Year 4 · Angles, shapes and position
Coordinates and translations
Describe positions on a 2-D grid as coordinates in the first quadrant, and describe movements between positions as translations
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Describe positions on a 2-D grid as coordinates in the first quadrant, and describe movements between positions as translations
Key learning points
- • Along the corridor, up the stairs
- • Plotting and completing shapes
- • Describing a slide
- • Working out the new coordinates
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 18 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- No marked quiz yet
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 18
Watch first
Coordinates and translations
Learn to spot acute, right, obtuse and reflex angles anywhere.
Do it for real
The practicals below use what the film shows, with a full method you can follow at home.
In a nutshell
Describe positions on a 2-D grid as coordinates in the first quadrant, and describe movements between positions as translations
What you already know
Part 2 of 18
Before we start
What you already know
You can read numbers off a scale and count squares on a grid.
Key words
Part 3 of 18
Key words
Words you'll need today
- coordinates
- A pair of numbers giving a position, like (3, 5).
- axis
- One of the two number lines on the grid.
- translation
- Sliding a shape without turning or flipping it.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 18
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 — Reading positions
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 18
Learn
Along the corridor, up the stairs
In (3, 5) the first number is across and the second is up. So go 3 along the bottom axis, then 5 up. Say 'along the corridor, up the stairs' every time — swapping the numbers lands you in the wrong place.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 18
Learn
Plotting and completing shapes
Mark each point with a small cross, not a fat blob. If three corners of a rectangle are (1, 1), (5, 1) and (1, 4), the fourth must be (5, 4) — the across number from one point and the up number from the other.
Quick check
Part 7 of 18
Quick check
In (4, 7), the 4 tells you
Reset break
Part 8 of 18
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.
Quick check
Part 9 of 18
Quick check
Three corners of a rectangle: (2, 2), (6, 2), (2, 5). The fourth is
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 18
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 — Describing moves
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 18
Learn
Describing a slide
A translation is a slide: 'right 4, down 2'. Every point of the shape moves by exactly the same amount, so the shape stays the same size and the same way up. Nothing turns, nothing flips.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 18
Learn
Working out the new coordinates
Translate (2, 6) right 3 and down 4: the across number becomes 5 and the up number becomes 2, giving (5, 2). Right adds to the first number, left subtracts; up adds to the second, down subtracts.
Quick check
Part 13 of 18
Quick check
Translate (3, 3) right 2 and up 1:
Quick check
Part 14 of 18
Quick check
A translation changes
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 18
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Reading (3, 5) as 3 up and 5 across.
- Changing the size of a shape when translating it.
- Adding to the up number when the move is left or right.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 18
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
Mastery quiz
Part 17 of 18
No quiz for this one
This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.
Lesson round-up
Part 18 of 18
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 LunaDo 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.
The cost of a school trip
A school is planning a trip to a wildlife park. The coach costs £480 however many people go. Entry costs £9.50 for each pupil and each adult goes free. The school says every pupil must pay the same amount, and the trip must not lose money.
If 60 pupils go, the coach works out at £8 each, so the total for each pupil is £17.50. If only 40 pupils go, the coach works out at £12 each, so the price rises to £21.50. The teacher explains that the coach is a fixed cost and the entry is a cost per person — which is why the price per pupil changes when the number changes.
The school decides to charge £20 and to use anything left over for a second trip later in the year.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Work out the total cost of the trip if 50 pupils go.
- Show why the price per pupil falls when more pupils go, using numbers.
- At £20 each, how many pupils must go before the trip makes money? Show your working.
Working out
Working outDo the practice questions on paper, showing every step — not just the answer. Mark them yourself and circle anything you got wrong.
10–15 questions
Worked example, explained
WritingCopy one question out and write underneath, in words, why each step works.
1 question, 4–5 sentences
Problem in words
Working outWrite your own real-life problem that uses today's method, then solve it.
1 problem + solution
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover