Lesson video

Hello, geographers, it's Mr. Robertson here and I am delighted to be learning with you again today.

We are continuing with our unit of work, Rivers: what's special about them? And today we're going to be building on the learning we've been doing about looking at rivers in the UK.

And we're going to be examining rivers in Europe.

So geographers, are we ready? Have we got on our geography caps? Have we got on our explorer rucksacks? And as we're exploring rivers, we need our long waterproof waders.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to locate rivers in Europe on a map and explain why they are important.

So we have four keywords today.

I'll say the keyword first and then I'll ask you to say it back to me.

So let's begin.

Our first word is source.

Perfect.

Our second word is mouth.

Excellent.

Our third word is border.

Brilliant.

And finally, hydro-electricity.

Yeah, you've got that one as well.

So what do they all mean? Well, the source is the start of a river.

The mouth of a river is where it enters the sea or a lake.

A border is the dividing line between two countries.

And hydro-electricity is electricity created by water flowing downhill, turning a turbine.

And we're gonna be meeting all of these keywords in our lesson and you'll know exactly what they all mean by the end.

So our lesson today on rivers in Europe is in two parts.

Our first part, we're going to answer the question, how can we use maps to locate rivers in Europe? And in the second part of the lesson, we're gonna be thinking about why are rivers in Europe important? So are we ready to go? Let's go.

Now, Europe is home to many special rivers and many major cities in Europe have grown up alongside rivers.

Look at that photograph there, We can see sunrise over a city.

And that city is by a river.

This city is London.

You can see The Shard there on the right, going right up to the sky.

But what is the name of the river that flows through London? Why don't you whisper to the person next to you? Can you remember its name? Yes, of course.

It's the River Thames.

Izzy knew that.

I bet you knew that as well, didn't you? Yes.

So that is a photograph of the River Thames.

And the River Thames is a famous river.

And as we talked about in a previous lesson, it flows a long distance across southern England.

You can see there the source of the river near the village of Kemble.

Then it flows through the towns of Oxford, Redding, Slough through London until it comes out in the mouth of it.

And you can see the city of Southend and Essex there.

And that's on the edge of the estuary where the Thames is found.

But although the Thames is a really large river and the largest river in England, it's not as large as other rivers in Europe.

So let's find out about some of these European rivers.

We can see a map of Europe here.

And the first river we're going to look at is called the Volga.

Now the Volga is the largest river in Europe, it's about 3,530 kilometres long.

So that is a really, really long river.

And here we can see it on the map.

It's in the country of Russia and it flows south through Russia, past many major cities until it drains into the Caspian Sea.

And at the bottom of the map in the south, you can see the Caspian Sea, which is totally landlocked sea.

And that's where the Volga flows into.

Now I wonder if you can find the Volga in an atlas.

Have you got an atlas near? Why don't you get a hold of it? See if you and maybe a partner could find the Volga.

Remember, we are looking for Europe and it's in the country of Russia.

Good luck, geographers.

Well let's think about our next river.

So the Dnieper is the fourth largest river in Europe and it's about 2,290 kilometres long.

It flows through the capital city of Ukraine, Kyiv and drains into the Black Sea.

So we can see it's labelled there.

You can see it's not as long as the Volga.

It flows all the way through this country of Ukraine.

There is a photograph of the beautiful city of Kyiv.

So let's check what we've learned so far.

Which river is the longest in Europe? Is it A, the River Thames, B, the Volga, or C, the Dnieper? Pause the video, have a think.

Which of these is the longest? Geographers, I think we're all going for the same one here.

Yes, B, it's the Volga.

The longest river in Europe is the Volga in the country of Russia.

Well done if you've got that right.

Let's look at some more rivers in Europe.

So I dunno if you can see the blue line going through lots of different countries.

This is the River Danube.

So the Danube is the second longest river in Europe.

It's about 2,850 kilometres.

It flows from west to east through 10 countries before draining into the Black Sea.

So like the Dnieper, it also drains into the Black Sea.

But this river flows west to east.

And you can see some of the countries it flows through there, can't you? Like Germany, Austria, and Hungary.

I wonder if with the person next to you, you could describe the Danube's journey from source to mouth.

Now remember, the source is where the river begins and the mouth is where it empties into a lake or the sea.

So what I'd like you to do is this.

You're gonna talk to the person next to you and you are going to say, "The source of the Danube can be found in.

?" Which country is it in? It then flows either from west to east or east to west through the countries of.

And see how many countries you can name.

And then you can say, "The mouth of the river drains into," where? Off you go, geographers, look forward to hearing.

Brilliant, were you able to talk about the fact that the Danube flowed from west to east? Did you notice that its source was in Germany? Did you notice that the mouth was in the city of Kyiv, in the country of Ukraine and we had lots of other countries to meet, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria.

Well done if you could describe the journey of the Danube.

Let's look at another river.

(Mr. Robertson sneezing) Let's look at another river.

The PO is Italy's longest river.

It flows west to east for about 650 kilometres through many major cities, such as Turin, before draining into the Adriatic Sea.

So this river is a lot smaller, isn't it, than the Volga or the Danube, which were three and 2000 kilometres.

But if you look at the map, this river, the Po, goes west to east, all across the top of northern Italy, doesn't it? Draining into the Adriatic sea.

There we can see it on the map.

And that is where we find the city of Turin in northern Italy.

And here we can see a beautiful photograph.

These Italian cities are so stunning, aren't they? We can see the towers, the churches, the traditional architecture, and at the bottom of the photograph, the River Po, which looks quite muddy, doesn't it? As it flows through to Turin.

Let's just check our understanding, geographers.

Which country is the river PO in? Is it A, Russia, B, Ukraine, C, Italy? Pause the video, have a think.

Fantastic, geographers.

Yes, the answer is C, Italy.

The River Po flows from west to east through the country of Italy and its mouth is in the Adriatic sea.

Well done if you got that right.

Let's move on to our next river.

Here we've got the River Rhine.

Now the River Rhine is shown on that map there.

It's about 1,230 kilometres long.

It flows through six countries from its source in the Swiss Alps, right up in those mountains to its mouth in the North Sea, which actually is a sea that we as the UK border as well, isn't it? So that's the mighty River Rhine.

Can we use the map to help us? Where are the source and mouth on the map? Can you remember what those keywords mean? Pause the video, talk to the person next to you.

What do you think? Well done if you got these correct.

Here we can see the source in the country of Switzerland, right up in the Alps, the mountains in Switzerland, and then the mouth is in the North Sea.

Look, it comes out through the country of the Netherlands into the North Sea.

And if we were to go northwest and west, we would get to the United Kingdom.

Well done if you got those right.

Let's just check our understanding here.

Where is the source of the River Rhine? Is it A, Italy, B, the Swiss Alps, or C, the North Sea? Pause the video geographers and have a think.

Well done, geographers.

The source of the River Rhine is B, the Swiss Alps, isn't it? Brilliant, because that's where the river begins.

If you remember C, the North Sea, that was where the mouth of the river was.

Congratulations if you got that correct.

Now our final river we're going to be looking at is the Loire.

And the Loire is the longest river in France.

It flows about 1000 kilometres from the centre of France to the Atlantic coast.

I wonder if you know where France is on that map of Europe.

There we are.

And that's the River Loire.

And on the west, on the the picture there, we can see the Atlantic ocean, which it flows out into.

And a really beautiful picture of a city that we might find on the River Loire with a chateau as well in that part of France, which is a really beautiful part of France.

Let's just check our understanding again.

Where is the Loire on the map? Geographers, think about what you've just been learning.

Can you find it? Talk to the person next to you.

Where do we think it is? And let's see if you are right.

Yes, there it is, in the middle of France, flowing out into the Atlantic, the River Loire.

And next we have the River Tagus.

The Tagus is about 1000 kilometres long and flows from mountains in the east of Spain through Portugal to the Atlantic coast.

So now we're down right into southwestern Europe.

Here we can see the river Tagus, starting in the country of Spain.

And then it flows out through the country of Portugal where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean, similar to the Loire, but we are further south.

So the River Tagus another great river of Europe.

There we can see the Atlantic Ocean stretches all the way around from where it is in France, round to Portugal as well.

Let's just check, true or false? The source of the Tagus is in Portugal.

Is that true or is that false? Geographers, pause the video.

Have a think.

That's right, geographers, it's false, isn't it? But why is it false? Is it because the source of the Tagus is in Spain and it flows through Portugal.

Or the source of the Tagus is where it meets the Atlantic Ocean? What's this word source mean? What can you remember? Excellent.

It's A, isn't it? 'Cause the source is where the river begins, where it starts.

It starts in Spain and flows through Portugal.

Well done geographers if you got that correct.

So our practise task to today is this.

We've got here are map of Europe with different rivers marked on it.

Your task is to label the rivers that we have been examining.

I'd like you to label the Loire, the Tagus, the Dnieper, the Danube, the Rhine, the Volga and the Po on the map of Europe.

You can use this map to help you.

You might have access to an atlas, so use that.

I'd like you to mark it carefully and label it with an arrow and your best handwriting.

Where are all of those rivers found? Okay, geographers, ready to go? Ready to try those atlas skills? Really neat writing.

Off we go.

Well, how did we find that? Have you successfully managed to label those rivers? Let's have a look, shall we? So we have the Volga here flowing through Russia and out into the Caspian Sea.

Then we have the Dnieper flowing through Ukraine and into the Black Sea.

Then we have the Danube flowing through 10 different countries in Europe and out into the Black Sea.

The River Tagus flowing from Spain and into Portugal and out into the Atlantic.

The River Po flowing through Italy and into the Adriatic.

The Loire flowing from the centre of France out through the west of France into the Atlantic.

And finally the Rhine from the Swiss Alps, flowing through different countries in Europe, Germany, and out through the Netherlands into the North Sea.

Geographers, if you manage to successfully label those rivers, then you are doing brilliantly, well done.

Okay, so we've learned how to use maps to locate rivers in Europe.

Now we're going to be answering the question, why are rivers in Europe important? Let's go, so to recap, we talked about the fact that the Danube runs through 10 European countries.

Now it also acts as the border between certain countries as well, because rivers are often borders between different countries.

If you look carefully at the map here, we can see that the Danube forms the border between Romania and Serbia.

And what that means is that on one side of the river, it will be the country of Serbia, but on the other side of the river, it'll be the country of Romania.

So the river acts as a way of creating a distinction, a border between two sovereign countries.

I wonder if we can remember from the first part of the lesson how many countries the Danube flows through? Is it A, is five, B, eight or C, 10? Let's see if we can use those geographical memory skills.

Pause the video and have a think.

Geographers, yes, it was 10 countries.

It's a really long river and it flows through 10 countries in Europe.

Well done if you got those correct? Hmm, we've got a different river here.

I'm sure you all recognise that marvellous building, the Eiffel Tower.

And right by it, we have the River Seine.

Now, as we were saying about London, important cities are often located next to major rivers.

And that's because cities developed near rivers as they provided water.

And of course, they could be used as transport routes so people could bring goods in to trade or export goods to other countries and simply use 'em to get across and travel to different places.

So many famous cities have rivers running through them.

Of course today, the water we get through taps is treated before it reaches our homes.

So the drinking water in our taps is really, really clean.

But of course, historically that wasn't the case and people would've drunk straight from rivers, which meant that if the rivers got really polluted, they might have got sick.

This is a map of the River Rhine.

We talked about it earlier, rising in the Swiss Alps and flowing out into the north city.

The cities of Basel, Strasbourg, Cologne, Dusseldorf, and Rotterdam are all located along the Rhine.

Here we have Basel in Switzerland, Strasbourg in France, Cologne in Germany, Dusseldorf also in Germany, and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

And all of these cities are located along the River Rhine because the River Rhine has been a really important river for trading and transport for hundreds of years.

Noe, Dusseldorf gets most of its drinking water from the Rhine.

However, it has to be heavily treated before it's fit to drink.

So even nowadays, people do use rivers to drink from.

But nowadays we make sure that river water is really, really clean before anyone actually drinks it.

Let's think about this true or false question.

People in Europe don't get any drinking water from rivers.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video and have a think.

Well, geographers, it's false, isn't it? But why is it false? Can you remember some of the things we were just talking about? A, water from rivers has to be treated before we drink it.

Or people in Europe drink straight from the river.

Have a think.

That's right.

It's A, isn't it? Water from rivers has to be treated before we drink it.

As we were just saying about people living in Dusseldorf, they might drink water from the River Rhine, but it's treated first.

Ooh, I wonder what you can see here.

It looks really interesting and industrial, doesn't it? Why don't you talk to the person next to you and see if you can predict what this photograph might be showing.

Some really interesting ideas.

Many rivers in Europe are important as they help us to produce electricity.

This is a photograph of the Iron Gate 1, which is a hydro-electric dam on the Danube.

It's the 10th largest in the world and it provides power for both Romania and Serbia.

So hydro-electricity uses the speed of the river flowing and converts that into electricity.

So it's a fantastic renewable resource and really, really important in Europe.

And because the Danube is such a large river, it can produce enormous amounts of hydro-electric power.

Why do you think the Iron Gate Dam 1 was built? Let's think about what we've just been saying.

Talk to the person next to you.

What do you think? Well, Laura says, "It was built to create hydro-electricity." Do you agree with Laura? Yeah, she's right, isn't she? It is a brilliant way of providing lots of electricity and power to people in a renewable way.

But rivers aren't just for drinking water and they're not just for power.

They're also an extremely important habitat for plants and animals.

And look at this beautiful animal here.

This is the otter and otters love rivers.

They are mammals and they can survive, they build tunnels, they have their young, they hunt for food, and they're a really amazing sign.

If there are lots of otters in a river, it shows these rivers are really, really healthy.

And of course, there are lots of other animals like fish and plants that depend on rivers.

Now building dams and pollution from humans can affect river wildlife, as I'm sure you can imagine.

How do you think building the Iron Gate dam will have affected wildlife? Now geographers, this is a real chance to use your geographical skills here.

Pause the video.

Have a think.

Why do you think building that dam might have affected wildlife? And how would it have done that? Off you go.

Awesome.

Really brilliant ideas there.

Wow, I can really see how much you're thinking about this.

Aisha says, "The dam will stop fish travelling up and down the river." Brilliant thinking Aisha, because of course fish use it.

And if they can't get through the dam, it might be difficult for them to go back to breed.

It might mean that they can't get around to get as much food.

And so that could affect the wildlife.

And then that might affect things that eat the fish as well.

So it's brilliant to have these dams, but they can have an impact on wildlife.

Let's think about why might dams affect wildlife.

We have three choices here.

A, fish may fall down the dam.

B, the dam might stop fish travelling along the river.

And C, the electric producers might hurt the fish.

Pause the video.

Have a think.

Let's see, geographers, what did you think? Yes, it's B, the dam might stop fish travelling along the river.

I don't think we need to worry about fish falling down the dam.

They're quite sensible creatures really.

And the electricity won't really hurt them.

The main problem is stopping them if they need to move to breed or just to travel around generally.

Okay, your final task is this.

We're going to be creating a leaflet about the Danube as a case study river.

Now you might want to do this in lots of different ways.

You might want to create a beautiful leaflet where you've got some of your maps that you've created and some drawings as well.

You might want to have a piece of A4 paper you could fold up.

Your teacher might give you a template.

So I want this leaflet to have some information about the Danube, and I'd like it to have a map of where the Danube is in Europe as well.

And maybe you could find out some extra information about the wildlife there.

You can see we've got some missing words here.

So in your leaflet, I'd like you to write out these sentences and fill in the correct missing words.

The Danube is a river in.

It flows through.

different countries and is the border between countries like.

and Serbia.

You can see we've got some missing words here.

Otters, 10, cities, dams, Europe, Romania, and hydro-electricity.

I'd like you to put the correct words in the correct place.

Well done, geographers.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your leaflets about the Danube.

Off you go.

Well, let's see.

What a lot of amazing leaflets that you've done.

So let's go through these sentences.

The Danube is a river in Europe.

It flows through 10 different countries and is the border between countries like Romania and Serbia.

The Danube flows through large cities like Vienna, Belgrade, and Budapest.

At some points of the rivers, dams have been built to store water and create hydro-electricity.

The Danube is home to important wildlife like otters.

So well done for all your hard work creating those leaflets.

And I hope you feel you know a lot more about rivers in Europe now.

Let's just summarise our learning.

We've been learning about rivers in Europe.

The Volga is in Russia and is the longest river in Europe.

Major rivers in Europe include the Danube, the Dnieper, the Po, the Tagus, the Rhine, and the Loire.

Rivers such as the Danube are important as they are a border between countries.

And finally, rivers in Europe are important for transport, providing water, and making hydro-electricity.

Thank you so much for learning with me today about rivers in Europe.

Thank you very much.