Math in Motion

The Human Graph

Created by: Tiffany Short

Email: shorttc@jmu.edu
School: Montevideo Middle School

Date: February 26, 2008

Grade Level: 7

Subject(s):
- Locations coordinate plane.
- Locations of a point on the coordinate plane.

Duration: 45 minutes

Description:
Students will use movement to discover ideas and concepts about the coordinate plane.
This lesson will include many activities that will help promote a better understanding of
the coordinate plane, plotting points on the plane, and determining the location of a point.

Virginia Standards of Learning:

7.12 The student will identify and graph ordered pairs in the four quadrants of a
coordinate plane.

Objectives:
1. Identify the axes of the coordinate plane.
2. Identify the quadrants of the coordinate plane and in which quadrant an ordered
pair is positioned.
3. Find the appropriate placement on the coordinate plane given an ordered pair.

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Students will gain a better understanding of the following terms:

- Coordinate plane
- x-axis
- y-axis
- origin
- quadrant
- coordinates
- ordered pair

Materials:

- Tape to mark the floors with the coordinate plane.

- 2 spinners (Location, Movement)
- Music: Macarena, Cha Cha Slide
- Rope

Procedure:

1. Part A: The students will move to locations on the coordinate plane while moving to
the Macarena. The students will be shown a poster with positive and negative
coordinates [(+,-) , (-,-) , etc.] or quadrants and will move to the appropriate location.

Posters will display:

(+,+) (-,+) (-,-) (+,-)

Quad 1 Quad 2 Quad 3 Quad 4

Part B:
This is similar to Part A but the x-axis and y-axis will be introduced and the students will
move to the Cha Cha Slide.

X-axis Y-axis

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2. Game Time: This game will consist of two spinners. One telling the students what
location on the coordinate plane to travel to and the second that explains what kind of
movement to use to get to that location.

3. Limbo!: The students will locate a point by creating two intersecting perpendicular
lines to the number lines. A student will stand at a given point. A pair of students will
hold a rope parallel to the x-axis. Similarly, a second pair of students will hold a rope
parallel to the y-axis both intersecting at the given point. The remaining students will
now start at the origin and count how many steps along the x-axis to where the rope
intersects the x-axis and limbo at that intersection. Similarly, the students will find the y-
coordinate.

Activity for Assembly: There will be three groups of approximately 30 students. Each
group will focus on one of the previous exercises to present in the assembly.