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Position, direction, and movement

Use mathematical vocabulary to describe position, direction, and movement, including straight lines and distinguishing rotation as a turn in terms of right angles (quarter, half, three-quarter turns, clockwise and anti-clockwise)

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What a learner can do afterwards

  • Use terms such as clockwise, anti-clockwise, quarter turn, half turn, three-quarter turn
  • Describe a right angle as a quarter turn
  • Give and follow directions involving straight-line movement and turns

The lesson

You already know how to turn and follow directions. Now let's give turns exact names. A quarter turn is one right angle. Two quarter turns make a half turn. Three quarter turns make a three-quarter turn. Four quarter turns bring you all the way back to where you started, a full turn.

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Clock hands always move this way: right, then down, then left, then back up. That direction is called clockwise. The opposite direction is anti-clockwise.
Try it together

Priya faces the classroom door. She turns a quarter turn clockwise and now faces the window. She turns another quarter turn clockwise, a half turn from where she started, and now faces the back wall.

Good to know

A right angle is the same as a quarter turn. If you turn the wrong way, clockwise instead of anti-clockwise, you end up facing a different spot, even with the same size turn.

Turns come in quarter, half, three-quarter, and full sizes, and they can go clockwise or anti-clockwise.

Watch it

Where it sits

Where this leads

Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.

Then practise

8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.

Position, direction, and movement · Mathematics, ages 6 to 7 · LightMySky