Resources/Coordinate plane practice
Grades 5-6•Printable worksheet + answer key•CC0 license

Coordinate plane practice

A printable lesson for plotting points and quadrants.

Students identify coordinates, quadrants, and translations on a grid.

Print-ready worksheet with answer key and quick teaching tips.

Grades 5-60 problems10 minAnswer key included
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Ready-to-teach

Clear steps, examples, and practice in one printable page.

Misconception-proof

Highlights common mistakes and how to fix them quickly.

Open license

CC0: free to copy, adapt, and share without attribution.

Quick overview

This free coordinate plane worksheet for grades 5-6 helps students connect ordered pairs to real locations.

Lesson plan snapshot

12-18 min
  • Warm-up (3 min): review x-axis and y-axis.
  • Model (5 min): solve the worked example together.
  • Guided practice (4 min): complete problems 1-4 as a group.
  • Independent practice (6 min): finish the remaining problems.

Materials: graph paper, pencil

Learning targets

  • Write ordered pairs from verbal descriptions.
  • Identify which quadrant a point belongs to.
  • Describe translations on a coordinate grid.

Step-by-step approach

  1. 1Start at the origin (0, 0).
  2. 2Move along the x-axis first, then the y-axis.
  3. 3Use the signs of the coordinates to identify quadrants.
  4. 4Keep the order (x, y) consistent.

Common mistakes

Mistake

Switching the x and y coordinates.

Try instead

Move horizontally first (x), then vertically (y).

Mistake

Forgetting negative directions.

Try instead

Left/down means negative values.

Mistake

Mixing up quadrant names.

Try instead

Quadrant I is (+,+) and they go counterclockwise.

Worked example

Guided
A point is 3 units right and 2 units up from the origin. What is the coordinate?
  1. Move 3 units right on the x-axis.
  2. Move 2 units up on the y-axis.
  3. Write the ordered pair as (3, 2).
Answer: (3, 2)

Related resources

Integers

Practice with positive and negative numbers.

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Geometry

Shape properties and spatial reasoning.

View resource

Expressions

Support graphing with variable expressions.

View resource

Practice problems

10 problems • 15 min

Printable worksheet
  1. 1
    What is the distance between 0 and 2 on a number line?
    -10123
  2. 2
    Which quadrant is the point (4,−6)(4, -6) in?
  3. 3
    What is the distance between -4 and -2 on a number line?
    -5-4-3-2-1
  4. 4
    Which quadrant is the point (−6,−6)(-6, -6) in?
  5. 5
    Which quadrant is the point (2,−2)(2, -2) in?
  6. 6
    What is the distance between 2 and 4 on a number line?
    12345
  7. 7
    Which quadrant is the point (−4,−6)(-4, -6) in?
  8. 8
    Find the distance between (2, 4) and (2, 8).
    12345
  9. 9
    What is the distance between -4 and 0 on a number line?
    -5-4-3-2-101
  10. 10
    Find the distance between (1, 0) and (1, 10).
    -1012

Answer key

10 answers
  1. 11) 2
  2. 22) Quadrant IV
  3. 33) 2
  4. 44) Quadrant III
  5. 55) Quadrant IV
  6. 66) 2
  7. 77) Quadrant III
  8. 88) 4
  9. 99) 4
  10. 1010) 10

Teacher tips

  • TUse graph paper so students can plot points accurately.
  • TRepeat the phrase “x first, y second.”
  • TConnect coordinates to maps or games.

Parent tips

  • PPlay battleship to practice coordinates.
  • PAsk your child to locate points on graph paper.
  • PUse a number line to explain negative values.

Open license

You are free to copy, adapt, and share these materials. No attribution required. Released under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (public domain).