For all the latest Geography curriculum news, please click here.
The geography coordinator at Darwen St James is Mrs Thompson.
Geography Curriculum
Year 1
In Geography this half term we have been learning about seasonal changes and the weather. We have set up a weather station in the playground and check the daily temperature, wind direction, and rain fall. We have thought about the four seasons and identified typical signs of each season that we may see in nature.
Year 3
Year 3 have been studying London as a region in the United Kingdom this term, to contrast against our own region in rural Lancashire. We have learned about the River Thames and the Royal Parks as having a role in the city and contrasted these against the features within the town of Darwen. We have thought about what features would create a capital city, developed our map skills, investigated the population of the city of London over time and learned about the differences between weather and climate.
Year 6
Year 6 have learned about South America this half term. We began by finding South America and Brazil on maps, globes and atlases. We have considered how people live in Brazil, and different human and physical features of the country, along with the climate differences they experience compared to here in the UK. We have studied the different layers of the rainforest, and role played a scenario where we crash landed in a rainforest, and had to decide on our priorities for survival, what we would use from the equipment we had with us, and what type of shelter we could build!
Reception
Reception Class have been reading Handa’s Surprise. The children have explored Kenya, where Handa was from. They have tasted different fruits from Handa’s basket and explored where they were grown.
The oranges were from Egypt, the pineapple was from Costa-Rica and the tangerines were from Morocco.
We have placed the different fruits on our knowledge board.
Year 2
In Year 2 we have been learning about Australia and how long it would take us to get there - 24 hours! We have discovered what life would be like as a tourist visiting Sydney and all the amazing sights it has to offer. We have learned about the famous landmark Ayers Rock and also discovered the beauty that is the Great Barrier Reef.
Year 3
Year 3 has been looking at Great Britain and our local area. The children had to find the countries within Great Britain and then their capital cities. We then focused on Lancashire and found other towns within it. We then moved onto looking at a contrasting area-East Anglia in the South East.
Year 4
Year 4 have been learning all about ‘A Region in Europe’. We have looked at lots of different types of maps of the continent of Europe, including religious maps, population maps, climate maps, and political maps. We know lots of countries that are in Europe and we can find and label many European countries too. We have looked at the oceans of the world and have looked at the tectonic plates. We have looked closely at the Mediterranean Sea and we know several facts about it. We have researched information about some countries from Europe and have found similarities and differences. We have looked closely at Italy and some of its cities and regions. We have looked at Sicily in lots of detail and we have written a holiday brochure all about it.
Year 5
Year 5 have been learning all about World Trade. We begun by exploring where the clothes we were come from, and hypothesising why certain countries may manufacture clothing. We have used Google Earth, Google Maps and Digimaps to look at the manufacturing process of an Apple Iphone- discussing why three different countries may be involved in the process. Finally, we have been looking at food miles and carbon footprints, through researching some different lunch box items. Our topic also featured in DT, whereby we used our Fairtrade knowledge to look at ingredients for our biscuits!
Year 1
In Year 1 we have been learning about the U.K. We can locate the U.K on a map of the world and name the four countries that make up the U.K. We also learned the capital cities of the four countries and found out more about London and drew some well known landmarks. Later we went on a field trip to Darwen town centre to look at some local landmarks.
Year 2
Our unit this half term has been Extreme Weather. We began by thinking of weather as seasonal before looking at the extreme climate and environment of the polar regions. We looked in more detail at the Arctic and Antarctic and enjoyed learning about the types of animals that live there. We then looked at the environment and climate of equatorial areas, in particular the Amazon Rainforest.
Year 3
In Year 3 the children have been looking at rivers. The children looked at a wide range of rivers vocabulary that they then transferred to the journey of a river. We went into the hall and the children, working in pairs, had to draw the journey of a river and then label it. They worked really hard. In another lesson the children had to use printed digi maps of the journey of river Darwen to the River Ribble. It was quite tricky but they were successful in the end.
Year 4
In year 4 we loved learning about the topic called ‘Polar Regions’. We know what creates a place locally and globally. We found the coldest and warmest parts of the school by measuring the temperatures using thermometers. We are able to use an atlas to locate the coldest places on earth. We have learnt why Antarctica and Antarctic are so cold and why the equator is so warm. We have looked at lots of different forms of ice including pancake ice, permanent ice, ice shelf, glacier, icebergs. We have found out which animals live there, all from the comfort of our lovely warm classroom!
Year 5
In year 5 the children have been conducting an investigation unit into their local area. We have explored the local area of Darwen, including looking at different landmarks within the town. The children then went on a local area walk whereby the examined the area for its quality and upkeep. Throughout the unit, the children have logged their findings on digimaps, which is an online platform. They found this tricky at first but have persevered and can now use digimaps very well!
Year 6
Year 6 have undertaken a 2 week fieldwork study about travelling to school, and the risks and safety features of our local environment. They learnt how to use OS maps, using 4- and 6- figure references, and also used Digimaps to create routes to home and primary school, school to a local park, and also mapped out their potential journeys to high school next year. We also considered different travel arrangements to and from school, and alternative choices to car journeys. These pictures show risk and safety features of our environment identified by the children.
Nursery: Preschool
This half term we have been looking at were we live, we searched on the internet to find our houses and then looked at who might live near us. The children then created their houses.
Nursery: Two's Room
In the Two’s Room, we created blocks with our faces on and we used them to explore our classroom environment.
Nursery: Preschool
We have been exploring our environment around and in nursery. Looking at the areas we play in and what we do in them areas. We created a lovely display in our small world area.
Year 1
In Year 1 we have been learning about ‘Our School’ and the surrounding area. We talked about the layout of our school and talked about areas we like and don’t like. We redesigned some areas such as the KS1 seating area and the library. We also talked about signage and its uses. We designed some of our own signs for school and explained their purpose. Looking outside of school, we talked about our immediate area such as church and the bowling club, and further afield such as the town centre library and India Mill.
Year 2
In Year 2 we have been learning all about the oceans and continents of the world. We have been practising their names and where they are located. We looked closely at the continents of Europe, Asia and the wonders of the world.
Year 3
This half term the children have been looking at London. They have used Google Earth to look at the United Kingdom and then focused their attention on the four countries and their capital cities. After that the children focused in more detail about London and its population. They then looked at famous landmarks in London and the famous parks that surround it.
Year 4
This half term we having been looking at the Mediterranean, peninsula country of Italy and focusing on the city of Bologna. We have studied 4 local school children from the local school there and compared their lifestyles, diet and school subjects enjoyed and compared them to life in our school community of Darwen.
Year 6
Year 6 have learned all about the United Kingdom this half term. We began by understanding the difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and the British Isles, and then looked at some key human and physical landmarks in each of the four countries, we identified capital cities and the seas around the United Kingdom. We have learnt about the climate of the UK, some key topographical features such as mountains and rivers, and considered the populations of all four countries, including the ethnic diversity within those populations. We have studied some regional food, and undertaken a comparison study of two diverse cities of the UK: Blackpool and Birmingham.
Nursery: Two's Room
In the Two’s room we had lots of fun tasting different fruit and vegetables. We enjoyed eating some of them but didn’t like some too. We talked about where we get our fruit and vegetables from and how they grow.
Reception
Reception has been learning about their local community this half term. They started off with a geographical walk around the St James estate and then ventured further afield into Darwen Town Centre.
Nursery: Preschool
The children have been learning about farm animals, where they live, what sounds they make and their features. What makes them different to wild animals. We explore what cows give us and how sheeps wool makes our clothes, chickens give us eggs and what we can use animals for.
Reception
Reception Class has visited Vue Cinema in Blackburn to watch Paw Patrol. We walked down to Darwen Train Station and rode the train to Blackburn. The children loved looking out of the window at the different scenery, talking about what they could see.
We arrived at Blackburn Train Station, waved goodbye to the train and made the short journey to Vue Cinema. The children were so excited to watch the film and they behaved beautifully!
Year 1
Year 1 have been learning about the weather and seasonal change. We have learned the meaning of different weather symbols and how the weather can vary in different regions of the U.K. We have also been monitoring the weather on a daily basis and recording our findings in a chart. The photographs show Year 1 discussing the appropriate clothing for different weathers.
Year 2
Year 2 have been learning about the city of Hong Kong. We have been developing our geography skills in focussing on natural and man-made features. We looked closely at the weather in Hong Kong and what it is like to live there. As well as this we compared the human aspects of Hong Kong with what it is like to live in Darwen. We loved the dragon dancing!
Year 3
In Year 3 the children have been looking at the topic-Human Changes. Within this topic the children have recapped their work on the United Kingdom, capital cities and towns. In one particular lesson the children used atlases to locate different towns within Lancashire. They have also enjoyed using Digi maps to locate Darwen and look at how Darwen has changed over a period of time. They particularly enjoyed using Google Earth to locate their homes!
Year 5
Year 5 have learnt about World Trade this half term, understanding where our goods come from. We have looked at clothing as part of this unit, and discovered that some clothes are made and shipped across the globe from countries far away. We have mapped the journey of goods we buy in this country, and considered fair trade as part of this subject.
Year 6
Year 6 have been learning about the USA this half term. We have used maps of the country to discover more about the states, cities and some physical and human features of the USA. We learned about the population of the USA, and where the majority of the people are located, using a graph to sort physical and human features into high density or low density reasons. We have then gone on to consider the varied climate in the USA as another reason for the density of the population in certain places, and have written postcards from a state we studied in detail, letting our friends and families know what the weather is like there!
The subject lead for Geography at Darwen St James is Mrs Thompson.
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