Lesson video

Hi, my name's Miss Gilliat and I'm going to be your geography teacher today.

Today we are in lesson two of the Cold Places unit.

What is it like at the North and South Poles? And today's lesson is called Locating the North and South Poles.

We're going to find about exactly where they are.

We've got loads of cool stuff to learn about.

We're going to look at interesting maps and photographs, so I hope you're ready.

So welcome to today's lesson, lesson two of the Cold Places topic, and we're going to be learning about locating the North and South Poles.

So if you remember from lesson one, we looked at what it was like at the North and South Pole and we started to think about why there's differences in temperatures in a small area and then a large area.

Today we're going to look to make sure that we can locate the North and South Pole on a map, and then we're going to look at some of the icy features and icy formations that you get in the two areas.

We're going to look at photographs of them and make sure that we can identify what features we can see.

Lots of cool stuff to get through.

We have four key words today.

Like we did with the previous lesson, I'm going to say the key word and then you are going to repeat it back to me.

It's very important in geography that we at least try to pronounce these words correctly.

When I go like this that is your turn to repeat the word to me.

First one, glacier.

Second, iceberg.

Ice floe.

Ice shelf.

I'm now going to make sure that we understand what these keywords mean.

Now we are going to be using them throughout the lesson and actually also in later lessons in the topic.

But if you're not sure, don't worry, you can always check again at the start of the video.

Now, throughout the lesson, all the keywords have been highlighted in bold to keep reminding us of reminding us of them.

First one, a glacier is a massive chunk of ice which sits on top of land.

Now, glaciers actually do move very slowly, but we'll learn about that later.

An iceberg is a chunk of ice which has broken off a glacier.

You sometimes see these floating in the ocean.

An ice floe is a sheet of ice floating on water.

And an ice shelf is a bit of ice sticking out from when a glacier meets the sea.

So you could actually swim under an ice shelf or you could stand on top of it.

It's literally like a shelf.

We've got three learning cycles today.

The first one, locating the North and South Poles.

Second, looking at differences between the Arctic and Antarctica and the third one, looking at different types of ice formations.

So let's get going with learning cycle one, locating the North and the South Poles.

Now we learned about this last lesson, but if you weren't here or you've forgotten, Earth is sat on something called an axis.

So an axis is an imaginary line which runs through the centre of the Earth and our Earth sits on it, which means Earth is at a slight angle.

It's not completely upright, it sits like this.

Now, when our Earth rotates around the sun, it means that at some points on Earth they're tilted away from the sun, and at some points they are tilted towards the sun.

Now we can see here that the North and the South Poles are located exactly where the imaginary axis sticks out at the top and the bottom of the planet.

Scientists have used this to find the locations.

Now, if you were to go to the North and the South Pole, you'd often find a flag there that would locate the area or a pole.

However, that's not the axis, the axis is an imaginary line.

Okay, the North Pole to start with, the North Pole is located in the Arctic Ocean and it's surrounded by land.

Now you might think, well, how could you stand at the North Pole if it's in an ocean? Well, that ocean is frozen.

That means that the top layer of the sea is actually ice, so you can stand on top of it.

If you were to stick a pole through at the North Pole, that pole would eventually reach ocean again, because the ice is floating.

The North Pole is located in the Northern Hemisphere, which means it's north of the equator.

The South Pole is located on the continent of Antarctica.

Now Antarctica is the only uninhabited, which means that nobody lives there permanently, so it's the only uninhabited continent on Earth.

Now, as we can see, and as I have just said, the South Pole is located on a continent.

This means that the South Pole is located on land and it is surrounded by the southern ocean.

The South Pole is in the Southern Hemisphere, which means it is south of the equator.

So let's have a quick check that we've understood what I've said.

Where is the South Pole located? Is it A, in the Arctic Ocean, B, in the Atlantic Ocean, or C, in Antarctica.

The answer's C, in Antarctica.

Did you get that right? So, as a bit of a task, what we're going to do, well, what you are going to do is you're going to describe where the North and South Pole are located.

To help you out, I've put a diagram on the board.

So we've got the Earth, sat on its axis, with the North Pole at the top and the South Pole at the bottom.

I have also put a word bank on there for you.

So these are words that I would like you to try and include in your answer.

Axis, surface, Arctic Ocean, Antarctica, and continent.

If you don't use all of them, don't worry, but try to use as many as you can.

I'm going to give you a sentence starter verbally.

If you're a little bit stuck, the North Pole is located in.

So, pause the video and have a go.

Here's my answer.

I'd like you to compare your answer to mine and see if you can add any extra detail.

The North and South Poles are located where Earth's axis meets the surface of the Earth.

The North Pole is located in the Arctic Ocean.

The South Pole is located in the continent of Antarctica.

I'd like you to pause the video, look at your answer, look at mine and see if you can add any extra detail to yours.

We are now going to move on to the second learning cycle, which is looking at the differences between the Arctic and Antarctica.

Now, the Arctic, as I said earlier, isn't actually land.

It's frozen sea ice.

So yes, you can stand on top of it.

However, it's not actually land, it's part of the ocean which is frozen.

The reason it's frozen is because it is so cold up there.

Now, if you remember from the previous lesson, it's even colder in their winter because it's tilted away from the sun.

Now the Arctic is surrounded by the continents that we can see on my slide.

So you've got the north part of North America, the north part of Asia, and that's the country of Russia, which is touching the Arctic and also Europe.

Now those little bits of land, which I have that which are included in that Arctic area there, are also classed as being in something called we know as the Arctic Circle.

If we have a look at my picture, we can see a photograph which has been taken from the Arctic.

You can see some of the ice which has frozen or the sea, which is frozen over, but there is also land there.

Now that land actually belongs to North America.

So even though the most of the Arctic is frozen sea ice, some of it is land, the edges of the continents that we can see on my slide here, Antarctica is pretty much the opposite of the Arctic.

It's at the other end of the Earth.

So it's in the Southern Hemisphere located where the South Pole is, and it is actually a continent.

So it is land which is surrounded by ocean.

The ocean which surrounds it is called the Southern Ocean.

The closest continent to Antarctica is South America.

Now, if you were ever lucky enough to go visit Antarctica, you would probably go or you probably fly to the very tip of South America and then get either a flight or a ferry across.

If we have a look at my picture here, I have got a photograph of Antarctica.

We can see there that there's massive chunks of ice on top of the land.

We can also see that there's quite a lot of mountains.

Now there are parts of Antarctica which are very, very mountainous, and it's got some tall mountains up to nearly 5,000 metres tall.

We can also see that there is ocean there.

Now that part of the ocean hasn't frozen, but surrounding Antarctica you do get frozen sea ice as well, like you see in the Arctic.

Let's make sure that we've understood that.

So, true or false, the Arctic is surrounded by land.

That's true.

Can you justify your answer? A, because North America, Europe, and Asia surround the Arctic, or B, because South America and Africa surround the Arctic.

The answer's A, North America, Europe and Asia surround the Arctic.

There are some other differences between the Arctic and Antarctica too.

Antarctica is much colder than the Arctic.

There's a couple of reasons for this.

One of the main ones is because in Antarctica there's lots of high mountains.

Now, if you are stood on the top of a mountain, it's actually much colder than if you are stood at the bottom of the mountain.

Also, because Antarctica is such a large land area, it doesn't absorb heat as well.

That means that Antarctica as a continent is extremely cold.

The Arctic is much warmer.

The main reason for this is because the ocean absorbs heat because liquid absorbs or keeps heat better than solids do, and therefore because underneath the Arctic you've got ocean and also surrounding the area you've got more oceans as well that absorbs heat, which keeps the area at a lower temperature.

Another reason why the Arctic is slightly warmer on the frozen sea ice, you don't get mountains because it is just floating sea and therefore you are always relatively close to the seas level.

And as I said earlier, it is warmer at sea level than it is if you go higher up.

Let's check our understanding.

Which is the coldest place? Is it A, Antarctica, B, the Arctic, or C, Europe? The answer's A, Antarctica.

Almost isn't almost reached 89, well, the coldest ever temperature was 89 minus 89, sorry, degrees C there.

Our first task to do is I would like you to create even a table like this on your, in your work or there is a worksheet to go with this lesson.

I'd like you to put those statements into the correct section of your table.

Warmer, South Pole, land, ocean, colder, North Pole.

So they're all jumbled up at the moment.

You need to put them whether they belong to the Arctic on the left side or Antarctica on the right.

Alternatively, if you prefer to write them as two lists, that is also absolutely fine.

Once you've done that, you could have a go at my question below.

Can you say why it's colder in Antarctica? Pause the video and let's have a go at the task.

Shall we check our answers? Arctic, you should have had the words warmer, the North Pole, ocean.

For Antarctica, you should have had colder, South Pole and land.

Our little helper here said, "It is colder in Antarctica because of its high mountains and large land area." Did you manage to get that explained question correct, too.

Well done if you did because that's quite a tricky concept.

Our third learning cycle today is looking at different types of ice formations.

Now, in Antarctica and the Arctic, we get different types of ice and they can create different things.

So we're going to basically make sure that we understand what they are and also know what they look like so we can identify them if we were ever to see them in real life, but also if we saw photographs of them as well.

The first one, this was one of our keywords, which is a glacier.

Some people actually pronounce it glacier, up to you.

Either is correct, I say glacier.

A glacier is a huge piece of ice that moves slowly over land.

Now if we have a look at my photograph here, this big chunk of ice, this glacier is very, very slowly moving down the mountain.

Now, a bit of extra information for you as they move very slowly down mountains, they actually take away little bits of rock on their way, and in doing so they can create massive U-shaped valleys, which are really, really cool formations.

Now you get glaciers at the North and the South Pole, but you can also get them not near the North and South Pole in other areas where it's colder.

Can you remember what I said about what also can make temperature colder? If you're high up on a mountain, it can often be pretty cold, so sometimes you get glaciers on the tops of mountains.

Now you can get the, you can find glaciers in Europe, in places like the Alps or the Pyrenees.

You can find them in North America, you can find them in different parts of Asia, all around the world where you've got high mountains.

As I said earlier, an ice shelf is a bit of ice sticking out to sea.

Now if you imagine if you had land and then on top of your land you had a chunk of ice, which is a glacier.

Now, as I said, these glaciers are very, very slowly moving.

Now, eventually they will reach the sea, but when they reach the sea, they don't just disappear.

They start to stick out from the, from where the base of the land is almost looking a bit like a shelf.

So if you imagine, here is my notepad, which I'm going to pretend is the glacier moving downhill.

Here, it's got to the edge of the land.

Now as it goes into the ocean, it doesn't just completely disappear, it sticks out and it creates a shelf and that's why they're called ice shelves is because that they look like shelves basically.

Now if we look at my photograph here, I've got a glacier in the background.

Now where that glacier is reaching the sea, you've got a bit of ice shelf sticking out there.

Now I'm actually going to start with the picture on the right, which is an iceberg because icebergs have come from ice shelves.

So icebergs are chunks of ice which have broken off the ice shelf and they are now floating in water.

The photograph that I've got on the right here shows an iceberg.

You can see that actually underneath the water, there's still a massive chunk of ice.

So it's not like you've just got the floating bit on the top, they're also massive underneath the water as well.

They can actually be quite dangerous because sometimes it's hard to see the bit of ice underneath the surface.

So boats or ships can sometimes catch the edges on the bottom of icebergs, which can prove extremely dangerous.

That is how Titanic sunk, if you've ever heard of that disaster.

An ice floe is a floating sheet of ice on the water.

If we have a look at my photograph that I have got on the left, we can see these kind of cool paper-like ice formations and they're basically just little floating pieces of ice.

They're quite thin on the water.

Now these do melt and when they melt you've just got, you've just got ocean there, but they can refreeze as well.

So we call that an ice floe.

Let's check our understanding of this.

So I have got three pictures on here, A, B, and C.

Can you identify or tell me which one of these is the iceberg? Did you get that right? It was A.

More descriptive tasks.

It's quite cool describing all these icy formations, isn't it? On the slide here I have got a picture which has got some different ice formations in it.

What I would like you to do is have a go at describing what you can see in the photograph.

In your answer, you could use some of the colours that you can see.

You could say what temperature you think it might be like, what physical features you can see.

But I would also like you to try and include which different ice formations you can see.

So they were icebergs, ice floes and ice sheets, or ice shelves.

Either is fine.

Pause the video and have a go at describing what icy formations you can see.

Now to help us out, I've labelled this different ice formations.

So we've got an ice shelf in the background.

We've got an ice floe a little bit closer and we've got an iceberg on the left there.

And here's my description.

In the picture, I can see an iceberg on the left, there is an ice shelf in the background, there is an ice floe floating in the sea.

I'd like you to pause the video and I'd like you to check your answer and see if you can add any extra detail.

If you've got enough, is there anything extra you could add to my answer? Wow, what an absolutely fantastic lesson we've had.

I feel like we've learned loads.

On the board, I've got a bit of a summary of what we've learned today.

The North Pole is located in the Arctic Ocean and the South Pole is found in the continent of Antarctica.

A bit of extra detail if you remember, North Pole is frozen sea ice, which is or where the North Pole is located is in ocean, but it's surrounded by land, whereas the South Pole is located on a continent, so that's land.

And then surrounding Antarctica there is something called the Southern Ocean.

Antarctica is colder than the Arctic due to its high mountains and large land area.

Coldest temperature ever recorded there, minus 89 degrees.

Whew.

There are different types of ice formations including glaciers or glaciers, up to you how you want to say it, ice shelves, icebergs, and ice floes.

So, that's it for lesson two for the Cold Places topic.

You have been absolutely fantastic.

There's been so much to learn there, but I feel like we've done a brilliant job.

Looking forward to teaching you next time, bye.