Position Worksheets
The concept of position is a bit abstract for some students and will require a bit of time and patience to help them understand. When you are describing a position, you are comparing the location of two things relative to one another. When you come to think of it, there are tons of words that we use in almost every conversation that we have in our daily lives that we do not even realize are position based. As a result of this, most students will come to class on day one understanding many of these terms. These worksheets and lessons show students how to communicate the position of an object.
Aligned Standard: K.MD.A.2
- Higher Than Roosters Step-by-Step Lesson- Name the animals that are above the rooster and which tigers faces the left.
- Guided Lesson - I did this one in color, but it does print very well in black and white.
- Guided Lesson Explanation - This is a good time to bring the compass rose into their lives.
- Practice Worksheet - Yes, it is nine pages long, but it really helps kids space out the concepts.
- Matching Worksheet - Match the visual problems to their answers.
- Answer Keys - These are for all the unlocked materials above.
- Animals Facing Left and Right Worksheet- This is an interesting sheet because you have to put yourself in the animals shoes to answer it correctly.
- Bunny Mark Above and below Guided Lesson - Two things are above the bunny and three things are below him. What are they?
- Bunny Mark Above and below Guided Lesson Explanation- I labeled the arrows just to make sure it worked out.
- Above and Below Guided Lesson 2 - Talk about a random mixed of objects and items.
- Above and Below Guided Lesson 2 Explanation- I find the legend/key to be very helpful for this skill.
- The Fishy Above and Below Guided Lesson- Angling these fish was a new graphics program experience for me.
- Left and Right Step by Step Lesson- I added a rise to the animals, just in case you wanted to touch on above and below too.
- Left and Right Guided Lesson 2- Arrows really make this one stick out more in students minds.
- Position of Left and Right Worksheet- There are some trick questions here. I wouldn't be surprised if kids had lots of questions.
- Practicing Above and Below Worksheet- Reading skills really come into play here.
- The Bee Above and Below Worksheet- Not sure if it is a bee as much as it is butterfly.
Teaching Students About Position
In mathematics, the concept of position is important for students to understand. The concept is a bit abstract because the concept is relative to something else. It is one of the first times that students are comparing and contrasting two things, in this case physical objects. It often helps students to start with what they know, and they know themselves.
I like to start with the concept of standing, sitting, crouching, and if you have a rug in your room, lying. Using friendly demo show students, the three or four positions and have them try all of them for themselves. Then expand their world a little bit and ask them what are they standing, sitting, or crouching on. You have now created the standard baseline for them. We now move on to describing other students and what they are doing. I like to set the scene for students and then have them chorally explain what they see.
Now is the time that we begin to introduce positional words, two at a time. Start by using polar opposite terms such as up/down, above/below, right/left, near/far. To do this I ask for a volunteer and have them choose one of the positions that we have already discussed, it does not matter which one. I then demonstrate the concept by taking a ball of normal classroom item and placing that relative to the student. I then ask the class to describe the location of the object relative to the student.
After you have covered all of the terms and feel that students have a good handle on it, you can have them reinforce this newfound vocabulary with the help of a blindfold. Ask for 2 volunteers. One will be blindfolded. The other volunteer will then lead the blindfolded student somewhere in the room. The non-blindfolded student will then be asked to give the other student instructions on how to travel to a specific point in the classroom or sometimes to the classroom door. The catch is that they can only use positional words.