Where's Wilson?

Are your students learning how to graph ordered pairs of numbers in the first quadrant of the coordinate plane? My fifth graders are! 

Over the years, I've noticed this math skill is one of my students' favorites. They feel successful at it and they have a lot of fun with it. 

I found an awesome game that we played as a warm-up. The kids had so much fun that they requested to play it again. I even had a student ask me where I bought the game, so that she could have her mom buy it for her for Christmas! 

The game is called Where's Wilson? Here's a picture of what it looks like. You start from the center and look for Wilson's coordinates. It's kind of like the game of Dominoes. What I like most is that this game focuses on the first quadrant only, so this game was a perfect for us. 

Here are some ways to help your kids remember to graph the x-coordinate first and then, the y-coordinate:

1) X comes before Y in the alphabet!

2) You learn to crawl (go across x-axis) before you walk (go up y-axis). 

There's my share for the day. Here's a set of Coordinate Graphs Task Cards that covers the first quadrant only. Check it out here. 

If you are looking for Winter Coordinate Graphs Task Cards, here you go. Click here.