cartesian plane for students to plot the coordinates before searching for matches. Include completed examples and notes about the vocabulary, such as x-coordinate and y-coordinate. Remove a few matches to make fewer sets.

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

For students needing a challenge, ask them to create various shapes on the Cartesian plane and name the locations of the vertices. Also, the resource can be modified to include decimal amounts in the coordinates.

What are Coordinates?

Here is a convenient definition for you and your students:

Written inside parentheses, coordinates are two values separated by a comma, that show an x and y value. This can then be plotted on a Cartesian plane by placing a dot at the intersection of the two values.

For example, looking at (4,6) shows that the x-coordinate value is 4, and the y-coordinate is 6. To plot this coordinate on a cartesian plane, simply move across the x-axis to the location of 4 and then move vertically along the y-axis to the location of 6.

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or editable Google Slides format of this resource. Both colour and black-and-white versions are available. 

Longevity Tip: Print on cardboard and laminate for added durability. 

This resource was created by Lorin Davies, a teacher and a Teach Starter Collaborator. 

Ready for More?

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more Cartesian plane and coordinate pair activities and resources that cut down on lesson planning time:

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Practise graphing on the Cartesian plane with this set of differentiated mystery pictures.

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Cartesian Planes and Graphing – Vocabulary Cards

Introduce cartesian planes to your students with this set of 18 vocabulary cards.

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Equations, Tables, and Graphs, Oh My! – Differentiated Worksheets

Use these differentiated worksheets to practise using equations to create patterns within input-output tables and graphs.