Maths Lesson of the Week!!!! Compass Points

As teachers, do we stop and think about just how wonderful some of our lessons are? Even the ones that require very little preparation? In the past, some of my best lessons have been the ones where I have just run with what the children needed at that instant – rather than what I had meticulously planned. Does anyone else think the same way?
Here’s my favourite activity from last week:

I placed the compass points around the room prior to the lesson starting.
As a warm up we played a game in partners. Child 1 chose a starting and finishing spot for child 2. Child 1 then directed child 2 using language such as “3 steps north” then “1 step east” etc. until they got to the finishing place. Children were not allowed to go over furniture and had to be directed around each. It worked sooooooooo well – to challenge some students I introduced the 8 compass points and one group even used a compass (they were boy scouts, they knew what to do!).
Then I gave the children a map of the school. Using compass directions, they made up little stories about going around the school, visiting classrooms in a certain direction and even visiting the Principal. The next step was to go outside and practice our compass points in the playground.
 It was sooooooo much fun – the kids had a great time and at the end I knew that every child in the room understood compass points! Time to celebrate children’s achievements!

Credit to KPM Doodles