a bit of a mystery

Take a look at this.

It was sitting on  my desk when I arrived at school on Tuesday morning.  What could it mean?

‘Maybe it’s a number puzzle,’ suggests Yousouf.  Well, it is a mystery - and there are numbers there!

Ella goes on.  ‘Maybe there are clues round the playground,’ she offers.

A flutter of excitement at this!  ‘Yeah – we gotta check something,’ agrees Nicholas. 

What about those two words at the top.  Can anybody help us with them?

Tanisha steps into the breach.  ‘Garden map,’ she reads, confidently. 

Melchior has ‘puzzled’ on his face.  ‘What is a map?’ he asks.  Great question.  Does anyone know?

Yousouf is quick with his answer.  ‘If you are lost, you have a map,’ he tells us all.  ‘You have a map to see where the place is.’

‘A map helps you find your way because it can show you the way.’  This from Nicholas.

Well, yes…..in a way I suppose it can!

Tanisha hasn’t forgotten the second word on the mysterious piece of paper.  Map, yes, but also garden.  ‘Maybe we have to find something in the garden,’ she suggests.

Time for a bit of a clue, I feel.  Let’s stroll over to the school garden and take a closer look…..

Lay the map on the ground, lined up along one edge of the school garden.  Does that help anyone?  The numbers, you see, mark different places in the garden.  Look at the shapes on the map – and the shapes of the ‘beds’.  Can anyone find the place marked 8?  Children scatter in all directions – but quick as a flash, Bianca heads to the right place.  She had noticed that the shapes of the ‘beds’ in the garden were the same as the shapes drawn on the map.   The 5 rectangles numbered 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 on the map matched the 5 raised ‘beds’.  Well done Bianca!

Now look more closely.  Our gardening task this week is in the area coloured green with the purple edge.  Number 11. 

Ah yes – there it is!  Off to the right.  With that pointy bit.  I guess that maybe the garden tools all lined up there were a bit of a give-away…..