Page 4 - Crossing the B Line Book 2

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the ‘Crossing the B-Line’ and the Move, Jump and follow’ suite of mathematical, spatial
awareness and working memory activities. This booklet covers 165 mathematical & skill building activities
at the primary school level and is divided into three sections as follows:

1. Basic Maths (48 Activities / Junior Primary)
2. Advanced Maths (33 Activities / Middle Primary)
3. Spatial Awareness / Working Memory (66 Activities / Primary)
4. Move, Jump and Follow (18 Activities / Primary)

For each activity, the teacher calls out a series of instructions (moves) and the children carry out each
instruction in turn by moving the corresponding named brick to the required new position. This requires
steady concentration and repeated cognitive processing.

If, for example you are using the ‘Crossing the B-line mat and the six bricks are all in their starting position
on the B-Line (red line) and the teacher says: Yellow to 4. In this case the child moves the yellow brick to
the blue line immediately above the red line as this is ‘4’. If the teacher says: Light blue to 1, then the pupil
moves the light blue brick to the bottom blue line as this is ‘1’. Please view the mat layout diagrams for
instructions.

Each movement mat activity usually lasts for about 20 teacher call-outs. It can be a lesser number. If
the children have listened carefully, processed each instruction correctly and moved the corresponding
coloured brick to its new position, then at the end of all 20 call-outs, their bricks should now be in the new
positions as determined by the answer key at the end of the activity e.g. All bricks end up on the red line.

As children participate in the activities for each mat, they are:
• Listening carefully & staying focused
• Making sense of the language and vocabulary
• Following the instructions
• Remembering the specifics of the task or challenge in order to carry it out (working memory)
• Exercising perceptual skills, fine motor skills, eye-hand co-ordination, etc.
• Cognitively processing and carrying out the task using existing knowledge, skill and understanding

We know that performing physical activities builds neural pathways and the more neural pathways the
brain has, the easier it is to learn. Perceptual and motor skills are necessary and important in preparing
the child’s brain for learning - they build that strong base to support future academic learning. Within
the many activities in this book, there is a focus on the development of vocabulary, spatial relationships,
working memory, cognitive processing and task completion.

You can engage your Six Bricks mats and activities at any time of the day. Here are some suggestions:
• At the end of a day to simply unwind and have a little bit of fun
• First thing in the morning to sharpen the brain and get ready for learning
• Just after break to refocus attention and settle down
• As a brain-break during the course of a school day - stop whatever you are doing and re-energise the
brain as you play!