Lesson video

Hello.

My name is Ms. Chorekdjian.

You've made a great choice to learn Geography with me today.

I will be guiding you through our lesson.

We're going to have such a great time learning together.

Let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson from our Unit on our Local Area.

How do we read maps and plan routes? This lesson is called, "Improving Our School Grounds." You'll be learning to make a map or a model to show your ideas for improving the school grounds.

Some of this learning is brand new, but I am here to help you.

This links back to previous learning you might have done exploring your school grounds and local area, completing some field work, and sharing some opinions about your favourite places to play.

Here are the keywords that we'll be using together today.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson and learning more about them later.

But first, let's practise saying them together.

Let's do my turn, your turn.

Model, model.

Improvement, improvement.

Develop, develop.

Well done.

I want you to be using these keywords throughout our lesson.

Let's have a look at what we'll be learning about today.

These are our learning cycles.

First, we'll be evaluating play areas in our school grounds, and then we'll be improving play areas in our school grounds.

Are you ready to start your learning for today? Fantastic.

Let's begin.

Here are the places to play in our school.

We've got the playground, we have the trim trail, the outdoor gym, the MUGA, the Multi Use Games Area, the slide and the field.

These are all the places that we have to play in our school.

You might have some other places to play in your school as well.

These pupils have an opinion on their favourite places to play around their school grounds.

Remember, an opinion is what someone thinks or believes.

My favourite place to play is the outdoor gym because it keeps me fit and healthy.

So you can see there, that that pupil has explained why that place is their favourite and that's based on their opinion, so what they think of that area.

Another pupil has said, "I like playing in the Multi Use Games Area because I can play basketball with my friends." So they've shared their opinions.

Your opinion might be the same or it might be different.

Remember that everybody is allowed to have their own opinion.

It doesn't mean that somebody is right or somebody is wrong.

What is your opinion of the places to play around your school? Which play areas do you enjoy and why? Pause the video now and answer these two questions about places to play in your school.

You can do it as a think pair and share activity.

Pause the video now.

Great, I'm sure you talked about all the places to play in your school and you shared your opinion of them.

You talked about why you enjoyed those areas and why you like them.

But I wonder if any of those areas might need improvements.

Do things need to change? Or some things may be getting a little bit old or are they broken? Do any improvements need to be made to help you enjoy it more? Pause the video now and discuss this with your partner.

Are there any improvements that you could make to some play areas? Great, did you talk about some areas needing some improvements? Because things have to be improved and developed in order to keep them new and to keep them safe.

School grounds can be developed and adapted to provide an improvement to play spaces so they include features that you as pupils want.

Let's think about some improvements that we've already had made to our school grounds and think about why we've had those improvements.

This will help us think of more improvements that we could make.

The Multi Use Games Area and the outdoor gym were new improvements to our school grounds because children wanted to play team sports and to be healthier.

You can see there that I've got a photo of the Multi Use Games Area on the left and then the outdoor gym, which is right next to it on the right.

These were improvements to our school based on the feedback and the opinions that were collected by the school council at the time.

Here's what the area looked like and here's a pupil's opinion of that area.

"I wanted to improve our old play area into an area where we could play sports safely." So that was an opinion that was collected by members of our school council.

So we evaluated this area and thought about what was good about it, but also what we could do to improve it.

The field had some goal posts but we weren't able to play if it had rained.

Sometimes the ground was uneven which meant we fell over.

So you could see that the field was used to play team sports on, but it wasn't very safe because if it was raining then it meant the field was very muddy.

And because pupils played on the field during football, it meant that if they tackled someone and took out a little bit of the field, that area was uneven, and the ground was not safe.

So to improve that area and to improve the facilities for playing team sports, these pupils' opinions was gathered and used by the school council to suggest that we had a MUGA installed, a Multi Use Games Area.

So this pupil said, "I wanted to improve our old play area into an area where we could play sports safely." The new Multi Use Games Area means we can play safely whatever the weather and it even has seats for people to watch us play.

So you can see that this improvement has made that space safer and has meant that children can play in it whatever the weather has been.

And it also means that there won't be any ditches for them to trip into or hurt themselves.

So that improvement was a really positive improvement to our school grounds and it made a real difference to all the children that play team sports.

Let's look at another example here.

So another improvement that we made to our school grounds was by adding an outdoor gym next to the Multi Use Games Area so that we could stay fit.

The outdoor gym keeps children healthy if they don't play team sports.

So that means that everyone has somewhere new to play and to keep fit and healthy.

So they were both examples of improvements that we made to our school grounds.

Now that we've looked at some improvements already made, can we develop some other play areas? A bird's eye view perspective might help us see areas that we could improve better.

A bird's eye perspective is what a seagull might see if it flew overhead.

We use that perspective because it gives us a better view of an area.

So you can see an area in more detail.

So we can use a bird's eye view perspective to evaluate areas of our school grounds.

Let's have a check here.

Which of these pictures shows a bird's eye view perspective? Picture A, picture B or picture C.

Pause the video now and answer this check.

How did you get on? Did you say picture A and picture C? Well done.

Both of those show a bird's eye view perspective.

Good job, everyone.

I'm going to give you a thumbs up.

Let's continue with our learning.

Let's look at a bird's eye view of the Key Stage One playground.

What improvements could we develop here? What improvements shall we make? So let's have a good look at this photograph and see if there's anything that stands out.

Pause the video and see if you could make any improvements to this play area.

How did you get on? Did you identify any areas that could be improved in this playground? Let's have a look at this together.

There are some drains here which could be unsafe.

Can you see that? There's a bit of discoloration to the playground and you can see that there's some ditches because parts of the playground have been removed.

Maybe there was some pipework that needed to be fixed.

We could improve this if we add another climbing frame or maybe we can add some colourful painted games on the ground because when I look at this bird's eye view photograph, that strip there of different coloured playground really stands out.

So let's look at another picture here.

Here's a bird's eye view of the trim trail and the field.

What could we develop here? What improvements shall we make? Pause the video and discuss it with your partner.

How could we develop and improve this trim trail area? How did you get on? Did you talk about how you could improve this area? Let's look at this together.

The trim trail is in a straight line and that means that only one person can use it at a time and it might mean that children are waiting quite a long time to have their turn.

So what we could do, is maybe add another line next to it so that pupils can compete against each other and so that two pupils can go on the trim trail at the same time.

We can also move the goal posts to another part of the field because they're quite close to this area and you can't really play football with a goal post in a position like that.

We could also think about this flat gymnastics area and we could develop that into a central part of the trim trail so that it's got a part in the middle that more children can play on.

So what we've done together is we've looked at areas around our school where children play.

We've talked about evaluating them, so seeing what's good about them and what could be developed and improved further.

It's now time for you to think about your school and Task A.

What I would like you to do is to choose a play area around your school grounds that can be improved.

I'd like you to explain why it needs to be improved.

There's a sentence starter there to help you.

The area in my school grounds that needs to be improved is.

Pause the video and complete Task A.

Great.

How did you get on with Task A? Here's an example of what I've written.

The area in my school grounds that needs to be improved is the Key Stage One playground because there are some ditches there which could be unsafe.

There is a rectangular part of the playground that has been cut out and filled in with cement.

This looks strange so we need to develop this area into a nice and colourful place that pupils want to play in.

The improvement I would make, is to draw colourful games on the ground to make pupils want to play there.

Well done for completing Task A.

You can give yourselves a thumbs up.

Let's continue with our learning.

Now, we've evaluated play areas that we already have.

We are going to think about improving play areas in our school grounds.

Geographers make maps or models to share ideas, information and opinions about places.

We are going to make a map or model to share our ideas and opinions about improvements to play areas around our school grounds.

It's now time for a check.

Geographers create maps or models to share what about places? A, information.

B, direction.

C, ideas.

Or D, opinions.

Pause the video now and answer that question.

How did you get on? Did you answer A, information, C, ideas and D, opinions? Well done.

Geographers create maps or models to share information, ideas and opinions about places.

Good job, everyone.

Let's carry on with our learning.

Now, all of you chose a play area to develop in Task A.

Now we're going to think about how we can share information, opinions and ideas that we have.

Remember, this is the area that I thought needed to be improved.

We need to clearly present what information we have about this place, what we think of it, so we have to share our opinion, and any ideas that we have about how to develop it or how to improve it.

Let's go through this together.

So here's the bird's eye view perspective of my play area, and the information that I have about it that I'd like to share is, this is the Key Stage One playground.

Pupils who play here are energetic and love bright colours and games.

There are already two climbing frames here, so it might not be a good idea to add a third one, it could make the playground quite cluttered.

There are some painted games on the floor, but they're faded, so I wonder if I could add some more bright colour to this area.

Here are some opinions that I have of the play area at the moment.

"I like the climbing frames.

We don't need another one." "The ground of the playground looks dull." "The cream area that has been dug up and filled in doesn't look very nice." So there are some opinions that I have or other pupils might have about the current playground as it is at the moment.

And then thinking about ideas for improvement.

So how I could take the information I have already and the pupil's opinions, and use those to help develop ideas to make this place a better place to play in.

So the ideas that I could have might be, we need more bright colours and games painted on the floor.

We can have a giant "Snakes and Ladders" board printed on the floor and pupils can jump along the squares.

And we can have a wheel that's next to it that spins with a number.

This can help us develop our counting skills and lets us practise turn taking skills.

So you can see there that I've used information I had and I've used pupils' opinions to help me develop and think of improvements for this play area to help pupils enjoy it and like it better.

It's now time for a little check.

So let's think about which statement from this list is providing information, which one is an opinion, and which one is an idea.

What I would like you to do is to match the statements that are on the left with the word's information, opinion, and idea that are on the right.

Pause the video now and complete this check.

How did you get on? Should we see how you matched these statements? The first one, the ground needs to be brighter is an idea, because that's a suggestion of an improvement that I could make.

The next one, this is the Key Stage One playground.

That's information, that's telling me what this place is.

And finally, the last one, the Key Stage One playground is dull, that's an opinion, that's telling me what someone thinks about a place.

Well done.

If you've got those right.

You can give yourselves another thumbs up.

That was quite tricky, but I'm sure you now know what is an example of information, what is an opinion and what an idea is.

Good job, everyone.

When we have decided on our opinions and our ideas, we can develop and show our suggested improvements using maps, plans and models.

How can you explain what maps, plans and models mean? Pause the video and see if you can explain those three words to your partner.

How did you get on? Should we go through them to together? A map is a drawing of an area showing geographical features and where they are in relation to each other.

A plan is a drawing from above that shows an area in detail.

And a model is a smaller representation of something that shows what it looks like or how it works.

So today, we are going to be creating maps, plans or models to show our suggested improvements and share our ideas with others.

So here is a map and a model of the Key Stage One playground area that I want to develop with the improvements that I suggested.

You can see here that I've added a colourful "Snakes and Ladders" board that pupils can jump along.

And I've covered that area of the ground that was dug up and I've made it flat and taken away the ditches, so that area is now safe.

This area of the playground is now colourful and has a purpose of encouraging turn taking through this fun game.

So you can see now that this area is bright and colourful and it encourages children to play here.

They can jump along the squares, so that helps their physical development and it also helps their counting skills and turn taking.

So I think the improvement that I've suggested here through my model is really positive and I think other people might have similar opinions to what I have.

So I have developed and improved this area of the Key Stage One playground, which previously looked quite dull and grey.

And then it had a section which had been removed and filled in with cement that had some ditches that wasn't safe.

And I've created it and turned it into an idea that is bright, colourful, supports pupils physical development and gives them a chance to turn take with each other.

So I think I've done a really good job there of suggesting an improvement to this play area.

It's now time for you to do some thinking.

It's time for Task B.

What I would like you to do is to use the play area that you've picked for Task A and I would like you to draw a picture or create a model to share information, opinions and ideas about how this area can be developed and improved.

Pause the video now and complete Task B.

How did you get on? So here's an example of what I've created for Task B.

There's my model.

I said this is the Key Stage One playground.

Pupils who play here are energetic and love bright colours and games.

There are some painted games on the floor, but they are faded.

We can have a giant "Snakes and Ladders" board painted on the floor and pupils can jump along the squares.

This can help us develop our counting skills and lets us practise our turn taking skills.

Good job, everyone.

You are really good at evaluating play areas in your school grounds and improving them.

You presented information, opinions and ideas through maps and models, and you shared your ideas so well with each other.

We've now come to the end of our lesson.

Let's go through a summary of all the learning that we've completed together today.

School grounds can be developed and improved to provide spaces and features that pupils want.

A bird's eye perspective is what a seagull might see if it flew overhead.

Geographers make models and maps to share ideas, information and opinions about places.

Good job, everyone.

I'm going to give you one last thumbs up.

You've been fantastic today.

Well done for joining me and for sharing your learning with me.

I'll see you again soon for more geography lessons.

Bye.