Climate is the average daily and seasonal weather for a region; including temperature, precipitation, wind, and sunshine. Observations are compiled over several decades and are classified into climate zones. There are five main climate zones
Locating with your children on a world map, and using globes – real and electronic, maps and atlases
– the North and South Poles and the Equator introduce them to these features which we superimpose on the globe. You may wish to teach the children about small scale localities near to the North and
South Pole and the Equator, though you need to locate these in their continents and oceans (Arctic
Ocean; Antarctica; Africa, Indian Ocean, Asia, Pacific Ocean, South America, Atlantic Ocean). Such studies could have powerful links with literacy – there are some great texts set in these places.
However, you must check these texts for geographical accuracy – some authors take creative liberties with where penguins and polar bears live and in fact have them in the same place. This is not good geography! Penguins mainly live on the Antarctic coast, and in some parts of the coast of South Africa and Polar bears live in northern North America and Asia and on the edges of the Arctic Ocean.
The term area means that you are looking beyond a specific place or location. You are being asked to consider a group of places or localities that have something in common. There will still be differences between places in an area, but in this case the climate that they experience will be similar and so for this aspect of the curriculum, it is climate that is the physical feature that is used to define the geographic area. You are asked to do this in relation to the Equator as the line of latitude, and so children should be introduced to this and perhaps other key lines of latitude as appropriate (Arctic and
Antarctic circles and perhaps the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn)
Chosen carefully and if appropriate, these area studies could also link to the non-European locality curriculum requirement.
Learning Objectives
To name and locate the
Equator as a line of latitude.
To describe how distance from the Equator can affect the climate that places experience.
Identify polar and desert areas
To be able to locate and name hot and cold areas at the global scale
To be able to describe the key climate features of a hot and a cold area.
Success Criteria /
Differentiation /
Personalisation
Recognise and name the equator on maps and globes
Recognise the impact that distance from the equator (both near and far) has on climate
Recognise on maps and globes the locations of climate areas.
To know and understand what the climate is like
Learning
Outcomes
Pupils’ developing geographical capabilities
Be able to accurately locate and name the
Equator
Be able to accurately locate and name the
Equator, polar and desert areas
To correctly identify and name hot and cold regions of the world.
To accurately describe the main features associated with
Activities.
How the pupils are going to come to know
Use maps, atlases globes and technology such as Google Earth to name and locate the Equator.
Introduce the pupils to the polar and desert regions and use maps atlases globes and technology such as Google
Earth to explore how the distance that areas are from the Equator changes the climate that they experience.
Use world maps and atlases – use ICT, such as google earth. Remember if using specific pictures or films to make sure that you name the place and locate the place on a World map.
It can be useful to use some sensory experiences so that children begin to know what it feels like to be in these places. So linking with science and using

To name and locate a specific place or location within a climate zone and describe what it is like to be there.
To be able to compare the similarities and differences between places in different climate areas
To be able to describe how climate changes people’s lives.
Remind the children about the significance of the distance (near and far) that a place is from the equator
To be able to describe how climate changes a particular physical feature.
Remind the children about the significance of the distance (near and far) that a place is from the equator and how it varies over the year.
To know about specific location(s) within an area.
To explore how places in different climate areas are both similar and different. Some children will also be able to recognise differences as well as similarities within one area.
To explore the connections between where people live and how people live. the climate for the area studied.
To correctly identify a location and to describe how it is part of an area.
To use the terms similar and different appropriately in relation to climate areas and climate features e.g. temperature, rain/snow, wind etc.
To correctly identify human features and explain how climate affects them e.g. houses, roads and settlements
To explore how the same feature e.g. a river or a mountain may look differently depending on the climate of the area that it is located in.
To correctly identify physical features and explain how climate affects them e.g. rivers, mountains, lakes. ice cubes and or heat lamps (carefully!) might help some children to understand more.
It can be helpful for children to engage with a place or location study within an area, to help them to focus on how the climate affects people and places. They can then use the idea of scale to zoom in and zoom out of this specific place.
Making comparisons can be a good way for children to make connections with where places are and why where places are located helps us to understand these places better. By enabling some simple comparisons that explore both similarities and differences, the children will begin to deepen their understanding of these places. The children will benefit from vocabulary prompts, investigating visual images (always located on a map!) and from analysing simple measures of key climate data.
The children will benefit from resources and materials, including visual images and films that they can locate and then describe and explain. You may wish to include some fieldwork so that children can compare what they experience to what they now know about these other places. There are also many literacy, maths and science links that can be made.
In addition to the above, some comparisons of simple data sets may also be helpful and as ever some simple geographical information systems –
Google Earth type resources will help to develop and enhance the children’s understanding. Where matters!