Labeling x and y axes for 4th graders.

Question

This may be a pedantic question but it was really bothering me during the lesson I taught 4th graders today. We are introducing them to the coordinate plane and locating shapes at given ordered pairs. The question/issue I have is that many of the example materials were labeling the graph lines on the axes by only labeling every OTHER line with whole numbers. Secondly they sometimes labeled the lines as 1/2, 1 1/2, etc (while still skipping lines so there were unwritten quarters). Outside of radians, I do not recall ever seeing an axis labeled with anything other than whole numbers, is this acceptable to do? Also is it acceptable to skip lines? It makes no sense for a child looking for a point or shape at (1,2) has to count over 2 and up 4 to get there. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive but I always remember whole numbers 0-N being the only thing written on the graph lines. If a coordinate called for (1.5,2) that just meant the point was halfway between 1 and 2 in the x direction..... Input math experts??

Answer 1

Hey Donald,

 

It is perfectly okay to have halves and quarters on the axes. In fact it is okay to have any fraction on either axes. That is not a problem. However, I do agree that it may not be the best idea to present that to fourth grade students. There are numerous websites where you can print custom graph grids if you do not want to use the grids (I assume) printed in the book you are using. You can also use MS Word to make your own custom graph grids.

 

Hope this helps.