Catch-Up Curriculum

In order to develop our understanding and fill any gaps in our knowledge that we may have missed last year, we had a catch-up lesson which focused on key objectives from the Year 5 Geography curriculum. 

Exploring Map Projections 

This afternoon, we discussed and analysed how various map projections differ in accuracy. We compared and contrasted four map projections: Mercator, Gall-Peters, Robinson and Winkel Tripel. Overall, the most popular map projection that came out in our class discussion was the Winkel Tripel as we found that this projection minimized distortion between area, direction and distance. Did you know that Mercator was accused of imperialism as his map changed the proportions of certain continents? He shrunk Africa and enlarged Europe! 

Mia, Class 13: "Although the Robinson map is the most commonly used in the classroom, I preferred the Winkel Tripel projection as, unlike the others, it created an effective spherical feel to a 2D projection."

Time Zones 

Today, we looked at time zones and how the earth has 24 different time zones. Did you know that there is an imaginary line running through the UK called the Prime Meridian? In order to demonstrate our understanding of time zones, we used an atlas to locate places and our mathematical skills to answer a variety of time-based questions. 

Eoin, Class 16: "It was fun using our mathematical knowledge in a new way as part of our Geography lesson. We worked in pairs to calculate the time-based questions and we even devised our own questions for others to answer."

Settlement Change Over Time

This lesson, we explored how New Amsterdam Harbour in New York was once a bustling trading dock filled with slaves. Due to our prior learning from our Local History topic- the Liverpool slave trade, we were able to show a greater understanding of why so many places across the world became involved in this trade. We explored the land use of this harbour then and how it is used today.

Layton, Class 13: Exploring the land use of the harbour in New York was really eye-opening. Because we already knew a lot about the slave trade through our History topic, we could use this knowledge to really examine how may places across the world used the land for slavery.

Six-Figure Grid References

Today, we used an Ordnance Survey Map to follow a  six-figure grid reference treasure trail through London to find the hidden landmarks. We worked in pairs to navigate the map and we used our prior knowledge of four-figure grid references from Year 5 in order to gain a better understanding of how to read the figures on the map. 

Joseph, Class 16: 'I really enjoyed this lesson as we felt like detectives on a hunt! I was also great to see our lesson being retweeted by Ordnance Survey UK.'  

UK Mastery- Rivers, Mountains and Coastlines 

Today, we developed our prior knowledge of the UK by using an OS map and an Atlas to explore key physical features. We built on what we had studied in previous years by collating our knowledge into map annotations and we also discussed what we would like to learn about in Year 7.