This study aid has been produced to help students use subject specific describing words in their examination writing. The Mat gives a visual stimulus to show at a glance a range of vocabulary that students can use when describing places or processes linked to Human Geography topics and landscapes, in relation to paper 2 and 3. These have a range of uses, and could be given out during mock examinations to help the lower ability students. They could be colour printed an stuck into student books or laminated and stuck down onto desks. They would be really useful for teachers to don’t always teach in the same classroom who have portable displays. These learning mats were taken from my other resource ; GCSE Geography Literacy displays’ and made more pupil friendly.

Elevate Your Geography Writing - Literacy Wall Display for GCSE Success Description: Unlock the key to GCSE success by mastering essential Geography terminology with our exclusive classroom literacy wall display. Tailored to benefit students of all abilities, this resource is particularly crucial for middle and low-ability learners, offering a visual guide to enhance their grasp of examiners’ language. Key Features: Strategic Vocabulary Development: Elevate writing skills by focusing on the precise use of key Geography terminology, a crucial aspect for success in GCSE examinations. Differentiated Approach: Catering to all ability levels, from basic to advanced, this display provides a comprehensive range of adjectives and acronyms, empowering students to expand their geographical vocabulary effectively. Visual Prompt: Enhance understanding through a visually appealing guide that clearly illustrates descriptive words aligned with examination themes and topics covered in the new GCSE series. Grade Differentiation: Bridge the gap between higher and lower ability students, and even distinguish between grade 8 and 9 achievement by emphasizing the importance of well-placed keywords. Why Choose This Resource? Exam Preparation: Equip students with the linguistic tools necessary for success in GCSE examinations, ensuring they confidently decode and respond to examiner language. Inclusive Learning: Provide essential support for middle and low-ability learners, promoting language comprehension and application. Versatile Application: Suitable for various themes and topics covered in the new GCSE exam series, fostering flexibility and adaptability. Ideal for: Geography teachers focused on exam preparation and literacy skills development. Educators seeking a visually engaging tool to support students in mastering key terminology. Transform your geography classroom into a hub of linguistic excellence. Download this literacy wall display now to empower your students with the language of success in GCSE examinations!

Teachers are you tired of working 55 hours + per week and simply surviving until the next school holiday? Fear not - help is at hand! This resource provides the entire foreward and introdutory chapter in my highly acclaimed ebook’ Time Smart Teaching’ ; 8 Insider tips to Reduce Workload that Schools don’t teach you. Ebooks and digital books that are quick and easy to download and read on your phone, laptop or tablet. I wrote this book to help all teachers find better work-life balance in their teaching careers and stop newly qualified teachers and ECT’s (early career teachers) from burn out and leaving the secondary school teaching profession. In this book you will learn about; The Time-Smart Teaching Philosophy and why you need to apply it in your teaching. All the pointless tasks schools ask you to do which do not help drive pupil progress or results The time hacks I use regularly to spend less time on planning and marking assessments and classwork. How to say ‘No’ to extra demands from school, and negotiate more time, money and support for yourself or your department. FULL ebook access available only on Amazon ; 5 ***** reader reviews “ A brilliant book, easy to read and insightful ” “ All teachers need to read this book- Now!”

Volcanoes are weak points in the earth’s crust where plate boundaries appear, and periodically let lava escape to the surface. these can also be found at hotspots. For the GCSE Geography AQA curriculum students need to be aware of 2 main types of volcanoes, where and how they form, and their distinguishing characteristics. this PowerPoint lesson resource assumes a basic level of existing understanding and recaps on the basic structure and eruption characteristics of each. there is a BINGO starter game linked to a video resource. Added challenge for higher ability to explain 3 of their bino words to the group. Following on from this the teacher can talk through the next slides, on parts of a volcano and its layered structure and associated hazards. or print the information out ready for the TRUE or FALSE activity/ grid, which has answers attached. At the end students are prompted to think about which celebrity embodies each type of volcano the most. This is to help them memorize and make connections to enegage in their long term memory for the examinations. Approx lesson length: 45 minutes.

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.

Hot deserts are known for their harsh climates and unforgiving landscapes, yet their are economic and environmental opportunities in these regions in you look closely enough. Water and resource management becomes even more important in the Sahara as drought and desertification takes hold. This 4 lesson bundle covers everything your students need to know about a desert case study for their examination on the ‘Living World’/ Ecosystems’ topic for the AQA exam board specification. The first lesson analysis the climate of the Sahara using a living graph to cut and stick statements around. The second lesson focuses on hidden resources in the Shel, such as oil, minerals and hidden underground aquifers. Students make a chloropeth map to show where these are found. Students will also take part in group work to present to the class about how different plant and animal life has adapted to the harsh conditions of the Sahara desert. In addition, they will sort statements into a venn diagram to classify the various human causes of desertification (climate change, agriculture or population pressure) before summarising their notes into a mindmap. Finally, they will examine a range of approaches in use to combat desertification, and write up a full report of their findings. By the end of these resources you students will have a sound and detailed understanding on the concepts of; Desertification Adaptions Economic opportunities Social, economic and environ aggroforestry They will also attempt exam questions such as; Explain the human causes of desertification Explain how the desert climate impacts upon the people living there

Advent calendars are traditionally associated with the December count down to 25th, Christ’s birthday. At the end, kids can look forward to earnings their biggest chocolate on Christmas day. This advent calender is perfect to use with years 7 8 and 9 in the final classes before the festive break. These can be used as mini starters, or take up the whole lesson. The answers to the questions on each day are provided, so make sure you have small chocolates or candy to give out for any students who complete and self mark their quiz. There is a mixture of vocab, general knowledge, map skills, locational knowledge throughout plus all important literacy. anagrams. Use this resource in conjunction with my original ’ 3D stand up geography christmas trees’ to get a fabulous festive geography display going in your classroom.

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 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.

This brief PowerPoint presentation provides links to fee revision resources suitable for most GCSE Geography specifications. Pinterest is a large collection of ideas and productions that can be shared at a glance using eye catching images. Most students use social media so I printed this out and gave it my year 11 classes to inspire them revise in some alternative ways.

Most countries devise their electricity generation mean through a mix of fossil fuels and renewable energy resources. This A3 revision poster gets students analysing energy mix trends from pie charts located onto the world map. The original map is available as a free download from the EDF energy website; edfenergy.com/energy/education however a large copy is made available on the second slide of the powerpoint. Students answer prompt questions onto the A3 sheet around a copy of the pie-chart map, such as ’ describe the UK’s energy mix’ and also ’ compare the energy mix between the USA and Brazil.’ There are questions designed to make student connect more broadly to the topic ’ Challenge of Resource Management. The energy mix section on this topic is core contact, therefore important for all students to understand. These would make ideal classroom displays or as independent revision work in the lead up to examinations. This worksheet is designed for middle to higher ability students but could be easily adapted for lower abilities with a few prompts/ sentence starters here and there.

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.

I have adapted the famous game of connect 4, where 2 players are pitted against each other to connect 4 coloured ’ disks’ into adjacent slots vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Each player needs to give the correct answer before being allowed to colour in their disk. 2 players can fill in the same sheet, or ideally laminate the blank board for multiple uses with non-permenant markers and save your photocopying budget. Great for all ability ranges and engaging less motivated student with physical Geography content for the paper 1 AQA GCSE examination. Questions cover changes and processess along the long profile of a river plus definitions for drainage basin features.

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.

A River long profile shows the changes to the river channel, valley and land use as it travels downstream. All GCSE Exam boards require in depth knowlege of the river long profile and require students to demonstrate proficient map skills. This worksheet based activity combines both knowlege and skills effectively and engages student with maps! Teaching River profiles no longer has to be dull and dry. I created this resource for year 9 in their first GCSE year and wanted to engage them in their learning. This activity works well in small groups huddled round and OS map- all the maps can be different, that’s the beauty of the questions, they are left open-ended. Hints and help are given on the worksheet and an OS water map symbols guide is included for reference. There are a variety of challenging extention activities for the more able. It could be the perfect task to do in association with a river based fieldwork trip, to familiarise students with their chosen river location and drainage basin.

This resource is designed for a quick recap across all 3 of the Human Paper topics: Urban Issues and Challenges, The Challenge of Resource Management and Changing Economic World. It is made up of a series of 20 questions on each topic ( 60 in total) which only require brief answers ( 1 -2 marks) and is taken from across a broad range of the specification, focusing on the CORE elements. It has been designed for last minute revision and can be done in class or at home. It would be useful for students to complete with access to the BBC bitesize revision website or a revision guide to ease speed of completion. Most of the command words are give, identify, outline, describe etc. Please note these are questions only without answers/ mark scheme.

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.