Suggested Geography books;
Geography
Intent
We want our pupils to become responsible, global citizens, who have a solid understanding of place, and appreciate and respect the diverse cultures and traditions of our world. Starting by developing a sound knowledge of locality and community, our learners develop their understanding of their effect on the wider world and their responsibility to protect it. Pupils are taught about the physical features of the Earth and about human activity, including populations, politics and economics. We use our outdoor space and opportunities to compare and contrast locations, settlements and societies. Global facts and subject specific skills combine to produce well rounded geographers.
Implementation
We use the National Curriculum and our self-developed ‘Pilgrim Progress’ assessment procedures provide support for staff and pupils to monitor their progress against the gaining of key skills and knowledge. This important spine allows us to manage our split classes and plan a clear four year cycle of topics and learning that begins with an individual child's starting point. The foundation stones to a successful education lie in the acquisition of basic skills and knowledge.
Geography at St Mark’s is taught in blocks throughout the year, so that children can achieve depth in their learning. Teachers have identified the key knowledge and skills of each blocked topic and theses are mapped across the school, ensuring that knowledge builds progressively and that children develop skills systematically. Existing knowledge is checked at the beginning of each topic, as we move towards the Pilgrim Progress system. Teaching is then informed and relevant to each child. Our unique location and site mean that we start with the ‘local’ and the individual when we look at Geography.
For those children with additional needs or barriers to learning with in the subject of Geography we may use adaptations such as:
- Enlarged resources (charts, maps pictures and tables).
- Extracts of maps instead of whole maps.
- Adapting instructions and using additional modelling.
- Words banks and sentence starters.
- Revisit key words frequently.
- Use of physical resources to help with areas of Maths in Geography (including, where necessary, calculators).
two year cycle for geography c.pdf
Geography Pilgrim Progress.
- Geography
- Geography Apr 2020 - Year 1
- Geography Apr 2020 - Year 2
- Geography Apr 2020 - Year 3
- Geography Apr 2020 - Year 4
- Geography Apr 2020 - Year 5
- Geography Apr 2020 - Year 6
- Geography Skills
Impact
Outcomes in Geography and other books, evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrate children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge relating to each of the identified national curriculum strands.
Starting from their early years in our school, pupils develop a deep knowledge of their locality and apply this knowledge of place to their understanding of of the wider world.
As children progress throughout the school, they develop a deep knowledge, understanding an appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context.
Impact of the curriculum is measured by:
- Assessing children’s understanding of the unit's knowledge and any key vocabulary.
- Assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.
- We will interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
- Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinized and colleagues can give a deeper explanation of context..
Useful Geography Websites
Perfect for any weather topics!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zbkw2hv
Good for improving global knowledge.
Find out facts across history and geography.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/default.stm
Global news and events.
Find a location and explore!
https://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam-in-action/tackling-climate-change/
Two sites that are brilliant for global citizenship.
Y1/Y2 Let's Explore London
We started our topic by sharing our knowledge of London and identifying some of the landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, The Houses of Parliament and the River Thames.
We drew Big Ben as the cover sheet for our topic. 
Edison Maddison Ava
Freya commented, "London is the capital city of England and my Aunty lives there."
Pricilla said, " The river Thames is the river that goes through London."
Teddy commented, "London has lots of bridges. Tower bridge is by the Tower of London."
We used a pictorial map and a compass to find our way around London landmarks.
We practised using the vocabulary of North, South, East and West when directing each other.
FS/Y1 Castles
We started our topic on Castles.
Mark commented, "I've been to Leeds Castle. I saw fireworks there."
Ruben and Samuel created a castle using Duplo. Ruben said that "It has a drawbridge. " Samuel added, " They pulled the drawbridge up to keep their enemies out. These bits (narrow holes) are for the arrows." Ruben said, "There is water all around it."
Sybil followed pictorial instructions to draw a castle. "It has battlements on the top and the King is home because the flag is flying."
We looked at photos of the castles in each United Kingdom capital city.
Winter commented, "I like Edinburgh Castle best because it is built on an extinct volcano. It is so high that their enemies will find it hard to climb and attack."
Riley commented, " I like Belfast Castle because it is built on a hill and you can see the sea. Edinburgh Castle is scary because it is built on a volcano." We talked about how the castle is built on an extinct volcano and so will not erupt.
Katie commented, "I like the Tower of London. I like the towers."
Sybil commented, "I like Edinburgh's Castle because it is tall and from the top you can see a forest and all of God's world."
Layla commented, "I like Belfast because it has a big turret on the top."