Lesson 1: Build the coordinate brief

Make a four-quadrant planning model whose origin, scale and coordinates another person can verify.

Learning intention and success evidence

We are learning to represent a planning situation in all four quadrants with an explicit origin, scale and units.

Preparation

Print: learner pack page L1. Provide: ruler and coloured pencil. Before class: draw axes from −12 to 12 on the board. State that every site and coordinate is fictional classroom data, not a map of Hamilton Zoo.

60-minute runsheet

  1. Whakaoho — coordinate diagnostic (5 min): plot A(3,−2), B(−4,1) and C(0,5). Learners write quadrant or axis beside each.
  2. Explicit model — a trustworthy planning grid (10 min): model axes, equal intervals, scale 1 unit = 10 m, and origin at the fictional visitor hub. Deliberately plot one point with x/y reversed; invite learners to falsify it.
  3. Guided construction (15 min): learners plot Gate G(−10,−6), Habitat H(−6,5), Wetland W(4,8), Clinic C(8,−4) and Hub O(0,0). Pairs read each other's plot aloud as x first, then y.
  4. Planning test (20 min): add two candidate rest areas R₁(−2,7) and R₂(6,2). Annotate one advantage and one limitation of each location using only coordinate evidence.
  5. Peer verification (7 min): cover the coordinate list. A partner recovers the coordinates for H and C from the graph and initials the two that agree.
  6. Exit evidence (3 min): complete: “If I move the origin two units east, the coordinate of W becomes ___ because ___.” Answer: (2,8).

Kaiako checkpoints

Curriculum relationship

This lesson builds the coordinate-plane fluency required before the Phase 4 distance, transformation and linear-graph statements taught in Lessons 2–4. It does not claim a separate curriculum quotation merely for plotting points.