Position and Direction - Move on a Grid - Planning

In the Year 4 summer curriculum focused on Position and Direction, students embark on a journey to understand how to move shapes and points across a coordinate grid. The key learning outcome for the week involves mastering the concept of 'Move on a Grid'. To facilitate this learning, a variety of resources are provided, including worksheets, a presentation, and physical cubes. The key vocabulary for this lesson encompasses terms such as 'shape', 'point', 'coordinate', 'moving', 'left', 'right', 'up', 'down', 'coordinates', 'vertex', and 'translate'. These terms are essential for students to accurately describe movements on a grid and to understand the process of translation of shapes and points.

The lesson begins with a practical activity where students use a small cube to visually and physically experience moving a point on a grid, following directions such as 'left', 'right', 'up', and 'down'. This hands-on approach helps solidify their understanding of coordinates and the concept of translation. Further activities involve translating specific points and shapes, recording their original and new coordinates, and discussing the translations with partners. A game and reasoning exercises encourage students to think critically about the process and to describe translations in reverse. The lesson aims to address common misconceptions, such as confusing directions, and concludes with a reflective 'Give me five' activity where students evaluate what they've learned, the skills they've used, and what they found challenging. Differentiated worksheets allow students to work at varying levels of depth, from making basic translations to providing common descriptions for certain points.