Inspire Me to do good Primary Geography
The material in this section comprises a selection of teachers' planning examples and pupils' learning activities.
Model Geography Department
Creative Use of Thinking Skills in a Cross-Curricular Day
The 12 Geographical Days of Christmas
Here Comes The Summer...
Model Geography Department
A brilliant model to follow is provided by William Shrewsbury School, a very large primary school with two geography subject leaders. The success of geography within their school is based on:
- ensuring that links with literacy are kept at the forefront of teachers’ thinking and planning
- that topicality, creativity and environmental awareness remain very important aspects
- that pupils in each year group experience a valuable and memorable geographical experience beyond the classroom
William Shrewsbury School are happy to share their progress with you so look for ideas you could apply to your school geography development in this case study. This document is taken from the Staffordshire Learning Net Primary page.
Creative Use of Thinking Skills in a Cross-Curricular Day
Find out how one teacher inspired her pupils, enabled them to learn with a whole range of learning styles and linked with Literacy, DT, Art and Design and Citizenship.
Thinking Skills Day
(85k)
note: this file requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you do not have this you can get it free from the Adobe website.
To read a review of 'Wonderful Earth!', one of the books that inspired the Thinking Skills Day, go to the Book Reviews page.
The 12 Geographical Days of Christmas
This is good end of unit fun activity that uses the popular carol 'The 12 Days of Christmas' to test pupils' knowledge about the country they have been studying. The example below exchanges the original lyrics for different foods eaten in Jamaica (e.g. 'turtle doves' become 'sugar canes'). If you're not familiar with the carol you can read the lyrics and hear the music at Carols.org.
The 12 Jamaican Days of Christmas
12 sweet potatoes
11 avocadoes
10 spicy chickens
9 juicy paw-paws
8 whole pigs roasting
7 spiky jackfruit
6 bananas hanging
5 coconuts!
4 sorrel drinks
3 mangoes ripe
2 sugar canes
...and some jerk fish on a barbeque
By Class Y4 at Joy Lane Junior School in Kent
The children will need to be familiar with the original song, its rhythm and syllabic structure, and then they should be away!
Have a go yourself, using a distant location or indeed the immediate school environment - what makes it distinctive?
Here Comes The Summer
The summer holidays are approaching fast, but that doesn’t have to mean no geography. In fact, holidays offer an excellent opportunity for geographical learning. Here, Kathy Alcock suggests some activities for encouraging younger pupils to explore their holiday destinations beyond the sun lounger. Happy holidays!
If you'd like to chat to other primary geography co-ordinators and subject leaders, why not join the Geography Champions Ning to participate in online discussions and find out about face-to-face meetings in your area.
(Updated 22.07.09)
