Lesson video

Hi everyone.

My name is Miss Dhillon and today we are starting a new unit on rivers.

The question we will be exploring in today's lesson is, where are the world's rivers? This is what the structure of today's lesson is going to look like.

We will start with the star words.

Then we're going to think about the question, what is a river? Then we will be learning new vocabulary, such as source and mouth.

Then we will be looking at the Colorado river.

And finally, we'll be finishing by looking at three rivers from the continent of Africa, South America and Europe.

But first of all, before we start our lesson, please make sure you have paper, pencil ready for the lesson and of course your brains, because we are going to be doing a lot of new learning in today's lesson.

On the screen, you can see the star words for today's lesson.

I will be explaining these star words in more detail throughout the lesson.

But first let's say them out loud using my turn.

And then your turn.

Mouth, source, meander, North America, Africa, South America, Europe.

Well done team.

First, let's think about the question.

What is a river? A river is a natural flowing water course, usually fresh water, and it flows towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river.

Rivers can be long or they can be short.

They can be wide or they can be narrow.

And they often join together on their way downstream to make bigger rivers.

Lots of animals live in or by rivers and people often find them a good place to live too.

Rivers also form an important parts of the water cycle, which is the continuous recycling of water around the planet.

I would like you to now pause the video to complete the task on the screen.

Fill in the missing gaps, using the words at the bottom of the white box.

You can now see the answers on the screen.

The key words are in bold.

Did you manage to put the key words in the correct place? Well done if you did, you've made a great start today's lesson.

Some people think that rivers start at the sea and flow inland.

However, this is not true.

The force that controls a rivers water is gravity and therefore relies on the downward slope from the plant to the sea to make it flow.

The source of a river or the beginning of a river is where the river starts its journey.

It is usually found in high places, such as hills or mountains.

A river can have more than one source.

It can have, good, more than one source.

Even the largest wildest rivers begin as a collection of tiny streams, which joined together over its course and rivers come in all different shapes and sizes, but all rivers have a source where they start and they all have a mouth where they end.

This leads us onto the next slide, which is the mouth of a river.

The majority of rivers finish their journey at the mouth.

The mouth of a river is where the body of water joins an ocean, sea or large lake.

Pause the video now to complete the task on the screen.

Choose the correct key words that have been given to help you finish the sentences.

The answers are now on the screen.

Did you remember those correctly? Well done if you did, let's now get into the habit of using this vocabulary so we can sound like geographers.

Rivers are important because they shape the landscape through erosion, transportation and deposition.

We will be learning more about this.

In another lesson.

On the screen, you can see a meandering river.

Meandering means covering or bending.

Most rivers meander as a river erodes or breaks down the soil in the outer curve.

We will be learning more about meandering rivers in a later lesson.

On the screen, you can see a road map.

What continent has been highlighted with the red circle? Say out loud.

Good job.

It has been circled around North America.

Well done.

We are now going to zoom into the continent of North America.

On the left hand side, you can see a map of the United States.

If we zoom in a little bit closer, you can now see the Colorado River, which is marked as blue.

This runs through seven states of the USA.

Have a little closer look at the map.

Can you name some of the states that the Colorado River runs through? Let me give you one, Wyoming.

Can you find the other states that the Colorado river runs through? So when looking at the map, you might have said Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, or California.

Well done if you spotted any of these.

These photographs on this side, show parts of the Grand Canyon, which is in the State of Arizona.

The Grand Canyon, which is a large and deep valley that the Colorado has eroded, which means slowly worn down over millions of years.

Some geologists, these are scientists who study the rocks of the earth, they think that parts of the Grand Canyon, maybe up to 17 million years old.

How old do they think the rocks are? Good jobs, 70 million years old.

Pause the video now to complete the task on the screen.

Here is the correct answer.

Well done for remembering that a geologist studies the rocks of the earth.

On the screen, you can see the world's map.

Which continent has been highlighted with a red circle? Say out loud.

Did you say Africa? Well done? We are now going to zoom into the continent of Africa.

On the screen.

You can see a map of Africa.

The River Nile flows through the Northeast of Africa.

We are going to zoom in a little bit more closely to look at the countries through which the River Nile flows.

The River Nile is the longest river in Africa.

What is it team? Good, the longest river in Africa.

On the map, you can see a blue squiggly line.

This is River Nile.

We know that rivers usually flow towards an ocean or sea.

Look at them more closely.

Can you point to where the mouth of the river is? Where it joins a sea? Did you say the Mediterranean Sea? Well done, the mouth of the River Nile or where the river ends, is the Mediterranean Sea.

Now look more closely at the map again, can you name for me, two countries that the river now flows through.

Pause a video to complete this task.

Here are the answers.

There's lots of countries that the River Nile flows through.

Hopefully you spotted at least two of these.

I am now going to check for your understanding.

Can you use the map on the screen to write down whether mouth of the River Nile is? Pause the video to do that now.

Did you remember that correctly? Well done if you did.

Remember, Mediterranean has to r's.

So just be careful when spelling Mediterranean.

It is interesting to note that not all countries in Africa have rivers flowing through them.

One example of a country that doesn't have any permanent rivers is Libya.

Libya only has rivers, which flow only and if there is rain.

The rest of the year, these rivers are just a dry river bed with no water.

So there are no permanent rivers in Libya.

Libya is also one of the driest and sunniest states in the world.

And the Libyan desert occupies a large part of the country.

On the screen, you can see a world map.

What continent has been highlighted with a red circle? Say out loud.

Good job.

We are now going to zoom into the continent of South America.

The Amazon River is the largest river in the world.

What is it? Good job.

The largest river in the world.

The source of the Amazon River is the Andes Mountains of Peru and the mouth is the Atlantic Ocean.

Can you point with your finger where is the Atlantic Ocean on the map? Did you point to here? Well done if you did and well done for spotting it.

The Amazon River is approximately 4,000 miles long.

How many miles long? Good job, 4,000 miles long.

During the wet season, the Amazon River can get up to 120 miles wide.

And there are no bridges that cross the Amazon.

Looking at the map a little bit more closely, can you name three countries that the Amazon River flows through? If you're feeling more confident, you can name more than three.

Pause the video now.

Here are the answers.

There is more than three.

So double check which ones you've got and just have a look at the ones that you didn't get.

Just so you can look at the map and see where they are.

On the screen you can see a roadmap.

What continent has been highlighted this time? Say out loud.

Good job.

We are now going to zoom into the continent of Europe.

The longest river in Europe is the Volga River.

What is the longest river? Good job.

The longest river in Europe is the Volga river.

And this is located in Russia.

Where is it located? Good job, in Russia.

The source of the Volga River is the Valdai Hills.

On the screen you can see the mouth of the river.

Where does the Volga river flow into? Which sea is it? Look more closely at the map to find out.

Point to it when you can see it.

Can you say out loud for me? Good job.

You should have said the Caspian Sea.

That is the mouth of the Volga River or where the river ends.

I would now like you to pause the video to complete the task on the screen.

Fill in the missing gaps using the correct key words.

Did you remember that correctly? Well done if you did.

Remember that the Volga River is the longest river in Europe.

Can you remind me what is the longest river in Africa? Good job.

The River Nile.

Well done team.

We have now learned about four rivers in four different continents.

So now I would like you to match the river with the continent in which it is found.

Pause the video now.

Did you match those correctly? Take a few moments to check your answer.

Okay, team.

So that is now the end of a first lesson of the unit, rivers.

I really hope you enjoyed today's lesson and as much as I did and learned lots of new facts about different rivers around the world.

It is now time for you to complete your end of lesson quiz.

Next lesson, we will be learning more about how rivers shaped the land.

Bye everyone.

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