Figure skating is named after the figures skaters once traced on the ice: circles and figure eights cut by the blade, then looked at closely by the judges for how round and even they were. For many years these school figures were a part of every competition, and skaters practiced them for hours. The tracks on these pages are figures too, made from quarter circles.
Every page starts with the skate code: a curve is a quarter of a circle one dot across, a big curve is a quarter circle two dots across, a turn spins the skate on the spot and leaves no track, and repeat does the steps inside it again. The skate starts on the dot, facing the arrow. Page 1 follows four codes and draws their tracks. Page 2 shows three tracks and four codes: students write which code made each one. Page 3 has codes with repeat: students draw the track, then count the curves as repeats times curves in the loop. Page 4 shows the track each code should make and a code with one wrong step to circle and fix. Page 5 asks for the code that makes a track, and page 6 is for writing a code and trading it with a partner. The first problem on pages 1 to 5 is a worked example.
Act the code out before the pages: one child is the skate and walks a quarter circle for each curve, turning on the spot for a turn, while the class reads the code aloud. The pages work as a math center or as an unplugged coding lesson: a code is a program, repeat is a loop, and a track that comes out wrong is a bug to find. Page 6 makes a good partner activity.
Read a code aloud and let your child trace it with a finger before drawing it. Then draw a track together and ask for the code that makes it, or take turns making up codes for each other.
This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Unplugged coding on an ice rink, where a code of curves, big curves, turns and repeats sends a skate across the dots and its blade leaves a track. Students follow codes to draw the tracks, match tracks to their codes, count the curves in a loop, find and fix bugs and write codes for circles, figure eights, waves and a snowman.
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