Nee-naw, nee-naw! The Rover is an emergency vehicle. Students make a siren from repeating red and blue lights and high and low buzzes, spot the AB pattern, then drive to an emergency and back to the station.
At a Glance
- Year levels: Foundation – Year 2
- Time: Two 25-minute sessions
- Blocks: Make Lights Red/Blue, Buzz High/Low, Forward, Reverse, Turn Left, Turn Right
- You need: Tape grid (Foundation: a strip of 4 squares, D1 to D4, is enough), red and blue counters, block cards, a toy for the "emergency", 1 Rover + 1 iPad per group of 3
I Can…
- make a red, blue, red, blue pattern with cards
- say what comes next in my siren
- drive the Rover to the emergency and back
- make up a new siren pattern
Curriculum (Digital Technologies F–2): following a sequence of steps; recognising patterns. Strong links to Maths (repeating patterns) and HASS (emergency services).
The Tape Grid
The Junior tape grid: 7 × 7 squares, start on D1, boxes on B5 and F3
- Run one Forward and mark how far the Rover goes. That is your square size.
- Tape a 7 × 7 grid: columns A–G across, rows 1–7 going away from you.
- The station is D1 (Rover faces row 7). Boxes on B5 and F3. The emergency (a toy cat up a "tree") goes on D4.
Warm-Up: Be the Siren
- Hold up red and blue cards: "Red, blue, red, blue… what comes next?"
- The class is the siren: arms out wide for red, hands up high for blue (same as the Dance Party), a high "nee" for Buzz High, a low "naw" for Buzz Low.
- Change the order, then let a student lead.
Predict → Run → Check
- Predict: "The lights will go red, blue, red, blue, and the Rover will stop on…"
- Run: press Play. Hands off!
- Check: did the pattern hold? Did it get home? If not, chant the cards to find the block that breaks it.
Groups of 3. Pass the iPad on after every run.
Steps
1. Make a Siren
The siren: Make Lights Red, Buzz High, Make Lights Blue, Buzz Low, repeated. Red-high is A and blue-low is B, so the pattern is ABAB. Below, an AABB siren: red, red, blue, blue
Red-high (A), blue-low (B), A, B. Point to each card and say the letter.
2. Drive to the Emergency
Siren, Forward three times to the emergency on D4, siren again, then Reverse three times back to the station on D1
Predict: will the Rover face the same way when it gets home? (Yes. Reverse drives backwards without turning.)
3. Around the Corner (Years 1–2)
Emergency on E5: siren, Forward four times, Turn Right, Forward, siren, then turn around with two Turn Rights, Forward, Turn Left and Forward four times home to D1
Walk this one on the grid first. Turning around, then turning left, is tricky to picture.
Make It Easier or Harder
- Easier: lights only (Red, Blue, Red, Blue), then add the buzzes.
- Harder: an AABB or ABC siren, or get home without Reverse.
Extensions
- Different vehicles: a siren for each one. Ambulance AABB, fire truck red, Buzz Low, red, Buzz Low. Can the class guess the vehicle?
- Pattern detectives: one group plays a siren; the others write it as letters (ABAB, AABB).
Teacher Tips
- Session one: the siren. Session two: the drive.
- Practise patterns without the Rover first: counters, unifix cubes or students in a line.
- A room of buzzing Rovers is loud. Agree on a "lights only" signal.
Reflection
- Thumbs up, sideways or down: "I can make and continue a pattern."
- Colour your siren as a row of red and blue circles.
Try It in the Simulator
No Rover? Tap the Bot ID box, choose Use the simulator, build your siren and drive, and press Play. Watch the lights change, and check the Rover comes back to where it started.
The siren switches to blue in the simulator
