We are geographers.
Over the coming weeks, the children will develop their knowledge of location when locating and identifying the four countries that make up the UK and their capital cities. They also learn which seas surround the UK.
The class will be exploring both human and physical features in their own locality using maps, photographs and fieldwork.
To begin with, we used Google Earth to explore our continent, country, city and town. The children were amazed as we zoomed into planet Earth gradually and finally arrived at our school gates.
Help at home by discussing these images with your child. Can they recall which country, city and town they live in?
Next, the children thought about the size of each locality.
The continent is very big! – Woody
Wetherby looks a lot smaller than Europe! – Daisy
Using concentric circles the class were able to compare the sizes of each location giving them a sense of scale.
Below is the geographical vocabulary that the children will be learning throughout this topic.
atlas: a collection of maps, usually in a book
• city: a large town
• capital city: a city where the government of a country is located
• compass: a tool for finding direction
• locality: an area or neighbourhood
• landmark: an object or feature of a locality that has importance and can be used to help you find your way
• physical geography: physical geography looks at the natural things in our environment
• human geography: human geography looks at changes in the environment by humans
• fieldwork: observing and collecting data in a locality
• map: a drawing of a place, usually from above
• map key: a little box on a map which explains what the
different lines and symbols on a map mean