L1 Describe Position

Help your Year 1 class master positional language through this engaging, practical lesson designed around active learning and communication. Children will explore real-life position concepts— above, below, left, right, behind, and next to —through movement, observation, and collaborative tasks. In this Working Without Worksheets lesson, pupils start with a warm-up following position commands to assess their understanding of key terms. Using animated teaching slides, they’ll describe the position of classroom objects and test their memory of where items are placed. During the activity, children organise pictures of characters on a classroom “carpet” layout and write sentences describing their positions in relation to one another—perfect for developing both mathematical vocabulary and sentence structure. The plenary game, Position Eye Spy, reinforces key concepts in a fun and interactive way. What’s Included in the Pack ✔ Full lesson plan with objectives, teaching notes, and plenary guidance ✔ Animated teaching slides with positional examples and memory challenges ✔ Starter: Movement warm-up following positional commands ✔ Main activity: Create and describe a classroom layout using MTC characters ✔ Plenary: Play Position Eye Spy to consolidate learning ✔ Editable slides for flexible classroom adaptation ✔ Hands-on, talk-rich, and worksheet-free learning Why Teachers Love This Resource ✔ Builds understanding of spatial and positional language through play ✔ Encourages talk, reasoning, and partner discussion ✔ Develops awareness of left/right and relative positioning ✔ Designed for mastery teaching – Working Without Worksheets pedagogy ✔ Fully aligned with Year 1 National Curriculum for Maths Curriculum Links (Year 1 – Position and Direction, National Curriculum) This lesson helps children to: ✔ Describe position, direction, and movement ✔ Use everyday language to talk about objects in space ✔ Apply spatial awareness in practical contexts ✔ Develop communication a