Number Crew 2: Shape and Space 2
Programme 4: Nesting Time – Describing Positions and Directions

Outline

Some butterflies help The Number Crew children on their way home from the strange land of shapes and drop them safely into some nests. Bradley's nest has a message 'Everything will turn out fine/Once four of you are in a line'. Matthew helps the children to move into a line, but the children get a fright when they realise they are on the minute hand of a giant clock and it starts to move. Matthew explains clockwise and anticlockwise movements. The children enjoy balancing for a time, then they jump into the hole for the cuckoo. They feel quite lost.

Recommendations for Use

It is recommended that teachers preview the programmes to note the places they might wish to stop the tape to encourage discussion. The programmes can be used as part of the introductory class activity, where the tape is stopped at pre-planned points and the whole class is encouraged to identify and review the problems posed or predict answers. Alternatively the programmes can be used as part of the main teaching activity before children pursue their differentiated tasks. At times it may be useful to use a whole programme as part of the plenary/last session of a lesson to allow children to review their own understanding of the work they have been doing and allow teachers to assess the children informally as they watch the programme.

Curriculum Relevance

The Number Crew 2: Shape and Space 2 is a unit of five 10-minute programmes designed to support key objectives in the National Numeracy Strategy for 6-7 year olds.

Activities

Before viewing

Play a game with the children to revise their vocabulary for describing positions and directions.

After viewing

Talk about Matthew's challenge: Think about your journey to school. Which way do you turn the corners? Clockwise or anticlockwise? And is it different on the way home? Encourage the children to talk about their journey and help them by drawing a plan to illustrate clockwise and anticlockwise movements.
Arrange a treasure hunt. Arrange several pictures of 'treasure' and ask the children to find them. To claim the treasure, children have to describe the position of the pictures. For example, 'the gold coins are above the door to the hall, to the left of the window'.
Introduce the arrow game using a 100 square. Children play in pairs and give each other a number as a starting point followed by several arrows indicating moving one square up, down, left or right. The partner has to say what the end number is.

Links