Grid References and Directions: a week of ready-to-teach maths

Five days of lessons for Year 4 Space. Print this pack and the week is prepared: each day has a one-page plan and a student worksheet, plus cut-out move cards, a park map, a mini-check and every answer.

Start here: five minutes to Monday

1. Skim the week at a glance on the next page.
2. Print the five days. Each day is two A4 sheets: a plan and a worksheet.
3. Print a park map per child for Days 2 to 4, and cut out the move cards once for Day 4.
4. Open the free interactive unit on your board. Every plan tells you which picture to show and which buttons to press.
5. Teach straight from the plan. Timings, talk prompts, misconceptions and answers are all on the one page.

No maths background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each plan explains the idea in plain words, lists the misconceptions children bring, and gives the answers. A grid reference names one square of a grid by its column letter and its row number, so B3 is the square where column B and row 3 meet. Compass directions and turns say which way to move, and a pathway is a list of moves from square to square.

One day, one lesson

The five lessons fill a week of maths, one lesson of about 50 minutes a day. Run them in order: each day stands on the one before. Every plan marks a split point if your timetable runs two shorter sessions.

Letters along the bottom, numbers up the side

In this pack, as in the interactive unit, the columns are lettered along the bottom from the left and the rows are numbered up the side from the bottom, and a reference gives the letter first. North is up the page. Some street directories number their rows from the top; the idea is the same, so say which way a map runs before reading it.

The week at a glance

One lesson a day for a week. Each day stands on the day before, so run them in order.

How the week builds

Day 1 reads and writes grid references, and Day 2 uses them on a map. Day 3 adds compass directions and turns, and Day 4 joins references and directions into pathways. Day 5 turns readers into makers: children put their own grid on a plan and write directions across it. It builds on describing position and following directions in earlier years.

Materials for the week (one trip)

• From the classroom: coloured pencils, scissors, a counter or small object per child, and this pack printed.
• Optional: a compass to find north in the classroom, and masking tape to make a grid on the floor.
• Print once, use all week: the park map, one per child. Cut out once: the move cards.

Words for the word wall

grid, column, row, grid reference, square, map, north, south, east, west, compass, quarter turn, half turn, left, right, direction, pathway

Dear families

This week in maths, Year 4 learns to find places on a map by grid references such as B3, and to describe a route with directions: 2 squares north, then 1 square east.

Try this at home

• Look at a map with a grid, such as a street directory or a park map. Find a place by its letter and number.
• Play a guessing game on squared paper: hide a treasure in a square and answer guesses with north, south, east or west.
• Find north at home. Face it, then make a quarter turn right. Which way do you face now?
• Give each other directions to walk across a room: 3 steps forward, a quarter turn left, 2 steps forward.

Grid references I used this week

Fill one row a day. Write a place and its grid reference, or a pathway you followed.

Printed from the free seegongsik Grid References and Directions teaching pack · seegongsik.com/au/y4/space/AC9M4SP02/pack

A letter and a number

A grid reference names one square: the column letter first, then the row number. B3 is the square where column B, along the bottom, meets row 3, up the side. Children find squares from their references by colouring a hidden picture, then work the other way and write the reference of the square each mark is in.

We are learning to

• find the square for a grid reference,
• write the grid reference of a square,
• say why the letter always comes first.

Success criteria

• I can find any square from its grid reference.
• I can write the grid reference of a square, letter first.

You need

Yellow, brown and red pencils. The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 50 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? Split after Part A; start Session B with Part B.

Watch for these ideas

• Reading the row first: writing 3B, or looking for row B.
• Counting the rows down from the top instead of up from the bottom.
• Pointing to a line of the grid instead of the square between the lines.

Answers

A letter and a number

A. Colour each square. What picture appears?

B. Write the grid reference of the square each mark is in.

A map by grid references

On a grid map every place sits in a square, so its grid reference tells anyone where to find it. Children use the park map to name the squares that places are in, to find what is in a given square, and to add new places to the map. Adding places is how a map is made, not only read.

We are learning to

• find a place on a map from its grid reference,
• give the grid reference of a place on a map,
• add a place to a map in a given square.

Success criteria

• I can say which square a place on the map is in.
• I can draw a new place in the square I am given.

You need

The park map (cut-out sheet 2), one per child, kept for Days 2 to 4. The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 50 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? Split after Part B; start Session B by drawing on the map.

Watch for these ideas

• Looking for a place on a line between squares: every place is inside one square.
• Saying the row before the column.
• Losing count of the columns: run a finger up from the letter.

Answers

• Part A: the gum tree B5, the pond D4, the campfire E6, the ranger hut F1, the kangaroo F4. Part B: B3 the picnic table, D1 the bike rack, A6 the bus stop, E3 the flower bed.
• Part C: a bin in C3 and a seat in C5; column C had no places before. Part D: the gate, the bike rack, the ranger hut.

A map by grid references

A. Use your park map. Write the grid reference of each place.

B. What is in each square?

C. Draw on your map: a bin in C3 and a seat in C5.

D. Which three places are in row 1?

Directions and turns

Compass directions name the way to go: north is up the map, south is down, east is right and west is left. A turn changes the way you face: a quarter turn right from north faces east, and a half turn faces the opposite way. Children label a compass, work out turns, name the direction from one place to another on the park map, and play a treasure hunt answered with directions.

We are learning to

• name north, south, east and west on a map,
• work out which way we face after a quarter or a half turn,
• name the direction from one square to another.

Success criteria

• I can say which way I face after a turn.
• I can name the direction from one place to another on a map.

You need

A sign saying north on one classroom wall (a compass shows where), and the park maps. The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 50 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? Split after Part B; start Session B with the map directions.

Watch for these ideas

• Mixing up east and west. On a map, W and E read left to right like the word we.
• Thinking a turn right always means facing east.
• Thinking north is always up, even on a map whose arrow points another way.

Answers

• Part A: E on the right, S at the bottom, W on the left. Part B: east, west, east, north, west, south.
• Part C: the pond to the bike rack, south; the gate to the bike rack, east; the picnic table to the gum tree, north; the kangaroo to the pond, west. Part D: answers vary.

Directions and turns

C. Use your park map. Which way do you go?

D. Treasure hunt

Draw a cross in a secret square of your treasure grid. Take turns to guess a square by its grid reference. Answer with the way to the treasure, such as “north and east”, until it is found.

Follow a pathway

A pathway is a list of moves: 2 squares north, then 1 square east. Following it move by move, and naming the square after each move, keeps track of where you are. Children follow pathways on the park map, write their own, find a way round a place, and play a pathway race with the move cards.

We are learning to

• follow a pathway of moves and name the square where it ends,
• write a pathway from one place to another,
• find a different pathway to the same place.

Success criteria

• I can follow a pathway and say where it ends.
• I can write a pathway that someone else can follow.

You need

The park maps, the move cards (cut-out sheet 1), one set per pair, and a counter per child. The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 50 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? Split after Part B; start Session B with the way round the bike rack.

Watch for these ideas

• Counting the starting square as the first square moved.
• Moving the right number of squares the wrong way, north for south.
• Writing a pathway with numbers but no directions.

Answers

• Part A: from the gate, B3, the picnic table; from the ranger hut, D4, the pond; from the bus stop, B5, the gum tree; from the bike rack, E3, the flower bed.
• Part B: one way is 3 squares east, then 1 square north, 4 squares; going north first works too. Part C: one way is 1 square north, then 5 squares east, then 1 square south, along the empty row 2. Part D: answers vary.

Follow a pathway

A. Follow each pathway on your map. Where does it end?

B. Write a pathway from the gum tree to the campfire. How many squares does it move?

C. Write a pathway from the gate to the ranger hut that does not go through the bike rack.

D. Pathway race: write the square you land on after each card.

Make a grid map

A plan has no grid references until someone draws a grid and names its columns and rows. Children label a playground plan with letters along the bottom and numbers up the side, give each thing a grid reference, add new things, and write a pathway for a partner. This is creating a grid reference system, not only reading one.

We are learning to

• put a grid reference system on a plan,
• give each thing on the plan a grid reference,
• write a pathway for someone else to follow.

Success criteria

• I can label a grid with letters along the bottom and numbers up the side.
• I can write a pathway that my partner can follow.

You need

A pencil and a counter each. The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 50 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? Split after Part B; start Session B with the new things.

Watch for these ideas

• Numbering the rows from the top, so every reference comes out wrong.
• Putting the letters up the side and the numbers along the bottom.
• Writing a pathway that runs off the plan.

Answers

• Part A: A to E along the bottom from the left, 1 to 5 up the side from the bottom. Part B: the gate A1, the shady tree B4, the picnic table D2, the ball court E5, the bike rack C1, the sandpit D4.
• Part C: a bin in E1 and a tap in A3. Part D: answers vary; one pathway from the gate to the sandpit is 3 squares north, then 3 squares east.

Make a grid map

A. Label the columns A to E along the bottom and the rows 1 to 5 up the side.

D. Write a pathway from the gate to the sandpit. Swap with a partner and follow theirs.

Move cards

One set per pair, for the Day 4 pathway race. Cut out the sixteen cards, shuffle them and stack them face down.

Teacher note: each player starts at the gate (A1). On your turn, take a card, move your counter and say the square you land in. A move that would leave the map is missed. Landing on a place scores a point; after six cards each, the most points wins.

The park map

One per child, kept for Days 2 to 4. It is also the board for the Day 4 pathway race. North is up the page.

What we know: Grid References and Directions

Answers and marking guide

Answers

1. D2.
2. A dot inside the square in column B, row 4.
3. west.
4. east.
5. D4.
6. north: the letter stays the same and the number grows.
7. The letter: the column first, then the row, so that everyone reads a reference the same way.
8. One way: 3 squares east, then 2 squares north. Going north first is right too.

A quick three-level guide

Eight questions, three ideas. A child at standard finds and writes grid references letter first, names directions and turns, and follows and writes pathways of moves.

Weekly class record

Jot a tick as you move around the room; the mini-check fills any gaps. A tick a day is plenty.

The five columns are the five days: references, the map, directions and turns, pathways, and making a grid map.