Desert Regions: Single Lesson for Year 1/2

The National Curriculum states that Children should be taught to identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the equator and the North and South Poles.

Children should also be taught to use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied at this key stage.

In this lesson children will learn about desert regions across the world. Children will use a world map to locate fifteen deserts across the world’s continents. Children will participate in a desert regions quiz all about the location of the deserts and their climate. Children will visualise and draw what they think a desert looks like. Children will then look at photographs of the Gobi Desert, Sahara Desert and the Sonoran Desert and discuss their similarities and differences. Children will record facts about meercats and the saguaro cactus which are animals and plants found in desert climates.

What is included?

• Complete lesson plan.
• PowerPoint for the lesson.
• World map with desert locations labelled.
• Location of deserts activity sheet.
• Desert regions quiz!
• Photographs of the Sahara Desert, Gobi Desert and Sonoran Desert.
• Draw a desert activity sheet.
• Links to YouTube videos about meercats.
• Meercats facts sheets (class version and extension version for higher-achieving children).
• Links to YouTube videos about the saguaro cactus.
• Saguaro cactus facts sheets (class version and extension version for higher-ability children).

Files included:

Desert Regions: Single Lesson for Year 1/2 Lesson Plan in a PDF file.

Desert Regions: Single Lesson for Year 1/2 Lesson PowerPoint.