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YEAR: 5 UNIT: 2 TOPIC: GRID REFERENCE
Blast Activities M1‐M5:
SYSTEMS
Use the ‘generic Blast lesson format’ for the problems. The following information and
prompts are provided for additional support.
Blast activity M1: Conventions for maps
Preparation:
Have a variety of maps available for students to examine prior to beginning this activity (see
introduction below).
Teaching Tips:
Introduction: Give students a variety of maps to work with and ask them to find all of the things that
are common to the maps. Hopefully they will find the conventions that are specified in this activity.
Following the introduction, students work on the Blasts page. This activity is likely to be completed
very quickly.
Follow up and application:
Read maps, orient directions and apply scale.
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M1. Conventions for maps
TR p139
Maps are drawn using conventions. Look at the map below. Find the
conventions that are listed, and number them on the map. Describe their
purpose on the lines beneath.
Conventions to find:
1. Faces North
2. Compass point
3. Key
4. Scale
N 5. Grid references
How do you think these are used?
1. Orientation to North:
2. Compass Point:
3. Key:
4. Scale:
5. Grid references:
Why do you think conventions are used on maps?
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Blast activity M3: Locate points of interest on maps
Teaching Tips:
Watch for students who give the reference as number, letter rather than letter, number. Allow
students to debate the grid references of points of interest as it is useful to realise that smaller,
more specific references are needed.
Follow up and application:
Use a real map with alpha‐numeric references to locate points of interest. Street directories and
atlases generally use this format.
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M3. Locate points of interest on maps
TR p140
Use the grid references to give answers for the questions about the
following map.
N
Questions:
1. Give the grid reference (letter, number) for the hospital:
2. Place another church at F 2.
3. What is at the grid reference I 6?
4. Place another Hospital at E 8. What problem does this cause?
5. If you were standing at the Railway station, facing North and you turned a quarter turn
clockwise, what would you be facing?
6. If you were standing at J 6, which direction would you have to go in to reach the golf
course?
Backwards Question:
What is at grid reference 7 G? Explain your answer:
If I was standing at the post office how would I get to the church in the top right corner of
the map?
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Blast activity M4: Use simple scale to create maps
Preparation:
This activity will take a considerable amount of time to complete. Consider whether using the library
is appropriate for your students. One of the advantages of a library is that most of the angles are
90o. You will need measuring instruments for this activity, but will require cm grid paper and rulers.
Students use the scale 1m = 1cm.
Teaching Tips:
Mark your grid with alphanumeric references before giving it to students. Choose a point on the grid
to represent one of the corners of library, and measure the lengths from there. Draw the outline of
the library to start with then fill in the details.
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M4. Use simple scale to create maps
TR p140
Your principal wants to create a map of your library because they are
considering upgrading the building as your school grows. The principal has
given the job of making the map to your class. Use the scale 1cm = 1m.
Things you will need to include on your map:
1. All car parking spaces clearly marked
2. The gates, roads and driveways
3. Any garden beds
4. A grid reference system, north point and scale, but you do not need to orient the map to
face north.
Create a straight-line path going in the front door, around the fiction section, to the
references and back out again. What is the perimeter of the path? Give directions so
someone else could follow it.
Backwards Question:
If each square centimetre represented 2m instead of 1m, how many squares long would your
map need to be?
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Section M: Location, direction and movement
These parts of the scope and sequence require an Investigation to adequately address. The
following Journal problems and Blast activities only provide a starting place.
Journal Problems: 15, 33, 35
Use the ‘generic Journal lesson format’ for the Journal problems. The following information
and prompts are provided for additional support.
Problem 15 – see section H page 113
Problem 33 – see section E page 96
Journal problem 35: Directions of turn and compass points
Introduction:
Note that the novel problem actually starts on the second page of this activity.
This activity will probably require some students to stand up and turn around. Other students will be
able to visualise without this step being necessary. You should have an analogue clock handy for
students who get confused by ‘clockwise’ and ‘anticlockwise’. You may also wish to draw the
diagram provided onto butchers’ paper for students to stand on and turn.
You will need: a compass, string, measuring instruments and tape for the novel problem.
Leading questions:
Initial understanding:
 What would turning a half turn do if you were facing South? Where would you be facing after
the turn? Did she turn around all the way? How much did she turn? So would she be facing
south again?
 Provide students with paper to stand on or names of the directions pinned to your classroom
walls to try and work it out by really turning.
 Ok let’s work this out together. Stand here and face this shape. Now turn to face this other
shape. What you just did is called a half turn. So if you started out facing this wall and made a
half turn, where would you be facing? Now a quarter turn is less than a half turn. Let’s work out
what it is (repeat for appropriate directions).
Novel problem:
 Which way is North on the compass? So which way would South be? Can you line this string up
to show me which direction it is? Now let’s just check by placing the compass along the string.
Does it line up? What do we need to do?
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Teaching Tips:
Support students: Start with signs on the walls in your classroom that say North, East, South and
West and progress to visualising after physically moving half turns and quarter turns.
Extension students:
 Use an eight point compass.
 Give students a simple grid drawing of a shopping centre which they have to give directions
around to match a story (e.g. Teacher says I entered the shops and went straight to the post
office – student determines distance and directions to get there). Have a mystery hiding place
for treasure, and have students give directions for how to find the treasure (as simple as
possible, then adding in a loop or repeat or reverse, and then requiring multiple stops before
you get there).
Follow up ideas:
Repeat in different locations (e.g. outside with school building, mountain, tree and street forming
the turns). Complete Blast activities M2 and M5 after this problem.
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Problem 35: Directions of Turn and Compass Points
TR p138
You have previously used turns to describe direction. In this
activity you will learn how these relate to compass points.
Degrees of turn:
Look at the picture below and the instructions given.
See if you can work out how the directions, North, South, East and West are
related to each other using turns.
North
West East
South
Jeanne is is facing North
• She turns a half-turn. This means that she is facing South.
Jeanne is is facing North
• She turns a quarter-turn clockwise. This means that she is facing East.
Jeanne is is facing North
• She turns a quarter-turn anticlockwise. This means that she is facing West.
How are quarter and half turns related to the directions North, South, East and West?
Questions:
1. If Jeanne starts by facing the South and turns a half-turn, which direction is she facing?
2. If Jeanne starts by facing the East and turns a quarter-turn clockwise, which direction is she
facing?
3. If Jeanne starts by facing the West and turns a half-turn, and then a quarter-turn
anticlockwise, and then another half-turn, which direction is she facing?
Further information:
A compass works by having a magnetised needle inside that always points North. The body of
the compass can be rotated to align with the needle. Your teacher will now give you a compass
to use for the instructions and questions that follow.
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Questions:
1. Align your compass so that the needle is on the N (for North). What in your classroom is
North?
2. Starting from North, what do you need to do to face the South?
3. What in your classroom is South?
4. Starting from North, what do you need to do to face the East?
5. What in your classroom is East?
6. Starting from North, what do you need to do to face the West?
7. What in your classroom is West?
Novel Problem:
Use string to create a line that runs from North to South across you classroom, and another that
runs from East to West. Using what you have learned about N, S, E and W and turns, give
directions from your classroom door to the front door of the office. Use ‘paces’ to give the
length, and turns to give the direction. Make sure that you don’t run into anything!
Communicating:
How did you come up with your solution to the novel problem? What did you do to solve the
problem?
Teacher initials:
Date:
Problem solving / T&R:
o Problem solved with minimal or
non-mathematical prompting
o Some leading questions were used
to prompt thinking
o Solved after explanation
o Did not work out solution
Understanding: o N/A- not a novel problem
Why are compass points important for describing directions? Reasoning / Comm.:
(verbal, written, working and
What would happen if we could not describe direction? equations, or visual
representations)
o Clearly and logically reasoned
o Easily understood
o Understood with some
interpretation needed
o Some gaps but on topic
o Minimal or off topic
Understanding / Reflect:
o Connected novel problems to
previous questions and answered
easily
o Connected novel problems to
previous questions with some
prompting, and answered correctly
o Answered once the similarities to
previous questions had been
pointed out
o Had some problems in answers but
was on the right track
o Did not answer appropriately
o Student not observed
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Blast activity M2: Compass points and degrees of turn
Preparation:
Students will need protractors. This activity is likely to be completed very quickly.
Teaching Tips:
Students should be able to measure the angles to work out that each angle is 90o, so successive
angles are 90o, 180o, 270o and then 360o is back to North.
Follow up and application:
Work out which way is North in your school, and which direction you would travel to head towards
your house.
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M2. Compass points and degrees of turn
TR p139
Look at the compass points below. Starting from North, measure the
degrees in a clockwise direction for East, South and West. Write these on the
compass.
North
West East
South
Describe the relationship between the compass points and degrees of turn:
Backwards Question:
If I am now facing West after having completed a quarter turn clockwise, what direction
was I originally facing?
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Blast activity M5: Giving directions game
Preparation:
This activity will probably take several lessons to complete. You will need to set up an obstacle
course and then let students move around the course to write their directions. You will need blind
folds for the testing phase.
Teaching Tips:
Make sure that students are aware of what quarter and half turns are before you begin (see Journal
problem 35). Students are likely to take much larger steps without blindfolds than with them, so
make sure that you discuss this before they begin writing directions.
Support students: Cut down the number of obstacles to two, or have them follow a path that you
have already laid out. This reduces the complexity but still requires accuracy in direction and
distance.
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M5. Giving directions game
TR p140
Your class is going to set up an obstacle course, and you are going to
create directions for someone to find buried treasure.
Your job is to write directions for someone other than you to get around three obstacles on
your obstacle course and then find your buried treasure.
Write your directions using metres distance and N, S, E and W for directions.
Obstacles I am going to direct someone around:
My directions:
What worked well? What did I struggle with?
Backwards Question:
If the person had misread the compass and thought that North was East, where would they
have ended up?
© Tierney Kennedy Back-to-Front Maths Blasts Book