11th October 2024 - Geography Field Trip to identify Physical and Human Features

This afternoon we used our maps to help us to find physical and human features within Oughterside Village.

We were able to find physical features such as Woodlands and Salterwath beck. we also spotted Skiddaw and Binsey in the distance although these weren't on our village map. We also found lots of human features - roads, houses, windmills, bridges, school and the park. We also found some newly built houses in the village that hadn't been added to OS maps yet and one house (Manor House) that was actually named on the map!!

We ended up walking 2 miles in total and had lots of fun exploring our village at the same time.

Summer 1 - Environmental Regions

Exploring Russia.

We started by exploring the capital city of Russia, Moscow, by watching the drone footage below. We all thought the buildings were very beautiful. 
 

We then used google earth to not only explore Moscow but to also look at the different environmental regions of Russia - Snow and Polar. 
 

To finish our lesson about Russia we looked at the Siberian Tiger and why they are in decline. Our pupils found many reasons for this - loss of habitat due to deforestation and climate change, the use of tigers within Chinese traditional medicines and even a poisonous mushroom which they are eating.

Spring 2 - The Water Cycle

Exploring Precipitation 

This morning Oughterside woke up to snow and it was still snowing when we all trundled into school.

As we are learning about the water cycle in Geography, we thought we would take a look at precipitation.

Precipitation is any liquid or frozen water that forms in the atmosphere and falls back to the earth. It comes in many forms, like rain, sleet, and snow. Along with evaporation and condensation, precipitation is one of the three major parts of the global water cycle.

We took black paper outside to catch snowflakes and then used a magnifying glass to look at the crystals. We then wrote about how snow was formed using the water cycle.

Water Cycle Experts

We used vocabulary sheets to support us to retell the ‘story’ of the water cycle. Our partners gave us points for using technical vocabulary and some pupils scored over 15 points for their explanations making them  experts!
 

Ask your children to explain the water cycle at home and see how they score!

Autumn 1 - Study counties and regions of the United Kingdom

This half term is all about the UK and finding out about our locality!

We will name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features.

Summer 1

This half term is all about maps! We will be learning about how we can use maps to help locate places and for navigation. Hopefully by the end of the half term we will have some super navigators!

Field Trip: Our local area - 12th May 2023 

We used our digimap app to help us explore our local area today. Many of us have walked around Oughterside many times however we have never used a map or took much notice of what we could actually see around us!
As we walked around Oughterside, we stopped in several places to identify physical and human features, and tried to locate these on our map. We also discussed whether or not we felt the human features were beneficial for the area. We also improved our map reading skills. We looked at the features we could see around us, then used this knowledge to help us locate our position on the map. 
 

Spring 1 - Rivers

This half term we will be learning all about rivers and their features. We will also be conducting a local river study and have a school trip planned in February to enable us to do this.

River Study with Wild Rivers Trust

To complete our rivers topic we worked with Cumbria Wild Rivers Trust to conduct a river survey. We were based at Branthwaite Scout camp for the day and engaged with many different activities including a study of Lostrigg Beck, which feeds into the River Derwent. We found lots of different creates and found that the water quality was great for wildlife.

We used natural materials to create our own model rivers ensuring we include the source, mouth, tributary, confluence and meander. We considered things that have a negative impact on rivers and also things that improve the water quality in the river.  In another activity we mapped the river area and considered how we could improve the area to make the river cleaner.