Give this before the unit. It doesn't test the coordinate plane itself. It checks the earlier skills it builds on, so you can see who is ready and what to review first. It isn't meant to be graded. The answer key, with what each part tells you and how to reteach it, prints on its own page after it.
Pre-Assessment: Getting Ready for the Coordinate Plane
Before we start: the coordinate plane is a map with two number lines, so you can find any spot with two numbers. This page shows what you already know about number lines and finding places. It's fine if some of it is new. Try every question, and after each part circle how sure you feel.
Part A: Number lines 2.MD.B.6, 3.NF.A.2
1. What numbers are at A and B?
A = B =
2. Mark and label C = 5 and D = 8½ on the number line.
How sure do you feel? Not yetA littleI've got it
Part B: Lines 4.G.A.1
3. Which pair of lines is perpendicular (they cross at a right angle, like a plus sign)?
A
B
C
Answer:
How sure do you feel? Not yetA littleI've got it
Part C: Finding a spot readiness
4. Rows are counted from the stage. Seats are counted from the left. Which row and seat is the yellow seat?
Row Seat
5. Does “Row 2, Seat 5” take you to the same seat as “Row 5, Seat 2”? Why does the order matter?
How sure do you feel? Not yetA littleI've got it
Part D: Numbers below zero 6.NS.C.5
6. The thermometer shows a temperature below 0. Which is colder: −5° or 3°?
7. Mark and label E = −3 and F = 2.
8. What number is the opposite of 4 (the same distance from 0, on the other side)?
Getting Ready for the Coordinate Plane · for the teacher
A = 3, B = 7
C at 5; D halfway between 8 and 9.
B
Row 2, Seat 5
No. Row 2, Seat 5 and Row 5, Seat 2 are different seats, so the order matters, just like (x, y) on a grid.
−5° is colder.
E 3 to the left of 0; F 2 to the right of 0.
−4
What each part tells you
Part
Why it matters for this unit
If many students miss it
A: Number lines
The x-axis and y-axis are two number lines.
Walk a number line taped on the floor before graphing.
B: Lines
The axes are perpendicular number lines that cross at 0.
Draw a plus sign and label the center 0.
C: Finding a spot
An ordered pair is like a row and seat: two numbers in a fixed order.
Seat students by “row, seat” tickets, then switch to (x, y).
D: Below zero
Grade 6 uses all four quadrants, with negative coordinates.
Thermometers and elevators with basements; play the first-quadrant levels of the game first.
Reading the results: grade 5 students only need Parts A to C to start (first quadrant); Part D tells grade 6 teachers who is ready for all four quadrants. Compare the “How sure do you feel?” circles with the answers: a student who circles “I've got it” but misses the part is worth a quick conversation.