Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mr. Tilston.

It's wonderful to see you today, and I hope you are having a lovely day.

Let's see if we can make that day even better by having a great maths lesson.

I'm really excited about this.

So if you are ready, let's do a countdown from five.

Shall we do that? Are you ready? Five, four, three, two, one, let's begin.

The outcome of today's lesson is as follows: I can use mathematical vocabulary such as forwards, backwards, left and right to describe movement.

And those are our key words.

If I say them, will you say them back? Are you ready? My turn, forwards.

Your turn.

My turn, backwards.

Your turn.

My turn, left.

Your turn.

And my turn, right.

Your turn.

Those are quite common words and I'm sure you've used them lots of times before, but they can be quite tricky.

So let's explore them.

Our lesson is split into two parts.

The first will be use forwards and backwards to describe movement.

And the second describe movement in four directions.

So let's begin by focusing on using forwards and backwards to describe movement.

In this lesson you're going to meet Alex and Lucas.

Have you met Alex and Lucas before? They're here today to give us a helping hand with the maths.

Alex and Lucas are playing with toy animals on a grid and Lucas says, "I can move the cat forwards." Okay, do you think you could do that too? Can you picture where it might go? Just like that.

The cat's moving forwards.

Quite simple.

Alex says, "The cat has moved forwards three squares." Do you agree? Hmm, have a look.

Has he moved forward three squares? Well, Lucas doesn't agree with that.

He says, "I can see four squares." Hasn't the cat moved forward four squares? Hmm, who do you agree with? Who's right? Is it Alex or Lucas? Alex says, "No, you don't count the square it started on." Ah.

"The cat moved forwards three squares." Let's have a look at that again.

The cat started here and then moved forward.

One, two, three squares.

So it is three squares that he's moved forward.

So don't count the starting square.

So now Lucas says, "I can move the cat backwards three squares." Can you picture that, where that will be? One, two, three, backwards three squares.

That's right, well done Lucas.

Alex adds another toy animal to the grid.

So this time we've got the ladybird and Lucas says, "I can move the animals forwards," both of those animals.

Let's have a look.

See what you notice.

They're both moving forward.

Are they? Alex says, "Why have you moved the ladybird "in a different direction to the cat?" Was that wrong or is that right? What do you think? Was the ladybird moving forwards as well? Forwards means moving the way something is facing.

Yes.

And the cat was facing that way and moved forwards that way.

And the ladybird's facing a different way, but moving forwards that way.

Oh, I see the ladybird is facing a different way.

So forwards is not the same direction for the cat and the ladybird.

And you could do this with somebody else in your class.

If you face in different directions, but both move forward, you're not moving the same way.

Lucas says, "What do you think will happen "if they move backwards?" What do you think will happen? Alex says, "I think they will move in different directions." They will move the opposite way to the way they are facing.

Do you agree? Yes.

Forwards and backwards are opposite words.

Excellent thinking, Alex, you were spot on.

Alex and Lucas use arrows to show how the animals move across the grid.

Let's have a look.

So here's an arrow this time.

Lucas says, "My arrow shows that the cat moves forwards three squares," and, "My arrow," says Alex, "shows that the ladybird moves backwards three squares." Okay, complete the sentences.

The ladybird moves mm mm square and the cat moves mm mm squares.

So is it forwards or backwards and how many squares? Pause the video and give that a go.

How did you get on with that? Let's have a look.

Well, the ladybird moves forwards one square.

That's the direction he's facing, so he's moving forwards one square, not backwards, and the cat moves backwards.

How many squares? Two squares.

So well done if you said those, you are on track.

You know your forwards from your backwards.

Let's do some practise.

Let's put those skills into practise.

So 1a, complete the sentences.

The mm, so which animal, moves one square backwards.

The cat moves one square what? Forwards or backwards? The lizard moves mm squares mm.

Forwards or backwards? And the pig moves mm squares.

How many and then forwards or backwards? And b, draw arrows to show the movement on the grid.

So the sheep moves one square backwards.

Can you show that with an arrow? The lizard moves one square forwards.

Can you show that with an arrow? Think about the way they're facing.

The cat moves one square forward, show that with an arrow.

And the pig moves one square forwards and then two squares backwards.

Hmm.

Number two, the ladybird starts in the shaded square, it moves forwards two squares.

Where do you think it will stop? And Lucas says, "Can you explain your ideas to a partner?" And there's more than one answer here.

Okay, have fun with that.

Pause the video and good luck.

Welcome back, how did you get on? Are you feeling confident about forwards and backwards? Let's see.

The sheep moves one square backwards.

The cat moves one square forwards.

So if you look at the direction that the cat's facing in, that's his forwards.

The lizard moves two squares forwards.

And the pig moves three squares backwards.

And for b, draw arrows to show the movement on the grid.

So the sheep moves one square backwards.

Look at the direction that he or she is facing in.

We want to go the other way.

That's this.

The lizard moves one square forwards.

Look at the direction that he or she is facing in and forwards is one square this way.

And the cat moves one square forwards.

Look at the direction he or she is facing in.

And that's one square forward from that.

And then the pig moves one square forwards and then two squares backwards.

That's one square forwards and that's two squares backwards.

I wonder if you just move that pig one square backwards.

Hmm.

Number two, the ladybird starts in the shaded square, it moves forwards two squares.

Where do you think it will stop? Four possibilities.

Remember that forwards is not always the same direction.

It depends on which way the object is facing.

So depending on which way the ladybird was facing will change what two squares forwards is.

So if the ladybird's facing that way, that's two squares forwards.

If the ladybird is facing that way, that's two squares forwards.

If the ladybird is facing that way, that's two squares forwards.

And if the ladybird is facing that way, that is two squares forwards.

The ladybird could stop in four different places, depending on the way it was facing when it started moving.

You are ready for the next cycle.

And that is describing movements in four directions.

Here's Alex.

Alex is standing on a grid and he can move forwards and backwards.

Okay, that's his two options.

Forwards or backwards.

Forwards, backwards.

Backwards, forwards.

He can also move left and right.

That's his other two options.

Left and right.

Okay, let's do a little check.

Alex moves one square forward and one square right, where does he stop? Can you picture that? Which square would that be? Could you point to that square? Pause the video.

So if he moved one square forward and one square right, that's one square forward and that's one square right.

That is a square that he would end up in.

Well done if you said that one.

Now Alex has turned around.

Okay, so now remember he's facing a different way, okay? That's very important.

He can move forwards and backwards.

Forwards.

Backwards.

And he can move left and right.

Now that's his left now, and this is his right now.

Lucas is confused.

He said, "I thought left was this direction." Hmm, who's right? Alex says, "I moved to my left, not your left." Yes.

Everyone has a left side and a right side.

When you move to the left, you move towards your left side.

And when you move to the right, you move towards your right side.

Alex says, "I have a pen in my left hand.

"I can move to my left like this.

"When I turn around, the pen is still in my left hand." But what do you notice? You are moving to your left.

Left and right are not always the same direction.

That's what makes them a bit confusing.

The direction is dependent on which way someone is facing.

They will move to their left side or their right side.

So work with a partner.

Both hold a pen or pencil in your left hand, turn to face each other.

What do you notice? Can you do the same with your right hand? What do you notice? Okay.

Pause the video and explore that.

What did you notice? Well, here's an example.

The pen is in the right hand.

Now the left hand.

When you face your partner, their left hand is on the opposite side to your left hand.

Their right hand is on the opposite side to your right hand.

If you both moved to your left, you would move in opposite directions.

Did you find that out? Alex and Lucas are going to play a game with Pedro the Panda.

Have you met Pedro before? They need to give directions to help Pedro find his milkshake.

Hmm.

Pedro is facing this way in this direction.

That means Pedro needs to move one square forwards and two squares to his right.

So he needs two different instructions.

Let's see.

One square forwards and then two squares to the right.

And there we go.

He's got his milkshake.

Now they play a game, but they start with Pedro facing a different direction.

So he's not facing the same way.

Have a look at which way he's facing.

Now, what instructions could you give him this time? How could he get that milkshake in the simplest way possible? He's facing this way, in this direction, "That means Pedro needs to move one square to his right," says Alex, "and two square backwards." Will you have a look and check.

See before he does that, see if that's right.

One square to his right and then two squares backwards.

Brilliant.

He's got the milkshake.

Let's do a check.

Pedro's facing in a different direction again.

Who is giving the correct directions to help Pedro find his milkshake? So let's see.

This is what Alex says, see if you agree.

He says, "Pedro needs to move two squares to his right "and one square forwards." So try and picture that.

Is that correct? And Lucas says, "Pedro needs to move one square to his left "and two squares forward." See if you can picture that.

One of them is right, one of them is wrong.

See if you can spot it.

Pause the video.

Let's see.

Pedro's facing in this direction.

That means Pedro's left is this direction and right is that direction.

What happens if Pedro follows Alex's directions? Two squares to his right and one square forward.

Well, if I was Pedro, I wouldn't be very happy because I've not got my milkshake.

So sorry Alex, that was not the correct instructions.

And this was Lucas's instructions.

He needs to move one square to his left and two squares forward.

So one to his left and one, two forwards.

Fantastic.

Pedro is a happy panda.

He's got his milkshake.

Well done, Lucas.

It's time for some practise.

Here's what you're going to do.

Place either a cutout of Pedro or your own small toy, doesn't matter which on the grid, how many ways can you give directions to reach the treats? So from that starting position, using the words forwards, backwards, left and right and combining those together, how many different directions can you give so that he can reach the treats? There's lots of different answers to this, so don't stop at just one.

And Lucas has got a little reminder for you.

"Don't forget to start your toy "facing in different directions." There are so many possibilities here.

So have fun exploring those.

Right here.

Pause the video and away you go.

Welcome back.

How did you get on? How many different ways did you manage to get Pedro to his treats? Let's see.

Well, there are so many possibilities.

Here are just some possibilities.

So if Pedro was facing this way, you could say, "Move one square to your right and one square backwards," and that would get him the pizza.

Did you remember to change the direction that Pedro was facing at the start? Well, here's a different direction.

And you could say, "Move two squares to your left "and two squares backwards to get the chocolate." One, two, one, two.

And of course there are other directions that Pedro could have been facing in and other ways that he could have got to his treats.

So many possibilities.

How many did you find? Well, we've come to the end of the lesson.

I've had so much fun and I hope you have too.

Today we've been using mathematical language to describe movement.

You can describe movement using mathematical language such as forwards, backwards, left and right.

The direction of the movement is dependent on which way someone is facing.

Say, look, we've got different examples of Pedro facing forwards, backwards, left and right, and it all depends on which way he's facing.

Well done on your achievements today.

You've been fantastic.

I think you need to give yourself a very well deserved pat on the back.

Well done, you.

I really do hope I get the chance to spend another maths lesson with you in the near future.

But until then, have a great rest of your day and whatever you do, be successful.

Take care, and goodbye.