Lesson video

Hello, Mrs. Lomas here.

And I am a primary school teacher that loves teaching geography.

So I'm gonna be with you today for a geography lesson and I hope you are as excited as me to find out what we're doing.

So let's have a look, shall we? Today we are going to be learning all about tropical and temperate rainforests.

And by the end of today you'll be able to explain what a rainforest is, describe the distribution of tropical and temperate rainforests, and make comparisons.

In today's lesson, there are some key words, we have Equator, Tropic of Cancer, and Tropic of Capricorn.

Let's do my turn your turn.

Are you ready? Equator.

Tropic of Cancer.

Tropic of Capricorn.

Well done.

Let's see what those words mean, shall we? The Equator is an imaginary line and circling earth at naught degrees latitude and is an equal distance from the North Pole and the South Pole.

The Tropic of Cancer is an imaginary line of latitude lying north of the Equator.

So north.

The Tropic of Capricorn is an imaginary line of latitude lying south of the Equator.

So our lesson is split into two parts today.

What are rainforests and where are they located? And comparing tropical and temperate rainforests.

So let's have a go at looking at what are rainforests and where are they located.

Rainforests are a type of biome.

Biomes are regions of the earth which have similar climates, landscapes, plants, and animals.

Other types of biomes include deserts, grasslands, and tundra.

And you can see a really good picture of a rainforest, can't you there? So many different greens, fantastic.

Rainforests are found on every continent except Antarctica.

Why do you think there aren't any rainforests in Antarctica? Use your knowledge that you have about continents and that picture to help you.

And pause the video, have a class discussion and then come back when you're ready.

So let's do a little check.

Which of these is not a biome? A, rainforest, B, grassland, C, soil, D, desert.

So again, which one of these is not a biome.

A, rainforest, B grassland, C, soil, or D, desert.

Pause the video, have a go, then come back and check your answer.

How did you get on? If you said C, soil is not a biome, you would be correct.

Well done.

In which of these continents are rainforests not found? A, Antarctica, B, Asia, C, Europe, or D, South America.

So in which of these continents are rainforests not found? Have a go.

Pause the video and then come back and check your answers.

How did you get on? If you said A, Antarctica, you were correct.

Well done.

Okay, here you can see a map of the world and we have, if we look at our key, the light green areas are tropical rainforest and the dark green areas are temperate rainforest.

And you can see we've got three lines on the map as well.

The blue dotted line through the middle is the Equator, the one to the north it's an orange dotted line is the Tropic of Cancer and the one that is to the south of the Equator, the other orange dotted line is the Tropic of Capricorn.

So tropical rainforests are located closer to the Equator mostly between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer.

And that kind of makes sense, doesn't it? Because they're called tropical rainforests and they're in between the two tropics.

That's a handy way to remember which one tropical rainforests are and which one temperate rainforests are.

You can see in South America, can't you? The Amazon rain foresters go a little bit south of the Tropic of Capricorn.

And in Asia you can see it goes a little bit north, the Tropic of Cancer just a tiny bit as well.

And in Australia as well.

And on Madagascar I think, but it's only a tiny bit.

So majority, most of the rainforests are found in between the tropics and they're not.

If they go past the tropics, they're not miles and miles and miles away, are they? They're still quite close.

Okay, so if we've had a good look at that map, let's have a look.

So temperate rainforests are located further away from the Equator north of the Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn.

And you can see that, can't you? On the map those dark green areas are the temperate rainforests.

So you haven't got any dark green, have you? In between those two tropics.

So between the Tropic of Cancer, down to the Equator, and south to Capricorn, Tropic of Capricorn there are no temperate forests in that area.

You can see it's all tropical.

So temperate rainforests are to the north of the Tropic of Cancer and the south of the Tropic of Capricorn and they are further away from the Equator than tropical rainforest.

Okay, can you order the lines of latitude from north to south? We have the Equator, the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer.

Can you put them in order from north to south? Pause the video, have a go, then come back and check your answer.

How did you get on? If you said it was C, Tropic of Cancer, A, Equator B, Tropic of Capricorn, you would be correct.

Well done.

Okay, so here's your first task.

You are going to label the Equator, Tropic of Cancer, and Tropic of Capricorn on your world map, and also label the key to identify the temperate and tropical rainforests.

So can you see there on the screen, you've got a map and you've got three lines marked on, and then you've got your key at the bottom.

You need to label those three lines correctly and then label which of the greens is temperate rainforest and which one is tropical rainforest.

If you look carefully at the Equator, Tropic of Cancer, and Tropic of Capricorn, they all use capital letters, don't they? Because they are names, they are proper nouns.

So please make sure you remember to do that as well.

So you're going to get your map and label the Equator, the Tropic of Cancer, and the Tropic of Capricorn.

And those are your three lines on your map.

And then you're going to label the key.

So you're going to tell me which green is temperate rainforest and which green is tropical rainforest.

Have a go at that and then come back and we'll check the answers.

How did you get on? Shall we have a look? So if we start with our lines, the line north of the Equator is the Tropic of Cancer.

Then you have the Equator, the blue one.

And then south of that you have the Tropic of Capricorn.

And in your key, you have tropical rainforest as the light green, and temperate rainforest in the dark green.

How did you get on? If you need to make a couple of changes, now is your chance.

Well done everybody.

Okay, so we've looked at what rainforests are and where they are located.

Now let's have a look at comparing tropical and temperate rainforests.

Because if they've got two different names and they're in in two different areas of the world, they're probably a bit different, aren't they? So let's find out.

So I'm sure you remember this, but here's a little reminder that weather describes short term changes such as today's temperature or whether it's raining or sunny.

Climate describes what the weather is like over a longer period of time, usually 30 years or more.

The Amazon rainforest is a tropical rainforest.

It is the largest rainforest in the world.

What do you think the climate will be like here? And why do you think this? I want you to pause the video, have a class discussion, and then come back.

How did you get on? So here you can see a picture of a temperate rainforest.

So there are temperate rainforests in the UK.

This photograph is of Crinan woods in Argyll, Scotland.

So using what you know about where temperate rainforests are and the picture to help as well, what do you think the climate will be like here? And why do you think this? Have a class discussion and come back when you are ready.

How did you get up? So let's have a look, shall we? Tropical and temperate rainforest have different climates.

Tropical rainforests are hot and humid with high rainfall and temperate rainforests are cooler with moderate rainfall.

And you can see there is a difference in those two photos, can't you? The climates of tropical and temperate rainforests are different because of where they are located on earth.

Which rainforests are closer to the Equator and which rainforests are further away from the Equator? Pause the video, have a look at your maps, have a discussion, and then come back.

How did you get on? The rainforests that are closer to the Equator are the tropical rainforests, aren't they? And the ones that are further away from the Equator are the temperate rainforests.

A weather forecast tells us what the weather is going to be like in a particular place, how it will change and why.

Measuring the weather over a long period of time helps us to understand what the climate is like.

So which statement is correct? A, the climate describes what the weather is like today.

B, the climate describes what the weather will be like tomorrow.

Or C, the climate describes what the weather is like over a long period of time.

Which statement is correct? Have a go.

Pause the video, come back and check your answers.

How did you get on? If you said C, the climate describes what the weather is like over a long period of time, you would be correct.

Well done.

Here's another little check for you.

True or false, tropical rainforests have a hotter climate than temperate rainforests? So I want you to decide if that is true or false and then justify your answer using either A or B.

So A, tropical rainforests are closer to the Equator, or B, tropical rainforests are further away from the Equator.

So I want you to say, if the statement tropical rainforests have a hotter climate than temper rainforests is true or false.

And then use A or B to justify your answer.

Explain your answer.

Pause the video, have a go, then come back and check your answers.

How did you get on? If you said that this statement was true, because A, tropical rainforests are closer to the Equator, you were correct.

Well done.

So your task two for today.

You are going to study the climate data in the table and describe any temperature differences that you notice between the tropical and temperate rainforest localities.

I then want you to write a sentence to explain a reason for these differences.

So here's a little table here.

You've got Manaus in Brazil and that has tropical rainforest type.

And today's temperature is 32 degrees Celsius.

In Haast Aws in New Zealand, that is a temperate rainforest, and that is 11 degrees Celsius.

So study the climate data in the table.

Describe any temperature differences you notice, it's one hotter, is one colder, between the tropical and temperate rainforest localities, and then write a sentence to explain a reason for these differences.

Pause the video, have a go.

And then when you are done come back and we'll have a look at one I've had a go at myself.

How did you get on? So I said that I noticed that the temperatures were generally higher in the tropical rainforest localities than in the temperate rainforest localities.

This is because tropical rainforests are located nearer to the Equator.

Don't worry if you didn't get exactly the same as me.

You might have mentioned that the temperate rainforests were cooler because they are further away from the Equator.

So here is a summary of our lesson today.

We've been looking at tropical and temperate rainforests.

And rainforests are a type of biome.

They are located in tropical and temperate regions of the world.

The climate in tropical and temperate rainforests is different because of their locations on earth.

And climate data can be used to investigate what rainforests are.

And if we have a look at our map, we've also learnt today, haven't we? Where the Equator is the Tropic of Cancer, the Tropic of Capricorn, and we've located tropical rainforests and temperate rainforests on our map.

And we noticed that tropical rainforests are closer to the Equator than temperate rainforests and the majority of tropical rainforest is found in between the two tropics.

Well done everybody.

That was quite a lot of knowledge to take in today, wasn't it? But I do hope you enjoyed doing your maps and your other tasks.

You listened really hard and I was absolutely impressed with your labelling of your maps.

So well done.

So don't forget to take the exit quiz just to double check if there's anything you need to recap before next lesson and I will see you again soon.

Bye.