Geography
Continue to explore the wonders of the world!
“The study of geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exist across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together." -Barack Obama
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
Mini Geographers! The years from birth to age five provide a first opportunity to see how your child interacts with their surroundings and notice the effect that this has on them. The early learning goals support your child to make sense of the world around them and explore, observe and question people, places and their community.
Key Stage 1
In key stage 1, your child is taught to ask geographical questions, use basic observation skills, follow and create maps and use atlases and globes. They will delve into their local environment, identifying the human and physical features within their community. They will learn about where they live in the United Kingdom as well as the other four countries that make up the United Kingdom. They will become ‘weather forecasters’ and learn about the climate in the United Kingdom in comparison to other hot and cold areas of the world. Children will learn and investigate the seven continents, five oceans and make comparisons to other countries within Europe.
Key Stage 2
In key stage two, the Geography curriculum focuses on three main areas:
- Locational knowledge
- Place knowledge
- Human and physical geography
Locational knowledge- examines latitude, longitude and time zones. Your child will use maps to focus on Europe, North and South America, concentrating on regions, key physical / human characteristics, countries, and major cities. They will also work on locating the counties and cities of the United Kingdom, and start to explore their human and physical characteristics. Equipped with this atlases and globes, children will learn about other countries in the world and begin to compare similarities and differences.
For human and physical geography, your child will explore climate zones, rivers, mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, the water cycle, types of settlement, economic activity and the distribution of natural resources.
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WPPA Geography topics
Y1
Y2
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Y3
Autumn 1 - Settlements and land use in the UK
Summer 1 - Climate zones and Blomes
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Y4
Spring - Amazon - River and Rainforests
Y5
Summer 1 - Baghdad and Middle East
Y6
Summer 1 - Mapping the world
Some ideas to try at home:
- Explore a globe. Is the world flat? What countries can you find?
- Close your eyes, spin the globe, research about the country that your finger lands on. You could create a video, a fact file or make a PowerPoint presentation.
- Learn about the oceans and the continents. Here are some songs to help: Song A, Song B
- Make a volcano out of baking soda, vinegar and soap and learn about how they are formed and what happens when they explode!
There are lots of helpful and interactive Geography resources and websites out there. Here are a selection of some of the best:
There are plenty of amazing educational videos on Youtube that can be used as part of learning at home (and also inside the classroom). Why not take advantage of these free resources to help your children discover more about a wide range of subjects and topics?
- Learn about the continents around the world with this playlist from National Geographic Kids.
- BBC Teach has a playlist that can help your primary children to learn about different geographical concepts.
- This playlist from Kids Learning Tube is full of videos to teach your children about countries around the world.
