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Year 4 · Fieldwork in our local area

Compass points, grid references and OS symbols

Use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world

25 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world

Key learning points

  • • Eight points of the compass
  • • Four-figure grid references
  • • Six-figure references
  • • Symbols and getting ready

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 20 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • No marked quiz yet
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

pointscompasssix-figurereferencessymbols

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 20 · Intro5%
1

Introduction

Part 1 of 20

Compass points, grid references and OS symbols illustrationArchive-led lesson

Historical enquiry

Compass points, grid references and OS symbols

Before you go outside to collect data, you need to be able to say exactly where you are standing. That is what grid references are for.

Do it for real

These practicals use the ideas in this lesson, with a full method you can follow at home.

Traffic and footfall count

In a nutshell

Use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 20

Before we start

What you already know

You can read a map key and describe features using a map.

Recap: y4-geography-1
3

Key words

Part 3 of 20

Key words

Words you'll need today

compass
A tool that shows direction; north, east, south, west and the four between.
grid reference
Numbers naming an exact square, or point, on a map.
eastings
The grid numbers that run along the bottom, read first.
Ordnance Survey
The organisation that maps Great Britain in detail.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 20

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — Direction and grid references

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 20

Learn

Eight points of the compass

North, east, south and west, with north-east, south-east, south-west and north-west between them. 'Never Eat Shredded Wheat' gets you round clockwise. Directions on a map are always given from where you are to where you are going.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 20

Learn

Four-figure grid references

OS maps are covered in numbered squares. Read the number along the bottom first (eastings), then up the side (northings) — 'along the corridor, then up the stairs'. So 3421 means the square starting at line 34 across and 21 up.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 20

Quick check

Which order do you read a grid reference?

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 20

Quick check

How many points are on the eight-point compass?

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 20

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 20

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — Symbols, and getting ready to go out

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 20

Learn

Six-figure references

For an exact point, split each square into ten. If your church is six-tenths across and four-tenths up inside square 3421, the reference is 346 214. Six figures gets you to within about a hundred metres, which is enough to meet someone.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 20

Learn

Symbols and getting ready

OS maps use symbols: a blue P for parking, a small cross for a church, dotted green lines for footpaths, contour lines for height. Before fieldwork, print your map, mark your route, note your grid references and decide what you will record at each stop.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 20

Quick check

A six-figure reference is accurate to about...

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 20

Quick check

Contour lines on an OS map show...

15

Investigate evidence

Part 15 of 20

Evidence 1 of 1

map

A six-figure grid reference exercise sheet

Ordnance Survey teaching material, Present day

A grid square 42 across and 17 up, divided into tenths. A church with a tower sits at 426 174; a public footpath crosses the corner at 429 178.

Grid references let two people describe the same point on the ground to within a hundred metres.

Think like a historian

Which comes first in a six-figure reference, and what would go wrong if you gave the two halves the other way round?

Source: Map skills reference sheet.

View the archive record ↗
16

Common mix-ups

Part 16 of 20

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Reading grid references up first. Always along the bottom, then up the side.
  • Thinking a four-figure reference names an exact point. It names a whole square.
  • Guessing symbols instead of checking the key.
17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 20

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

18

Challenge round

Part 18 of 20

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

OS maps use ____: a blue P for parking, a small cross for a church, dotted green lines for footpaths, contour lines for height.

Before fieldwork, print your map, mark your route, note your grid ____ and decide what you will record at each stop.

19

Mastery quiz

Part 19 of 20

No quiz for this one

This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.

20

Lesson round-up

Part 20 of 20

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

Source for this lesson

Use this for the source work task below.

A six-figure grid reference exercise sheet

map

Ordnance Survey teaching material, Present day

A grid square 42 across and 17 up, divided into tenths. A church with a tower sits at 426 174; a public footpath crosses the corner at 429 178.

Grid references let two people describe the same point on the ground to within a hundred metres.

Source: Map skills reference sheet.

View the original record ↗

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 20 · Introduction

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