Teaching geography at Warren Road Primary School
Subject Leader: Vacant
What we are learning
Please click on your child’s age group below to read more about what your child will be learning this academic year
Year 1
Autumn
Through the adventures of Barnaby Bear, the children will learn: – to locate a variety of places at home and abroad, to find places on a map, to recognise the features of a place, to identify the types of weather experienced in different places, to learn about the location of other places, to learn about types of transport used to get to other places.
Spring
The children will learn about their sense of place in relation to home and school, they will about plan shapes and learn how to draw a simple route from one place to another within the school. They will learn about the physical and human features of the local area. They will visit the local area and gives their views about it, discussing how it can be improved as well as its good features. They will be able to identify some of the uses of the building in the locality.
Summer
The children will learn to locate a variety of places at home and abroad, be able to find places on a map, they will recognise some of the important features of a place and that weather will have an effect on people and the landscape. They will about the types of transport used to get to other places and that maps have co-ordinates being able to read simple map co-ordinates.
Year 2
Autumn
Simple Map Work
Using maps of the UK and Italy to locate the main features and places. Use simple grids for co-ordinates to locate places on maps.
Spring
Rainforests
The main focus of the unit is on knowledge and understanding of a contrasting place eg the rainforests of the world. It is intended as an introduction to looking at a distant locality using atlases and using selected information about that area. The unit offers links to art and design, PSHE and citizenship, history and literacy. The unit’s links with other curriculum areas such as art and design give children a more rounded view of a place. The links to other subjects could be extended to, for example, music and design and technology.
Summer
Seaside locations
The theme of the seaside is set mainly in a geographical context but uses a historical perspective to help children understand how seaside places have evolved over time. The work is developed with history and science links. A visit is encouraged during this work. The activities at the end of the unit have a more global emphasis which are suitable for more able children.
Year 3
Spring
The Mountain Environment
Whilst working on this topic, children will have the opportunity to learn about a mountain environment, where they are found, look at maps and atlases to locate world mountain ranges. They will learn how a mountain is formed and know about the human activities and the flora and fauna in a mountain environment. They will look at what it is like to live in a mountainous area and how it supports peoples’ livelihoods.
Weather around the World
This is a ‘medium’ unit. It helps children to develop ideas about weather conditions around the world. The focus is the relationship between weather and tourism and where we go on holiday. They look at the location of hot and cold places around the world and how they compare to our locality. Children look at what the weather would be like, what would they do and how does that inform our choices of what to take with us.
Year 4
Spring
Chembakolli
During this topic children will be learning; where Asia, India and Chembakolli are, the differences between the UK and Chembakolli, what similarities there are between homes in the UK and Chembakolli, how people buy goods in Chembakolli and the comparisons between a child’s daily life in Chembakolli and in the UK.
China
During this topic children will learn about various aspects of Chinese life. Comparing their findings with the UK, looking at the differences and similarities between different areas in China, how they stay healthy in China and lastly the environmental issues being created in China today.
Year 5
Autumn
This term, the children concentrate on History but elements of Geography feature in the map work they study during this topic.
Spring
This term the children learn about the local area, how it has been established and how it can be improved; linking their ideas to sustainable living.
Summer
Over the summer term children learn about the geographical features of the river, including meanders, disposition, transportation and we look at the water cycle. This topic includes a trip to the river Darent, where the children measure various aspects of the river, such as depth and speed.
Year 6
Autumn – Geographical Phenomenon
The unit begins with understanding the structure of the earth and plate tectonics to give context to the forces that generate some of the natural phenomenon experienced on earth. A range of natural disasters are studied as a result of these plate movements, such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunami’s. Children also study at how these natural disasters affect life on earth in both a positive and a negative way. The unit links to PSHE&C here, as children are encouraged to compare how rich and poor counties cope with such disasters. Other phenomena studied include forest fires and hurricanes.
Spring – Map Skills
Children study how to read various types of maps, looking at relief and land-shape, through the use of contours and spot heights. Children also learn how to use 6 figure grid references and keys, to read maps and locate items and places on a map. This unit links to the Isle of Wight trip as the children are taught how to use an OS map of the island and find key places of interest, that they will visit on the trip.
Summer – Coasts
In this unit, children study the forces that shape the coasts of Great Britain. In particular how rock type, weathering and erosion produce some of the features to be found around out coastline, such as headlands, bays arches and stacks. Children learn how to explain how these features are formed and how to use geographical diagrams to support their explanations. From a Human Geographical perspective, we study how to protect the coast-line in a sustainable way and examine differing points of view of how people use the coasts. Again this unit links to the Isle of Wight trip, where we examine the coastal features and erosion on the island and understand how the geology of the island impacts on this.
