Today, you're going to take on a special mission: guiding a bird to its fruit on a 5x5 grid. This activity will help you become an expert in two key concepts in coding: direction and sequence.

Explain to your students that we'll work together first, taking turns to give clear directions. Then, they’ll get a chance to program their own path independently on a worksheet. Remind them that every step matters!

Planning your sequence carefully is crucial for success—just like a programmer meticulously plans every line of code. Let's get started on our mission!

Now, tell the students they're going to use their new skills to play a real-life programming game right here in the classroom! Explain that they will work in pairs and take turns being the Navigator (the programmer) and the Robot (the computer).

Setting Up the Algorithm

1. Pair Up and Choose Roles: Have the students pair up and decide who will be the Navigator and who will be the Robot first.

2. Secret Destination: The Navigator should secretly choose a destination in the classroom—like the teacher's desk, the bookshelf, or the door—without telling the Robot.

3. The Commands (The Code): Explain that the Robot can only understand four simple commands: "Move forward," "Move backward," "Turn left," and "Turn right." The Navigator must use these commands precisely to guide the Robot.

Executing the Program

Instruct the Navigator to give the commands one at a time. The Robot must follow the commands exactly, without guessing or improvising, until they reach the target location. Once the Robot is at the destination, the Navigator can reveal where they were trying to go.

After the first trip is complete, have the students switch roles! The new Navigator chooses a destination and writes a new set of instructions for their partner. This ensures every student gets practice in both giving clear instructions and following a sequence exactly.

Now, tell the students they're going to use their programming skills on a more complex challenge! Display the 4x4 grid with the bird and the fruit on the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB).

The goal is the same—to guide the frog to the fruit—but the larger grid requires a longer and more complex sequence of commands.

Have students take turns giving directions, just like in the last lesson. Encourage the whole class to think carefully about the sequence of directions before a command is given. You can prompt them with questions like:

• "If we turn right now, what is the next command we will need?"

• "What is the shortest sequence of instructions to get there?"

This collaborative effort highlights how even simple commands require careful planning and sequencing when the grid (the program) gets bigger.

Now it's time for students to put their individual programming skills to the test! Print out and distribute the 4x4 grid worksheets to each student.

Explain that, just like the game you played together, their job is to program the exact sequence of commands needed to guide the bird from its starting point to the fruit.

Offer the students the two options for coding their solution:

1. Draw the Arrows: They can draw or write the directional arrows directly onto the grid.

2. Cut and Stick: They can cut out the separate directional arrows provided on the worksheet and stick them onto the empty "solution" grid.

Emphasise the importance of planning the sequence carefully before they start drawing or cutting. Remind them that programmers always plan their code first. They should try to find the best (most efficient) path and double-check their directions before finalizing their code.

For students who finish the main worksheet early, provide a challenging and creative extension activity! Download and distribute a blank grid to them.

Encourage them to become the ultimate game designers and create their own grid challenge. They can draw a starting item (like a spaceship or an animal), draw a destination item (like a planet or a piece of food), and then fill in their grid with obstacles or special colored squares.

Once they've designed their board and solution, have them swap with a neighboring early finisher. This lets them program a problem and then debug (solve) their friend's creation, reinforcing all the concepts of sequencing and direction they've learned!