Mapping Your Way
Class 5 · Mathematics
4 ideas in Class 5 Mathematics, explained in plain words, with games and quizzes to practise.
Directions on a Map
Part of: Directions and positions on a map
Four main directions help us say where things are: north, south, east and west. The sun rises in the east, so if you face the sunrise, west is behind you, north is on your left and south is on your right. On most maps, north is at the top.
Why it matters. Without directions, we can only say 'over there'. With them, a child can follow a route, read a map, and explain where a place is to someone else.
Try it in two minutes
- Stand in a room with your child and point out which wall is east, using the morning sun or a phone compass.
- Ask your child to face north, then turn right. Ask which way they are facing now (east).
- Name two rooms in your home and ask: which one is to the east of the other?
- Ask your child to walk three steps west and then two steps north, and say where they ended up compared with the start.
Try at home. Draw a rough plan of your street on paper. Mark north at the top and ask your child to label which shop or house is east or west of your home.
Reading Positions on a Plan
Part of: Directions and positions on a map
A map or plan shows a place as if you looked down from a bird's view. Roads, rooms and buildings become simple shapes. Roads that cross can make a square corner, called a right angle (90 degrees), or a smaller or bigger angle.
Why it matters. Reading plans helps children find their way, understand floor plans and see how shapes and angles appear in real life. Without it, maps look like a confusing set of lines.
Try it in two minutes
- Ask your child to draw a simple top view of their study table with a book, a lamp and a bottle.
- Ask: which object is between the book and the bottle? Which one is nearest to the edge?
- Look at a street corner or a window frame and ask your child to find a right angle.
- Fold a paper corner into a square corner and use it to test which angles are smaller or bigger than a right angle.
Try at home. Make a plan of your home from above on a sheet of paper. Mark the door, windows and each room, and ask your child to describe the route from the door to the kitchen.
Map Scale and Distance
Part of: Scale and changing the size of pictures
A map is a small drawing of a large place, so every length is shrunk by the same amount. The scale tells how much. If the scale says 1 cm stands for 5 km, then a road measuring 4 cm on the map is 4 times 5, which is 20 km on the ground.
Why it matters. Scale lets children estimate how far places are and understand why maps are drawn in proportion. Without it, a map is only a picture of positions with no sense of distance.
Try it in two minutes
- Draw a line 5 cm long on paper and say: let 1 cm stand for 2 km.
- Ask your child how many km the line shows (10 km).
- Now say a trip is 8 km and ask how long the line on the map should be (4 cm).
- Change the scale to 1 cm for 10 km and ask how the answers change.
Try at home. Use a ruler on a map in an atlas or phone screenshot. Find the scale, measure the distance between two cities and work out the real distance.
Making Pictures Bigger and Smaller
Part of: Scale and changing the size of pictures
To make a picture bigger on a grid, copy it square by square onto a grid with larger squares. Every length grows by the same amount, so the shape stays the same. When the sides of a square become 2 times longer, its area becomes 4 times bigger, not 2 times.
Why it matters. This is how maps and scale drawings are made. It also stops the common mistake of thinking that doubling the length also doubles the area.
Try it in two minutes
- Cut out a square of 2 cm by 2 cm from graph paper and count the small squares inside (4).
- Now make a square with sides 4 cm and count the small squares (16).
- Ask your child how many times more squares there are (4 times) and why it is not 2 times.
- Draw a simple house on 1 cm squared paper and copy it onto 2 cm squares.
Try at home. Ask your child to draw a small flag or a fish on squared paper and then redraw it twice as big on another sheet, keeping the shape the same.
What your child will practise
- Directions on a Map: Space Quest (Collect the Answer)
- Directions on a Map: Space Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Making Pictures Bigger and Smaller: Ocean Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Map Scale and Distance: Ocean Puzzle (Clue Puzzle)
- Reading Positions on a Plan: Ocean Quest (Collect the Answer)
- Quiz: Directions on a Map (8 questions)
- Quiz: Making Pictures Bigger and Smaller (8 questions)
- Quiz: Map Scale and Distance (8 questions)
- Quiz: Reading Positions on a Plan (8 questions)