Mathematics Year 6

🦒 Hamilton Zoo Map Adventure 🐘 Pakihi Kōpere Kirikiriroa

Simple Grid Reading Fun!

🎯 Your Mission | Tō Kaupapa

Welcome to Hamilton Zoo, explorer! 🎉

You just arrived at the START point in the car park. Now you need to find different animals using our special map!

🗺️ How to Use This Map

Grid Squares: The map is divided into squares like a chess board
Finding Places: Use the numbers along the edges to find locations
Moving Around: Count squares to see how far things are apart
Starting Point: Look for the red pulsing dot - that's where you begin!

Hamilton Zoo grid map: a 6 by 6 grid with columns lettered A to F across the top and rows numbered 1 to 6 down the side. The giraffe is at A3, the entrance and car park at F3, the Oasis cafe and toilets at C3, the ponds at D3, and the savannah holding zebra and ostrich at C1. — Hamilton Zoo grid map — a simplified schematic for classroom use. Positions are approximate, placed from Hamilton Zoo’s published visitor map (November 2025); it is not to scale and not a survey. One grid square = 80 metres. For the current official map see hamiltonzoo.co.nz.

🔍 Activity 1: Finding Animals

Look at the map and find these animals! Write the letter and number for each one.

🦒 Giraffes: Letter Number

🐘 Elephants: Letter Number

🐅 Tigers: Letter Number

👣 Activity 2: Counting Steps

🧮 Counting Helper

How to count squares:

Put your finger on the START point
Count how many squares you move across (left or right)
Count how many squares you move up or down
Add them together!

From your START point, count how many squares to reach each animal:

Animal	Squares Across	Squares Up/Down	Total Squares
🦒 Giraffes
🐘 Elephants
🐅 Tigers

🎯 Activity 3: Which Animal First?

You want to visit all three animals, but which one should you visit first?

Look at your counting from Activity 2. Which animal needs the smallest number of squares to reach?

I should visit the first because it only takes squares to get there!

🔍 Activity 4: Treasure Hunt!

There are other cool things at the zoo too! Can you find them?

🎠 Playground: Letter Number

🍕 Food Area: Letter Number

💧 Water/Lake: Letter Number

🤔 Activity 5: Planning Your Day

You're getting hungry! Plan the best route to get food.

You're still at the START point. You want to see one animal, then get food.

My plan:

1. First, I'll visit the

2. Then I'll go to the food area

3. This is a good plan because:

🌟 Activity 6: Help a Friend!

Your friend is lost! They tell you they can see elephants and a playground.

Look at your map. Where do you think your friend is?

My friend is probably at: Letter Number

How do you know?

🎉 Well Done! | Ka Pai!

You've completed the Hamilton Zoo Map Adventure!

You now know how to:

✅ Find locations using letters and numbers
✅ Count squares to measure distances
✅ Plan efficient routes
✅ Help others using map references

🎯 Teacher Notes | Ngā Kōrero Kaiako

Year 6 Learning Objectives:

Simple Grid References: Using letters and numbers to locate positions
Basic Counting: Counting grid squares for distance
Spatial Awareness: Understanding relative positions
Problem Solving: Planning simple routes
Communication: Describing locations clearly

Simplifications for Year 6:

Bigger Grid: Only 5×4 squares instead of complex coordinates
Letters + Numbers: A1, B2 format instead of (x,y) coordinates
Visual Cues: Animal emojis, bright colours, clear labels
Simple Counting: Just add squares across + squares up
Real Context: Focus on practical zoo navigation

Extension Ideas:

Draw their own zoo map with a grid system
Create treasure hunt clues using grid references
Use classroom or playground as practice grid
Compare this map to other maps they know (school, neighbourhood)

Ngā Whāinga Akoranga — Learning Intentions

Students can use alphanumeric grid references (A1, B2) to identify locations on a zoo map.
Students can count grid squares to estimate the distance between two locations.
Students can plan a simple route between two points on the grid, describing it clearly to a partner.
Students can compare their route with a classmate's and explain why different routes may be equally valid.

Paearu Angitu — Success Criteria

I can give the grid reference for at least 3 animal enclosures on the zoo map.
I can count the squares between two locations and say how many squares apart they are.
I can describe a route using directions (left, right, up, down / rāwhiti, hauāuru).
I can explain my route to a classmate clearly enough for them to follow it.

Teacher Planning Snapshot

Curriculum Alignment

Te Mataiaho Mathematics and Statistics — Phase 2 (Year 6). Geometry strand: alphanumeric grid references, plotting positions on a grid map. The zoo context applies spatial reasoning to a real-world navigation task. Related: English communication (describing routes clearly to a partner).

Mātauranga Māori Lens — Te Ara Tūhura

Grid references are a system for giving every place a name so it can be found and shared. Māori have always named places — in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton), every hill, river bend, and valley has a name that carries the memory of events and relationships. At Hamilton Zoo (Kirikiriroa), students are navigating land that Waikato iwi know through its place-names. Using te reo Māori compass directions — rāwhiti (east), hauāuru (west), tonga (south), raro (north) — connects grid navigation to traditional wayfinding. Kaitiakitanga: the zoo's conservation work for endangered species grounds the mathematics in ecological responsibility.

Entry / On-level / Extension

Entry: Provide a simplified 3×3 grid with large labels. Students find animals using teacher-guided prompts ("which animal is in A1?"). Use physical tokens on a printed map.
On-level: Students use the full 5×4 grid independently. Plan a route that visits one animal then the café. Describe the route to a partner.
Extension: Design their own zoo map with a grid system and write clues for a treasure hunt. Compare the alphanumeric system with an (x, y) coordinate system — what is the same? What is different?

Inclusion and Accessibility

Visual: Animal emoji icons and bright colour-coded enclosures on the grid — students can identify locations visually before using grid references.
Neurodiversity: One task at a time. Print a large-format version of the grid for students who need tactile engagement. Physical tokens (counters) to track movement across the map.
EAL/D: Bilingual direction labels available (English / te reo Māori). Route descriptions accepted verbally, as drawings, or in any language.
Early finishers: Extension ideas built into the teacher notes. Students who finish can create their own grid challenges for classmates.

Curriculum alignment

Geometry — Knowledge: - An alphanumeric grid reference is a system that divides a map into labelled rows (letters) and columns (numbers), so that each square can be identified by combining a letter…
Geometry — Practices: - Use alphanumeric and general grid references to identify regions and plot positions on a grid map
Text Studies — Knowledge: Communication for Learning — Knowledge (Phase 1): - Words can be used to ask for help, share needs, and express preferences (e.g., 'can you help me please?', 'I like this …').…
Language Studies — Knowledge: Communication for Learning — Knowledge (Phase 1): - Words can be used to ask for help, share needs, and express preferences (e.g., 'can you help me please?', 'I like this …').…
Text Studies — Knowledge: Discussions have different purposes (e.g. sharing ideas, asking questions, giving feedback, and solving problems) and ways of participating (e.g. offering suggestions or opini…

🔗 Unit Progression & Next Steps

To be populated in Phase 3: A narrative of this unit's lesson arc. How do students progress from opening inquiry to final synthesis?

Lesson Sequence (auto-generated in Phase 3):

Instructions for Phase 3: Auto-generate from lessons/ directory. Write a 1-line focus for each lesson (what does it add to the unit arc?). End with a bridge to next unit or real-world application.

Pedagogical Foundations | Ngā Tūāpou Akoranga

Map reading and spatial reasoning at Year 6 sit at the transition from concrete manipulation to formal spatial abstraction. Three researchers explain why the zoo provides the ideal developmental context.

Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget

Year 6 students are consolidating concrete operations and beginning the transition to formal spatial reasoning — exactly Piaget’s predicted developmental window for map and grid work. The ability to mentally rotate a map to match one’s orientation, or to understand that a map-distance represents a ground-distance at a fixed ratio, requires the kind of systematic spatial thinking that Piaget’s model locates at this age. The zoo map is concrete enough to handle but abstract enough to develop formal spatial concepts.

Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner

Gardner’s spatial-visual intelligence — the ability to perceive, hold, and transform spatial information — is what map adventure develops directly. Students who do not thrive in text-heavy literacy tasks frequently demonstrate sophisticated spatial reasoning when given maps, grids, and navigation challenges. This unit systematically develops the intelligence that school most often fails to assess.

Progressive Education

John Dewey

Dewey’s test — does the student’s learning involve genuine action in a genuine environment? — is met when the map is of a real place students can visit. Abstract map exercises prepare students for reading maps; reading the Hamilton Zoo map IS reading a map. Real tools applied to real places produces the confident, transferable skill that workbook map-reading cannot.

→ Explore all theorists at Te Whare Ako — Teaching Theory