Year 4 Teaching Sequence spring S2 – Position and direction (two days)
Prerequisites:
 Read and record the language of position, direction and movement (see Year 3 spring teaching sequence S2 and oral
and mental starter bank S2)
 Use the four compass directions to describe movement about a grid (see Year 3 spring teaching sequence S2 and oral
and mental starter bank S2)
Overview of progression:
Children learn how to identify the locations of squares on a grid (e.g. A3). They learn the eight compass points, practise
identifying objects in these directions and then move on to give directions involving these eight compass points.
Note that squares are identified on a grid, rather than coordinates (where lines intersect) in this sequence.
Note that there are obviously links to be made with geography in this sequence!
Watch out for children who associate moving west with moving left, east with moving right, north with moving forwards and
south with moving backwards, not realising that these are fixed directions, regardless of the direction they are facing to
begin with.
© Original teaching sequence copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y4 Maths TS_S2 – Spr – 2days
Objectives:
 Recognise horizontal and vertical lines
 Use the 8 compass points to describe direction
 Describe and identify the position of a square on a grid of squares
Whole class
Group activities
Paired/indiv practice
Resources
Show the sailor’s map (see resources). Where
is the Wrecker’s Rock lighthouse? Draw out
descriptions such as north of Seal Cove and
west of Palm Island. But we can also give the
position of the square it’s in on the map.
Discuss how the map is criss-crossed by lines.
Some are horizontal (point out which way
these go) and some are vertical (point out
which way these go). Horizontal lines go along –
they follow the horizon!
The lighthouse is in square A5. Show children
how to go along to column A and then up to the
fifth row to identify the square. Point out that
this is a more precise way of locating the
lighthouse.
What is in square D4? Practise both
identifying what lies in given squares, and
identifying the position of other places on the
map.
Write North, West, South and East on
separate pieces of card, and use a compass to
put these in the correct places in the
Group of 4-5 children
Secretly identify a square on the
sailor’s map and ask chn to guess it.
Give clues such as If I look north I can
see Bone Island.
Chn play the game in pairs, taking it in
turns to choose a position on the map.
Easier: Place a boat on the map and ask
chn to identify its position and describe
what can be seen in each of the eight
compass directions, before moving on to
play the game.
Chn identify the position of
squares on a grid to crack a
mystery code.
Easier: Chn identify the positions
of buried treasure, and then mark
on their own.
Harder: Chn could also make up
their own secret message by
giving the locations of squares on
the grid.
 Sailor’s map
(see resources)
 Activity sheets
(see resources)
Group of 4-5 children
Place the roamer on the floor so that it
faces north. Next we want it to face
Chn work in pairs to write
directions for a route so that
someone could find all items of
 Compass
 Sailor’s map
(see resources)
© Original teaching sequence copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y4 Maths TS_S2 – Spr – 2days
classroom. Remind chn of the four points of
the compass. Identify an object that is
between north and east, e.g. the door. Where
is the door? It’s between north and east, we
call the direction that is half way between
north and east, north-east. Draw an eight
point compass on the board, with only north,
east, south and west labelled. Talk to your
partner about what the other points might be
called. Take feedback and agree south east,
south west and north west. Point out that
north or south comes first in the directions.
What part of the country do we live in?
Play ‘I Spy’, e.g.
I spy something beginning with ‘l’ in the southwest.
I spy something beginning with ‘s’ in the northeast.
Show the sailor’s map (from yesterday). The
boat wants to go to Palm Island, what
direction does it need to go in? Discuss how it
could go north, then east, but it would get
there more quickly if it sailed north-east.
north-east. A whole turn would be 360°.
Try out chn’s suggestions on how this
might be done. Repeat for facing east,
south-east, south, south-west, west and
north-west. Draw out that the Roamer
turns an eighth of a whole turn each
time and that this is 45°.
Place a piece of paper with a house
drawn on it on the floor, e.g. to the
north east, and place an obstacle in the
way, e.g. a drawing of a lake. Let’s help
him to find his way home, he can only
make half, quarter and one eighth
turns. Take chn’s suggestions to write a
simple program to make the roamer
move towards the piece of paper,
testing them out a stage at a time.
Harder: Mark the starting position of
the toy, and ask chn to write a program
so that the toy retraces its steps.
treasure on the map (see
resources).
Harder: Chn find the most
efficient route.
© Original teaching sequence copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
 Roamer (or
similar)
 Activity sheet
of treasure
map (see
resources)
Y4 Maths TS_S2 – Spr – 2days