Use Direction Words on a Plan

Supplied materials

• Original fictional square park plan: north is the top of the page, south bottom, west left, east right. Fountain is in the center. Garden is above the fountain; gate below it; bench left of it; sandbox right of it. Draw dots and labels; no real trip is needed.

Learn the idea

Direction words can describe where one place lies compared with another. This plan tells us north is at the top. That makes the garden north of the fountain. Always look for a direction clue first. The top of a page does not have to mean north on every map.

Start at the named reference place before answering. “The bench is west of the fountain” describes the bench compared with the fountain. If we reverse the two places, the fountain is east of the bench. The places have not moved; we have changed which place we describe from.

1. Draw the center fountain and the four stated surrounding places.
2. Add N at the top and read all four direction words.
3. Point from the fountain to the garden and name that direction.
4. Reverse bench and fountain in a sentence and explain how the direction changes.

Check your reasoning

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Take it further

Changed plan: north points toward the right edge. A tree is right of the fountain. Which direction is the tree from the fountain now? Model reasoning: “North, because the arrow defines north as right on this new drawing.”

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