We are Geographers

Geography Subject Leader

Miss. A. McKee

At Hasland Infant School we inspire children’s fascination about the world by exposing them to different places, people and environments. We teach them the factual knowledge and vocabulary they need to describe and discuss these places, alongside geographical fieldwork that will extend their knowledge of human and physical features. The teaching of Geography is essential for developing positive values and a caring attitude towards the world, and therefore as Geographers the children will develop an awareness of current global issues such as global warming and the importance of recycling and protecting wildlife. This will enable the children to understand the significance of these issues and give them the knowledge they need to act upon it. Becoming a Geographer at Hasland Infants teaches the children about their local environment and their ‘place’ in the world, enabling them to compare their locality to other places in the world e.g. these two places are both hot because they are near the equator. Geographers in each year group will learn about places beyond their current experiences, through books, photographs and different styles of maps. This will give them the ability to understand the differences between the human and physical features (weather, terrain, landmarks etc.) The children are introduced to a wide range of vocabulary which will give them the skills to discuss, compare, describe and identify geographical features. Being a Geographer means having the chance to share their opinions and ideas about the world as well as being given the opportunity to share stories about their travels. We teach Geography partly through fieldwork as a way for children to get outside in the fresh air and create memories in practical ways. By Year Two, the children will be increasingly more confident to use gographical resources such as maps and globes, and be able to use them to find countries, continents and capital cities. They will be taught to use geographical vocabulary to discuss human and physical features, observe weather patterns and study contrasting localities to discuss differences.

Click on the link below to view documents related to Geography. These include The Geography Policy, Progression of Skills and a Key Knowledge Grid.

Geography

Geography Timeline

geography timeline.pdf

Please find examples of our work below.

Earth Day

This year the children took part in various activities for Earth Day. In assembly they spoke about the importance of taking care of our planet and that everyone needs to help. The theme this year was 'invest in our planet' and we discussed the different ways we can make a difference to help climate change and build a healthy planet.

In Year One we walked to the local Greengrocer to buy fruit. We spoke about the importance of walking rather than taking a car, and buying locally sourced food if possible.

Some classes went on a 'virtual holiday' and watched a live-view camera of different places in our world!

Earth Day

In our 'Heroes and Villains' topic the Reception children made 'messy maps' of their journeys to school. This was all to help Zog find his way to Hasland Infant School as he didn't want to be late on his first day! The children thought about what they see on their way to school and came up with great ideas including trees, houses, the park, shops and roads. Then they used different objects to create these features on their 'messy maps'. The geographers gave explanations as to why they chose certain objects for example; they chose a rope to demonstrate the road because it was long. The children really enjoyed this activity and it showed us how much they know about Hasland!

Messy Maps

Year One

Our class mascots went on a tour around Hasland and took some photos to show us. Then we walked around the village to see if we could find the different landmarks they visited. We have been practising using language such as :town, Chesterfield, village, Hasland.