Manchester Education Partnership
Children’s Services
Opportunities to promote extended and non-fiction writing through the QCA units in Geography
Unit
Around our school – the Local Area
How can we make our local area safer?
YG
1
1
Writing Opportunities
Pupils could:
-
Undertake fieldwork activities and then write a description / recount/ report of their walk
-
Write labels for places in our classroom and around the school
-
Produce non-chronological report in a pamphlet about the area
-
Write Instructions for how to get round locality (a word map)
Pupils could:
-
Write labels and captions for a wall display of pictures and photographs of the road
outside the school
Where in the world is Barnaby Bear?
1/ 2
-
Produce a report about the safety of the area
-
Devise questionnaires to ask family at home
-
Write a letter to the transport department at the local council to ask about the possibility
of a safety feature, eg a pedestrian crossing, being constructed.
Pupils could:
-
Write a report/ postcard from a country Barnaby has visited
-
Make a diary of Barnaby’s holiday activities from a country he has visited
-
Research some of the different places Barnaby has visited and write short reports/
accounts of what these places are like.
An Island Home
2
Pupils could:
-
Write instructions for how to get round the island
-
Write letters/ postcards for a role-play post office
-
Make a table comparing the Isle of Struay with where they live for specific geographical
features – transport, traffic, jobs, people, housing, landscape.
-
Working in pairs, write a short description of one aspect of life in Struay; Collate all of
these descriptions into a class description of ‘Life on Struay’.
Manchester Education Partnership
Unit
Going to the seaside
YG
2
Children’s Services
Writing Opportunities
Pupils could:
-
Write labels and captions for key words and vocabulary to describe the physical and
human features of the seaside place they are learning about
A Contrasting Locality Overseas
2
-
Write a recount of a visit consolidating geographical vocabulary and understanding.
-
Write an information text to compare the seaside from the past with the present
Pupils could:
-
Write a ‘postcard’ from the contrasting locality describing an aspect of life there OR write
a letter from a contrasting locality describing what life is like there (Higher ability)
-
Write a list/ table (in groups) comparing the physical an human features of the
contrasting locality with their own locality, where they live
-
Write their own questions, as a result of research, to ask ‘someone’ from the contrasting
locality what it is like to live there.
-
Set up pen pal links or electronic links from a school in a contrasting locality to almost
set up a geographical forum (Q&A sessions and sharing clip and photos etc).
Passport to the World
1-6
Pupils could:
-
Y1: Write questions and answers about our local area
-
Y2: Opportunities for pupils to research different places and write short reports/
accounts about those places
-
Y3 – Y6:Pupils write their questions to carry out interviews with friends/ family/ local
people about their favourite holiday destinations
-
Pupils ’adopt’ a city and then research factual information about it, presenting their
findings using ICT/ in the form of a brochure/ poster/ as a written report/ account
Children’s Services
Manchester Education Partnership
Unit
What’s in the news?
YG
Writing Opportunities
3-6
Pupils could:
- Write a short news report about a local issue – new housing estate, closing down the
corner shop. Pupils create posters about the issue to display around school.
-
Write and present their own weather forecasts.
-
Write a ‘before and after’ news report about a specific geographical event in the news –
flood, earthquake
-
Develop FOR and AGAINST arguments in a discussion about a proposed change in the
local area
Connecting Ourselves to the World
Investigating our Local Area
3-6
3
Pupils could:
-
Write a letter about their local area to be sent by e-mail to another school
-
Produce a short guide to the local area to be sent, by e-mail, to pupils in another school
Pupils could:
-
Write labels and captions for a large-scale map and picture display of the area around
the school
-
Write questions to ask friends and family about the jobs they do for a living in the local
area
-
Organise pen-pals with a class from a contrasting area and encourage pupils to keep
regular
contact-
describing
where
they
live
and
asking
questions
in
their
correspondence.
Weather Around the World
3
Write newspaper reports regarding any significant local changes
Pupils could:
-
Write weather reports and can use ICT to act these out and record them with
microphones, video cameras, etc.
-
Create a travel agent’s dictionary- outlining hot, cold, wet, dry regions etc.
-
Produce short descriptions of specific places to visit, including the weather/ climate.
Manchester Education Partnership
Unit
Improving the Environment
YG
4
Children’s Services
Writing Opportunities
Pupils could:
-
Undertake role plays about local issues, leading to writing (such as letters of complaint
to the local authority). Summaries of differing points of view based upon role plays
-
Produce newspaper reports on local environmental issues (ie, waste ground behind the
school being a ‘black spot’
-
Prepare and present arguments for and against proposed changes to the local area
-
Design a poster to persuade people to dispose of their litter responsibly or recycle their
rubbish.
Village Settlers
4
Pupils could:
-
Write captions and labels for a large photograph of a village to identify the main physical
and human features and learn the main vocabulary of a village settlement
-
Compare the features of a village with the main features of where the live – suburb of
Manchester e.g. Gorton, a city - Manchester
A Village in India
4
Pupils could:
-
Write a story set in India using geographical information and knowledge of Indian life
-
Write instructions for how to get to India from the UK
-
Write questions you would like answered about India , that you would ask a person from
Chembakoli and would then research
-
Write a letter to a child in Chembakoli comparing your life to theirs
-
Identify and explain the main differences and similarities between Chembakoli and
where they live
Manchester Education Partnership
Unit
How and where do we spend our time?
YG
4
Children’s Services
Writing Opportunities
Pupils could:
-
Devise a survey about how pupils in the class/ school spend their time; summarise their
findings in a short report
Water
5
-
Write newspaper reports on local leisure opportunities.
-
Write about how they spend their leisure time compared to other pupils in the class
Pupils could:
-
Keep a diary of how water is used in the home for a week
-
Create posters/ leaflets with ideas for recycling/ saving water in the home
-
Write recounts of fieldwork, such as trips to water treatment works.
-
Create and explain flow charts for the water cycle or how the sewage treatment plant
works.
-
Research the work of aid agencies in water provision in a less economically developed
country (LEDC) – write a brief report/ account of their findings.
Should the high street be closed to traffic?
5
Pupils could:
(Local Issue)
-
Local Traffic: An Environmental Issue
-
Write their own questions as part of a questionnaire/ survey of local people about an
environmental issue.
Write and present FOR and AGAINST arguments for a local issue – factual or as a roleplay. Balanced arguments from various points of view. Use these for and against
arguments to conduct a debate/ hold a public meeting – this could lead to persuasive
writing – letters, posters.
-
Make short presentations of their chosen/ allocated point(s) of view
-
Write persuasive letters to the local authority about the issue
Manchester Education Partnership
Unit
Contrasting UK Locality
Investigating Coasts
YG
5
5/ 6
Children’s Services
Writing Opportunities
Pupils could:
-
Investigate aspects of the contrasting locality and produce (in pairs) short written reports
-
Produce a spider diagram form their investigations – ‘What makes this place special?
-
Design a poster/ brochure to attract visitors to go to the contrasting locality for a visit
-
Write a report/ table comparing the contrasting locality with where they live
Pupils could:
-
Write a newspaper report of an event where coastal erosion has resulted in building
collapse
-
Research and investigate an area of coast in the UK and produce a short written report
on their findings
-
Produce a geographical dictionary of the main terms and words related to investigating
coastal environments
Investigating Rivers
The Mountain Environment
6
6
Pupils could
-
Produce a geographical dictionary of the main terms/ words related to rivers
-
Write balanced arguments/reports- river pollution
-
Produce persuasive writing- bringing in tourists to a riverside spot.
-
Undertake research and report projects of rivers around the world.
Pupils could:
-
Produce balanced reports/ arguments on the effect of tourism in specific areas.
-
Produce persuasive writing- tourist board posters, slogans, adverts, etc.
-
Investigate a mountain environment and produce a short report of what the mountain
environment is like
-
Write a short written explanation of how tourism can affect a n area/ place
-
Design a poster/ write a short brochure to attract visitors to a mountain environment