The river Tees flows for 85 miles through Northern England from Cross Fell in the Pennines, to the North sea near Middlesbrough. It shows typical valley features of the long profile of a river and is an important example to study for the new AQA GCSE Geography curriculum. This 6 part storyboard activity allows students to make notes independently at key stages along the river’ journey from the BBC bitesize website amongst others. This was written for lower to middle ability students in mind to give them lots of visual references to remember key facts about the river Tees. There are 3 exam type extension questions at the bottom of the worksheet to stretch the more able students in the class. To complete the task they must show skills such as field-sketching, map reading and comprehension.

Land use refers to what is built on the land at a specific point or the way in which humans use it; for example- residential, industrial, commerce and so on. Land use patterns vary considerably between HIc’s and Lic’s and this lesson examines the Hoyt and Burgess model with a focus task on Brazil. Students must place phototgraphs around their models base on their knowlege of land use patterns. They will start with a quick recap on keywords linked to the theme of urbanisation and urban environments. Fiinally a 4 mark exam question wil test their ability to compare land use between HIc’s and LIC’s. Written for the older AQA GCSE Geography syllabus, but still relevant today.

Written for year 7, this lesson has a literacy focus and introduces students to some of the physical geography and landscape characteristics of the Tundra Biome and it’s cold environment. Students analyse the descriptive vocabulary and adjectives used to describe Svalbard, then build a bank of keywords as a class to use independently in their travel writing. The aim of the lesson is to complete an extended piece of writing to take the reader on an imaginary journey through the tundra around the archipelago of Svalbard ( travel journalism skills). There is a writing frame worksheet to support students write about the physical and human geography using the 5 senses. This differentiated lesson could easily be adapted for year 8 or 9 and gets student familiar with cold environments at GCSE geography.

This comprehensive lesson explores the concept of Urban farming, and how it improves food security in the developing city of Jakarta. Urban farming is the use of limited or marginalised city spaces ( for example roof tops) to grow a range of crops for sale in local markets or for self . This can be done by collective group efforts or individually. Through a series of video tasks, photo analysis and problem solving, students will learn the needed facts and statistics needed for their GCSE Geography paper 2 ’ Human Exam’. This lesson fits in with the wider curriculum of the topic of the AQA spec ’ challenge of resource management '. The main task involved writing a letter with stem prompts in the margin, to practice extended writing and literacy skills.

This resource builds on students prior understanding of the biotic and abiotic parts of the pond ecosystem, to develop critical thinking skills or thunks. This resource present series of scenarios where man-made or natural actions cause an element of change in the pond ecosystem and food chain. Students must annotate their blank pond diagram, like the example shown, in order to likely or possible changes that happen as a direct or indirect result. This flexible activity could be done as a starter, in pairs or larger groups. Possibly as a carousel revision activity, or as a stimulus for an exam response. I would encourage students to share their annotations with the class and explain why they think these things will happen. Links with the ‘Living World’ aqa GCSE Geography specification.

This game has been adapted to encourage students to use the proper GCSE Geography language of ’ DESCRIBE’ in order to cross off landforms on the sheet such as wave cut platforms, beaches bars, tombolo’s arches and stumps. Instead of pupils asking the questions on the features of people, they ask each other questions on the features of the landforms; is it made by erosion? Is it tall or flat? Is it exposed at low tide? etc. This will encourage students to become lead learners and have dialogue about their knowlege. perfect for an easy, no plan revision or intervention schedule. The best way to play the game is to insert each coloured sheet into a clear plastic wallet and hand each student one of these and a wipeable marker pen. That way you don’t end up continually photocopying and wasting resources.

This full lesson combines sketching skills and reading comprehension to annotate a diagram of the different rainforest layers: forest floor, understory, canopy and emergent layer. Tropical rainforest biomes are found around 0 degrees lattitude, also known as the equator. Almost all GCSE geography examination boards expect students to have a detailed understanding on the layers and features of the rainforest. This lesson includes a kinathstectic mini-quiz to test students understading on each of the layers; they move around the 4 corners of the room to classify statements on each of the different layer characteristics.

I love to spend a lesson doing these reflection activities at the end of a half term or unit of work. These are ideal for lower year groups, 7 and 8, but possibly could be used for junior years at primary school too. I set these when I want some feedback on my topic and also some time to get some assesment marking done. For those that finish early ask them to mount their sheet onto coloured sugar paper and draw a fancy border, alternatively print double-sided with a geography themed colouring page/ map on the reverse. Keep completed copies for displays and to bring out at open evenings.

This is a stand-alone activity using De Bono’s thinking skills/ hats to analysis a GIS image of air pollution levels accorss the uk. There is a link to the met office website to help complete the task, and an extension activity for the more able. The questions are colour-coded into the 6 hats, however you don’t need any prior knowlege on these to utilize the resource. Originally written for our year 9 GIS scheme of work.

A full lesson which can be done with internet research or with textbooks/ revision guides. Student are introduced to a range of landforms and must summarise their formation onto a worksheet grid with links to relevant sites. A detailed annotation task of sand-dunes is included.

Natural hazards come in the form of earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, These are Geological, land based hazards which require careful planning, prediction and preparation strategies in order to reduce the risk to life. This set of printable revision flash cards was designed for some-learning and study, which goes simply beyond cutting them out. Firstly, the student have to complete the gap-fill sections to test their knowledge on key examination types questions, in order to get a full set. The first letter of each word is given, to support lower ability learners and differentiate. This activity was done with lower and middle ability GCSE geography students in mind. It covers core content and theory without testing specific case study information. Questions on the flash cards include the following examples; ’ Give 2 differences between continental and oceanic crust ’ ’ Describe the distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes across the world ’ There is a comprehensive set of 20 flash cards for the topic ’ Challenge of Natural Hazards’ which is tested on the Physical Geography paper 1 exam in the AQA GCSE Geography specification.However, these are also suitable for other GCSE Geography specifications, as this content is covered by all major exam boards. There is a full set of answers for all the gap fill sections included, so that students can complete this task independently at home, or in the classroom. Once complete, these flash cards could be used for students to test each other, by asking other peers the questions on the cards.

As part of the AQA spec A GCSE Geography curriculum, ’ the challenge of resource management’, food is a major focus. All student must know the reasons for increased demand for food, as well as geographical areas of food surplus and food deficit. This lesson covers both. There are a full set of answers to the map/ graph starter question which asks students to analyse the bar chart on regional food production. This lesson could be independantly self-taught, or done as remote learning via webinar as there are lots of video and signpost links to research areas on the internet, however the lower and Middle Abilities would need more structured classroom guidence. This lesson focuses on skills such as graph analysis, independant study skills, and creating a mind map which gives an overview on the 4 main reasons for pushing up food demands globally. There is a 6 mark question to test students understanding.

The characteristics of sustainable cities must encompass social/ environmental / economic advantages to be holistic. This lesson introduces the concept of a sustainable city, by looking at the Bedzed zero carbon residential development in London. The lesson is aimed at the middle ability. mains tasks involve a gap fill to complete statements on what sustainable cities should look like, and be doing. Following this there is a video to make notes on Bedzed, which they then annotate around an image of the development. Finally there is a 9 mark GCSE past exam question with a mark scheme for peer assessment. This lesson fits in with the Urban Issues and Challenges topic, where students must know an example of a sustainable city.

Understanding the speed, direction and likely paths of tropical storms is fundamental in managing risk and saving lives during these atmospheric natural hazard events. Students will combine their understanding of hurricane formation and the prevailing winds across the globe, in order to plot arrows onto a map of the Pacific Ocean. These proportional arrows will represent the wind speeds of the most powerful tropical storms in recent times. Student will be given a table to fill out, using their numeracy skills, to convert wind speed into an arrow width, before locating and drawing these onto the map. Perfect skills based revision lesson, which has detailed instructions, and also shows some of the answers. Can be done in class or independently.

This full lesson and associated worksheets examine the causes effects and responses to his UK based extreme weather flooding event. This lesson includes a fact file of key information like dates, times and damage impacts to help students complete a case study mind map or overview sheet. Could be used as a revision exercise or introducing this natural hazard event for the first time.

This lesson is designed to follow on from the Sumatra Earthquake case study lesson to look at how Chile’s preparation planning and protection ( 3 P’s) helped it to cope with the aftermath of the large magnitude earthquake in 2010. Students then have to plan and write a 9 mark question comparing the 2 earthquakes. A detailed help framework and model answers are provided for each level ; basic, clear and detailed.

Coastal mass movements occur when gravity acts on an unstable part of a cliff face which may have been eroded or undercut by destructive wave action. Students on the GCSE geography AQA specification need to know an example or case study of mass movement for their paper 1 examination. This lesson looks at the causes, effects and responses to the landslide at Holbeck Hall, which fell into the sea in 1993. This full lesson includes the overview on the different types of mass movement; rockfall, landslide and rotational slip. It then covers Holbeck Hall and an associated 6 mark exam question with a student-friendly peer assessment mark scheme.

Using a simple 3d slot- in Christmas tree template, this will keep your kS3 geography classes happy and crafting in the festive season. The Christmas tree templates have been adapted on photoshop to show a choice of 3 designs; maps of lapland, images of biomes and flags of the world. Student can also use a blank template to record and reflect on their geographical learning from accross the year. These templates could also easily be used to make geographical themed christmas bunting! Simple and easy to do, but effective and would make a lovely set of classroom displays, ideal for open evenings. These designs will work well photocopied in black and white, and students can add colour themselves to extend the activity and keep photocopying budgets down.

This lesson looks at why earthquakes form at destructive, constructive and conservative plate margins. Student develop key paper 1 examination skills by learning to draw and annotate diagrams to explain how friction build up and release results in tremmors in the earth’s crust. There is a bonus powerpoint which has an earthquake maps/ GIS/ proportional circle graph analysis, which students have to answer questions on.

The geology of a coastline will have an impact on how quickly it retreats backwards due to the erosion processes off hydraulic action and abrasion. This lesson considers how the aspect, rock type, layers and existing sea defenses all contribute to different rates of erosion. The meanings of the terms lithology, concordant and discordant coastlines are apparent throughout the lesson. This lesson was designed initially for an interview, and worked really well for a 50 minute lesson duration. starter: Students examine the picture and discuss what is happening to the houses and why. They then compare two coastlines; Durdle Door and Swanage Bay, and predict which one they think will retreat the quickest, with the aid of maps. Main - students annotate their images/ maps with information about the geology of each coastline, from either the teacher talk or print-outs from the slides. they can be encouraged to do their own research also at this point. Then they attempt a 4 mark exam question designed to test their understanding of the geology and how it influences coastal erosion. plenary- a gap fill exercise on an image to test students recall on the main factors discussed in the lesson.