M.6.Q.NS.6

Extends the number line and the coordinate grid past zero, and most of the rest of the rational number work is read off it.

Not yet reviewed by a teacher

Builds on

Where to go for intervention

Grade 6

M.6.Q.NS.5Negative numbers get their meaning in situations first: above and below zero, credits and debits. This standard then puts them on the line.Explain how positive and negative numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values (e.g., temperature above/below zero, elevation above/below sea level, credits/debits, positive/negative electric charge); use positive and negative numbers to represent quantities in real-world contexts, explaining the meaning of 0 in each situation.

Grade 5

M.5.SR.G.1Perpendicular number lines, the origin and ordered pairs come from here. Grade 6 adds the three quadrants that hold negatives.Use a pair of perpendicular number lines, called axes, to define a coordinate system, with the intersection of the lines (the origin) arranged to coincide with the 0 on each line and a given point in the plane located by using an ordered pair of numbers, called its coordinates. Understand that the first number indicates how far to travel from the origin in the direction of one axis, and the second number indicates how far to travel in the direction of the second axis, with the convention that the names of the two axes and the coordinates correspond (e.g., x-axis and x-coordinate, y-axis and y-coordinate).M.5.SR.G.2PriorityStudents have graphed and read points in the first quadrant, in context.Represent real world and mathematical problems by graphing points in the first quadrant of the coordinate plane and interpret coordinate values of points in the context of the situation.M.5.Q.NBT.3PriorityPlacing a decimal on a line depends on reading and comparing decimals.Read, write, and compare decimals to thousandths.

Grade 3

M.3.R.NF.2PriorityWhere "a fraction is a number on the number line" starts. Grade 6 extends that same line past zero in the other direction.Understand a fraction as a number; and represent fractions on a number line diagram.

M.6.Q.NS.6

Priority

Understand a rational number as a point on the number line. Extend number line diagrams and coordinate axes familiar from previous grades to place any number (integer or rational, positive or negative) on the line (horizontal or vertical), and in the plane.

a.Understand opposite signs of numbers as indicating locations on opposite sides of 0 on the number line, and recognize that, in situations like -(-3), the opposite of the opposite of a number is the number itself (in this example, 3).
b.Understand signs of numbers in ordered pairs as indicating locations in quadrants of the coordinate plane; recognize that when two ordered pairs differ only by signs, the locations of the points are related by reflections across one or both axes.
c.Find and position integers and other rational numbers on a horizontal or vertical number line diagram; find and position pairs of integers and other rational numbers on a coordinate plane.

Common Core: 6.NS.C.6

Resources5 IM tasksWIDAOSPI

Illustrative Mathematics tasks5

1 more

Locations in the Coordinate Plane

From the Illustrative Mathematics task library, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

WIDA language connections1

Explain · Interpretivelistening, reading and viewing

ELD-MA.6-8.Explain.Interpretive · Language for Mathematics, Grades 6-8

Interpret mathematical explanations by…

Identifying concept or entity
Analyzing possible ways to represent and solve a problem

OSPI's example connections to the WIDA ELD Standards Framework. How to read these

From OSPI

Washington OER Hub · Free, openly licensed materials for M.6.Q.NS.6

Smarter Balanced interim assessment

Grade 6: Rational Number System I · Focused interim block, items 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 13*, 14*

A star marks an item aligned to Smarter Balanced claims 2, 3 or 4: problem solving, reasoning or modeling on this content.

On the SBA

PRISM's read

Mostly placing numbers on a line or grid and saying what a sign means. The starred items carry that into problem solving and reasoning.

Smarter Balanced target

Claim 1 (Concepts and Procedures), Target D: Apply and extend previous understandings of numbers to the system of rational numbers.

Major work of the grade, DOK 1, 2.

OSPI's interim connections

Grade 6: Rational Number System I · items 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 13*, 14*

A star marks an item aligned to Smarter Balanced claims 2, 3 or 4: problem solving, reasoning or modeling on this content.

Smarter Balanced publishes its claims and targets in its content specifications, written to the Common Core. A 2026 standard reaches them through OSPI's crosswalk. Check them before anything official.

Builds to

Where it goes next

Grade 6

M.6.Q.NS.7Order and absolute value are read directly off the number line this standard builds.Understand ordering and absolute value of positive and negative rational numbers.M.6.SR.NS.8PriorityPlacing points in four quadrants comes first. Solving problems with them and finding distances comes next.Solve real-world and mathematical problems by graphing points in all four quadrants of the coordinate plane. Include use of coordinates and absolute value to find distances between points with the same first coordinate or the same second coordinate.

Grade 7

M.7.Q.NS.1Adding and subtracting rational numbers is shown as movement on this same horizontal or vertical line.Efficiently, flexibly, and accurately apply and extend previous understandings of addition and subtraction to add and subtract rational numbers; represent addition and subtraction on a horizontal or vertical number line diagram.

Grade 8

M.8.Q.NS.2Irrational numbers later go on this same line, at approximate locations.Use rational approximations of irrational numbers to compare the size of irrational numbers, locate them approximately on a number line diagram, and estimate the value of expressions (e.g., π²).

Connects to

Taught alongside it, including its supporting standards.

M.6.R.EE.8Solutions to x > c and x < c are drawn on a number line diagram.Write an inequality of the form x > c or x < c to represent a constraint or condition in a real-world or mathematical problem. Recognize that inequalities of the form x > c or x < c have infinitely many solutions; represent solutions of such inequalities on number line diagrams.M.6.DA.SP.4Dot plots, histograms and box plots all sit on a number line.Display numerical data in plots on a number line, including dot plots, histograms, and box plots.