Planning tool

Students:

• give and follow directions (verbal and pictorial)
• give and follow directions, including directions involving turns to the left and right, to move between familiar locations
• interpret a simple diagram or picture to describe the position of an object.

Some students may:

• understand the position of objects but have difficulties grasping how to explain the concept to another person, or interpreting instructions given to them
• understand direction language such as ‘forward’ and ‘backwards’ but confuse 'left' and 'right'
• not understand ‘quarter’ and ‘half’ as their knowledge of fractions will still be developing. Note that quarter-, half- and full-turns are introduced in Year 2
• may need further experiences and a range of activities to embed movement language concepts such as ‘over’ and ‘under'. Ensure that language and usage are correct and appropriate.

The Learning from home activities are designed to be used flexibly by teachers, parents and carers, as well as the students themselves. They can be used in a number of ways including to consolidate and extend learning done at school or for home schooling.

Learning intention

• We are learning about directions.

Why are we learning about this?

• Directions are important when describing how to get from one place to another.

What to do

You are going to give directions to the dog so it can get to some of the things it needs.

Here is one way to describe how the dog can get to the mat:

• Move one square forward.

  (This may not be the best idea; the cat is mean so you don’t want the dog in the square next to it!)

1. Give the dog directions to the bone, water bowl and doghouse.
   • To get to the bone ... ______________________________
   • To get to the water bowl ... _________________________
   • To get to the doghouse ... __________________________
2. How many different ways can the dog get to the bone? List as many ways as you can.
3. The dog is going to hide the bone. Follow these directions to hide the bone and put a cross in the box where the bone is hidden.
   • The directions from the dog are: Turn left (to face the doghouse), move 2 squares forward. Turn right (to face the water bowl), move one square forward.
       

Success criteria

I can:

• use language such as left and right, up and down, forwards and backwards
• write simple directions.