Two Games to Play in Algebra or Geometry

to Practice Coordinate Graphing

BATTLESHIP (to practice point plotting)

1. Sketch two coordinate systems on the board.

2. Divide the class into two teams.

3. Have each team 'hide' 4 ships of varying lengths in the given coordinate

system. The ships may be hidden diagonally, vertically, or horizontally –

but may not cross.

4. Then each team takes turns guessing the other side's ships.

Use open circles to mark misses, and closed circles to indicate hits.

5. The first team to sink all the opposing side's ships wins.

SINK THE SHIPS (to practice equations of lines)

1. Divide the class into two teams, and draw two coordinate

systems on the board (with -4 < x < 4 and -4 < y < 4 ).

2. In this game, I hide 3 ships for each team before class begins. The ships are

lines which contain at least three points with integer coordinates in the

given grid.

3. Then each side takes turns guessing either a point (like battleship), or, if

the person thinks he knows the location of one of the ships, he may guess the

equation of the line in the form x = xl or y = mx + b.

4. The first team to name all three lines wins.