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SavannahYear 8

Year 4 · Maps and our place in the world

Using maps, atlases and globes

Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied

25 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied

Key learning points

  • • A view from above
  • • Key, scale and colour
  • • Continents and oceans first
  • • Globes, atlases and digital maps

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 20 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • No marked quiz yet
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

atlasesglobesdigitalcomputermapping

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 20 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 20

Watch first

Using maps, atlases and globes

Take a quick trip around all seven continents of the world.

Do it for real

The practicals below use what the film shows, with a full method you can follow at home.

Track a shadow to find north

In a nutshell

Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 20

Before we start

What you already know

You know that the Earth is round and that we live in the United Kingdom.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 20

Key words

Words you'll need today

atlas
A book of maps.
key
The list that explains what the map symbols mean.
scale
How much the real ground has been shrunk to fit the map.
symbol
A small picture or colour standing for a real feature.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 20

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — What a map really is

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 20

Learn

A view from above

Maps are drawn as a bird would see the ground, looking straight down. That is why a house is a rectangle and a roundabout is a circle. Once you expect the view from above, maps stop looking strange.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 20

Learn

Key, scale and colour

Every map has a key. Blue usually means water, green means woodland or open land, brown lines show high ground. The scale tells you how much the land has shrunk: on one map two centimetres might mean one kilometre of real ground.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 20

Quick check

A map is drawn as if you are...

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 20

Quick check

The key on a map tells you...

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 20

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 20

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — Finding places fast

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 20

Learn

Continents and oceans first

There are seven continents — Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America — and five oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic. Learn these and you always have a starting point for any new place.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 20

Learn

Globes, atlases and digital maps

A globe shows the true round shape but you cannot see it all at once. A flat map shows everything but stretches the shapes, especially near the poles. Digital maps let you zoom from your street to the whole planet, which is why they are so useful for checking where somewhere really is.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 20

Quick check

How many continents are there?

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 20

Quick check

Why do flat world maps stretch shapes?

15

Investigate evidence

Part 15 of 20

Evidence 1 of 1

map

An Ordnance Survey Explorer map extract

Ordnance Survey, Present day

Blue ribbon winding north to south, green blocks either side, a small blue triangle labelled 'Youth hostel', thin brown lines curving tighter towards the top right.

Ordnance Survey has mapped Britain since 1791 and its symbols are the ones used on walking maps today.

Think like a historian

The brown lines bunch up in the top right corner. What does that tell you about the ground there, and how do you know?

Source: Ordnance Survey Explorer series, published for public use.

View the archive record ↗
16

Common mix-ups

Part 16 of 20

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Thinking blue on a map always means sea. It also means rivers, lakes and reservoirs.
  • Thinking a flat world map shows true sizes. Greenland looks far bigger than it is.
  • Ignoring the key and guessing what symbols mean.
17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 20

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

18

Challenge round

Part 18 of 20

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

____ maps let you zoom from your street to the whole planet, which is why they are so useful for checking where somewhere really is.

19

Mastery quiz

Part 19 of 20

No quiz for this one

This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.

20

Lesson round-up

Part 20 of 20

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

Source for this lesson

Use this for the source work task below.

An Ordnance Survey Explorer map extract

map

Ordnance Survey, Present day

Blue ribbon winding north to south, green blocks either side, a small blue triangle labelled 'Youth hostel', thin brown lines curving tighter towards the top right.

Ordnance Survey has mapped Britain since 1791 and its symbols are the ones used on walking maps today.

Source: Ordnance Survey Explorer series, published for public use.

View the original record ↗

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 20 · Watch & discover

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