WHY CAN’T A MEERKAT LIVE IN THE NORTH POLE?
This topic combines science objectives from year 1 Geographical objectives with Art objectives.
Working geographically children will be identifying 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 ad the North and South Poles. In art children will be experimenting with colours to make hot and
cold pictures and looking at famous artists who have created a similar feel.
WOW – how to start the topic and ‘hook’ everyone in.
Read ‘Meerkat Mail’.
KEY QUESTIONS
KEY SKILLS
SUGGESTIONS
From the beginning of this topic keep a daily record of the weather conditions as a weather chart. If you focus on one aspect of the weather,
e.g. temperature, this would enable you to compare temperatures in different parts of the world with Leicester.
What songs can we learn for this topic?
Music focus:
 Use their voices expressively and
creatively by singing songs and speaking
chants and rhymes.
1. Why does Sunny live in the Kalahari
Geography focus:
Find out where the Kalahari Desert is and find
Desert?
the Equator.
 Identify seasonal and daily weather
Explain what the Equator is.
patterns in the United Kingdom and the
location of hot and cold areas of the world Investigate what it is like in the Kalahari
Desert in terms of climate, terrain and what
in relation to the Equator and the North
grows there.
and South Poles.
Compare findings with what a meerkat needs
to survive.
2. Where are the North and South Poles?
Geography focus:
Find out where the North and South Poles are.
How far away from the Equator are they?
 Identify seasonal and daily weather
Investigate what it is like in the North and
patterns in the United Kingdom and the
location of hot and cold areas of the world South Poles in terms of climate, terrain and
what grows there.
3. Which animals live in the extreme cold
and which live in the extreme heat?
4. Which animals live in the extreme heat of
the desert?
5. Why does a Polar Bear like to live in the
North Pole?
6. Why does a penguin like to live in the
South Pole?
7. How does colour make you feel?
in relation to the Equator and the North
and South Poles.
Geography focus:
 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.
Art focus:
 Develop a wide range of art and design
techniques in using colour, pattern,
texture, line, shape, form and space
Geography focus:
 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.
Art focus:
 Develop a wide range of art and design
techniques in using colour, pattern,
texture, line, shape, form and space
Art focus:
 Develop a wide range of art and design
techniques in using colour, pattern,
texture, line, shape, form and space.
 Learn about the work of a range of artists,
craft makers and designers, describing
the differences and similarities between
different practices and disciplines, and
making links to their own work.
Look at various animals from either the North
Pole, South Pole or near to the Equator.
Can they work out where the animal lives by
looking at the animal, e.g. thick furry coats
etc.
Create a class display showing the North and
South Poles and the Equator and children
making their animals and putting them in the
right area.
Make pictures of animals that live in Africa
where it is very hot.
Use techniques, e.g. curling for a lion’s mane.
Learn about the polar bear in depth and how
he survives in the cold of the North Pole.
Discuss why the penguin can live in the cold.
Make penguin pictures using a technique, e.g.
torn paper and applique.
Look at paintings by various artists and
discuss how they make you feel.
Look in particular at the colours they use and
how they make you feel either hot or cold.
Sort the paintings into hot and cold pictures.
Make a list of the colours that make you feel
cold and the colours that make you feel hot.
8. What do we mean by hot and cold
colours?
9. What do we mean by hot and cold
colours?
Art focus:
 Develop a wide range of art and design
techniques in using colour, pattern,
texture, line, shape, form and space.
Art focus:
 Develop a wide range of art and design
techniques in using colour, pattern,
texture, line, shape, form and space.
10. Is our winter as cold as the North and
South Pole?
Geography focus:
 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.
11. What sort of holidays can people in
England go in to find different
temperatures?
12. How do animals in England cope in the
winter?
Geography focus:
 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.
Maths focus:
 Reading scales
PSHE focus:
 Caring for the environment and animals
13. How did Tortoise solve his problem?
PSHE focus:
Give each child two pictures of a scene and
ask them to colour one with only hot colours
and the other with only cold colours.
Compare and contrast the two pictures.
Ask children to design a simple pattern in a
square, e.g. two circles.
Repeat this pattern onto as many squares as
you want.
Ask children to colour half their squares using
hot colours and half their squares using cold
colours. They then stick onto a sheet of paper
in a repeating pattern.
Having collected the temperature every day
during this topic find the average
temperature.
Compare this to the temperatures in North
and South Poles and to the Equator.
Are we as cold as the North or South Poles or
as hot as the Kalamari Desert?
Find out about holidays in cold places, e.g.
skiing holidays and holidays in hot places, e.g.
beach holidays and identify some of the
countries people regularly travel to.
Read One Winter’s Day by M Christina Butler
Discuss how hedgehog helped others in need.
What do a lot of animals do in winter to stay
warm?
What do we need to do to help animals in
winter?
Read Tricky Tortoise by Mwenye Hadithi.
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Caring for the environment and animals
Discuss how elephant should have treated
tortoise and how tortoise solved his problem.
The above lessons are non-negotiable but teachers are free to add to the lessons above with their own ideas and different subjects if they
wish. Below are suggested questions teachers might want to use.
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Suggested Story Books and Rhymes
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One Winter’s Night by Claire Freedman
Where Snowflakes Fall by Claire Freedman
Foxes in the Snow by Jonathan Emmett
A Long Way From Home by Elizabeth Baguley
The First Snow by M. Christina Butler
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You See? By Eric Carle
The Emperor’s Egg by Martin Jenkins
The Rainbow Bear by Michael Morpurgo
The Gruffalo’s Child by Julia Donaldson
The Gift of the Sun by Dianne Stewart
How the Camel Got It’s Hump by Shoo Rayner
Hungry Hyena by Mwenye Hadithi
Tricky Tortoise by Mwenye Hadithi
Greedy Zebra by Mwenye Hadithi
Enormous Elephant by Mwenye Hadithi
Cross Crocodile by Mwenye Hadithi
For You Are a Kenyan Child by Kelly Cunnane
Hidden Hippo by Joan Gannij