Cover lesson · Languages, Literacy and Communication · Year 3 · Beginner
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling
Also assessed, LNF: Numeracy → Number system → The number system
Name: Class: Date:
What this practises: following, debugging and changing an algorithm (a set of instructions) without a computer. Pupils use a library flowchart to sort 10 returned books, put the non-fiction numbers in order, find 2 bugs and add a new rule. Ordering 3-digit numbers and writing them in words and figures is the numeracy (number system) evidence.
Print: this sheet, one per pupil, in colour if you can. Pupils need a pencil. No computers are needed.
Run: 5 min read “What you are doing” aloud and follow the flowchart together for Book 1 (Rugby skills: it has a number, so it goes on the non-fiction shelf) · 8 min Step 1 · 10 min Step 2 · 7 min Step 3 · 10 min Step 4 · 10 min Step 5 · 7 min Step 6 · 3 min swap and check with a partner. Total 60 minutes.
Collect: this sheet. The numeracy evidence is Step 2 (6 numbers in order with < signs) and Step 5 (numbers in words and figures, and placing new numbers). Answers: Step 2 398 < 523 < 591 < 597 < 796 < 942; Step 4 the swapped books are 597 and 591. The worked example has the rest.
The books in the class library have been returned in a muddle. In many libraries, non-fiction (information) books have a number on the spine, so books about the same subject sit together. Story books have the first 3 letters of the author’s surname instead. Your job is to follow the library’s algorithm, put the books in the right order, and fix the mistakes other people made.
Follow the flowchart for each book. Tick the shelf it goes on.
| Book | Label on the spine | Story shelf | Non-fiction shelf |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 796 | ||
| 2 | DAH | ||
| 3 | 523 | ||
| 4 | 942 | ||
| 5 | WIL | ||
| 6 | 398 | ||
| 7 | 597 | ||
| 8 | MOR | ||
| 9 | 591 | ||
| 10 | DON |
How many books go on each shelf? Story shelf: ______ Non-fiction shelf: ______
The non-fiction shelf goes from the smallest number on the left to the biggest on the right. Write the 6 numbers in order. Use the < sign, which means “is less than”.
______ < ______ < ______ < ______ < ______ < ______
Which two numbers were the hardest to put in order? Why?
The story shelf goes in A to Z order of the 3 letters. Write the 4 labels in order.
______ , ______ , ______ , ______
A bug is a mistake that makes an algorithm go wrong. Debugging means finding the bug and fixing it.
a) Lowri shelved the non-fiction books like this:
Which two books are in the wrong order? ______ and ______
b) Gareth wrote the algorithm as a list:
1. Pick up the top book from the pile.
2. Does it have a number on the spine?
3. Yes: put it on the non-fiction shelf in number order. No: put it on the story shelf in A to Z order.
4. Stop.
Gareth followed his algorithm. Only 1 book was put away. What is the bug?
Write a new step 4 to fix it.
a) Write these spine numbers in words.
| Number | In words |
|---|---|
| 597 | |
| 942 |
b) Write these numbers in figures.
| In words | Number |
|---|---|
| seven hundred and ninety-six | |
| three hundred and ninety-eight |
c) Three new books arrive. Predict where each one goes on the non-fiction shelf.
| New book | It goes between … and … |
|---|---|
| Easy cooking, 641 | |
| Welsh rugby stars, 796 | |
| Dinosaurs, 567 |
The school wants all books written in Welsh to go on a new shelf: the Cymraeg shelf. Write the new question and the new instruction, and say where they go in the flowchart.
| New question | |
|---|---|
| If the answer is yes | |
| It goes after the box |