Fact Practice to Introduce Graphing Linear Equations

Create a "fact practice" game that is self-correcting - they know they got the right answers if the answers all line up. And they learn graphing linear equations on the sly.

Make a Cartesian Coordinate System, just the first quadrant (positive/positive) if you are working with only positive numbers, all 4 quadrants if you include negative numbers. Make it nice and big, especially for the younger kids.


Make a stack of number cards so that two of the numbers would fit nicely at each point on the coordinate system. Make 6 or more of each number.



If the child is unfamiliar with finding points on a grid explain how it works. You can use games like battleship and cross word puzzles to teach them the basics. Explain for this grid that they will have 2 numbers and to find a point on the grid, go to the first number on the bottom and the second number on the side and find there they meet. Remind them that the first number is the "across" number and the second number is the "up/down" number. You may even want to write that on the grid somewhere.

Stack half of the number cards on the x-axis or bottom grid line. Put the ones cards at the first mark, the 2's at the second mark, the 3's at the third mark, etc. Do the same with the y-axis or vertical grid line.

Give your student one of the "problems". Then ask them to take any number from the bottom grid and put it into the first blank in the problem. Once they've solved the problem they will take a number from the vertical grid line and put it into the answer slot. Then take the two numbers (remembering which is first and which is second) and put them at their "point" on the coordinate system.

Repeat this process 3 or 4 times and they should see a "line" of solution points start to appear. If they get an answer that does not line up with the others, they know they've done it wrong.

Here is an example.
Problem:


The student chooses a 2 from the x-axis and puts it into the first box.
Then they read the equation 8 + 2 = and solve the equation, taking a 10 from the y-axis and putting it into the second box.

They then find the point on the grid that is (2,10) and put their number cards 2 and 10 at that point.

They repeat this process with the same equation using different numbers from the x-axis and different answers from the y-axis. Each time they find a "solution point" on the coordinate system it should line up with the other points.

While it may sound like a lot of prep work, it's worth the underlying principles they learn while playing the game.