Lesson video

Hello, my name is Miss Chorekdjian-Jojaghaian.

I'm so excited to be learning with you today.

I will be guiding you through our lesson.

We're going to do some great learning together.

Let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson from our unit called, "Climate Zones, what are they and why do they matter?" This lesson is called, "The Differences Between Climate Zones and Biomes." Your Learning Outcome today is to understand and explain the difference between climate zones and biomes.

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

This links back to previous learning you might have done thinking about cold places and hot places, as well as learning about the position of Earth in space and how that position of Earth affects climate.

You might have also thought about the relationship between lines of latitude, temperature, and climate zones, and you might have also explored some climate graphs and thought about what information they can tell us.

I'm really excited about today's lesson.

Are you ready to start your learning? Good job, let's get started.

Here are the Keywords that we will be using throughout today's lesson.

Let's just practise saying these words.

Let's do my turn, your turn.

Weather, weather, climate, climate.

Climate zones, climate zones.

Good job, everyone.

Let's go through the definitions of what these keywords mean.

Weather, the weather of a place is the day-to-day condition of the atmosphere, e.

g.

sunny, snowing, warm, et cetera.

Climate, climate is an average of weather conditions, e.

g.

rain, sun, wind, in a place taken over a long period of time, usually 30 years or more.

Climate zone, climate zones are areas that have similar weather conditions and climate, e.

g.

the tropics.

I'd like you to practise using these key words throughout our lesson as well.

Here are the Learning Cycles that we will be working through together in today's lesson.

First, we're going to be looking at what are biomes and where are they located, and then we'll be thinking about what the major biomes of the world are like.

Are you ready to start your learning today? Fantastic, let's begin.

A biome is a large region of the world with places that have a similar climate.

It also has similar types of plants and animals that can live in the conditions in that region.

So we're really thinking about the plants and animals that are all in a similar region together.

Do you remember what places that have similar climates and similar weather patterns are called? Pause the video and see if you can answer that question.

How did you get on? Did you say this? "I remember that places with a similar climate and similar weather conditions are called climate zones." Good job, so we're going to be thinking about what's different between a biome and a climate zone.

Different animals live in different climate zones, so you can see we've got some animals here.

I wonder if you can think about which climate zone these animals might come from? You can use what you know about the animal already, or you can have a look and think about what you can see in the photo that might give you some clues as to what climate zone that animal lives in.

So the animals you can have a look at are the poison dart frog, the grey squirrel, the arctic fox and camels.

Pause the video and see if you can work out which climate zones these animals are from.

How did you get on thinking about which climate zones these animals might be from? Did you say that camels come from the desert climate zone? And there's a clue in that photo because you can see the camel's actually walking through the desert.

Well done if you got that right.

Did you say that the grey squirrel comes from the temperate climate zone? Good job if you did.

Here in England where I'm from, there's lots of grey squirrels in my local park, so I know that I can identify where the squirrel comes from immediately.

Let's move on to the next animal.

The poison dart frog.

Did you say that the poison dart frog comes from the equatorial climate zone? And there's a clue there, because you can see it looks like it lives in a rainforest in a really hot climate near to the equator.

Well done if you got that right.

And then the final animal, there might be a clue in the name the arctic fox.

Did you say that the arctic fox lives in the Arctic and Polar Climate Zones? Well done if you were able to think carefully about where these animals live and which climate zones they live in.

Good job if you did.

You can give yourselves a thumbs up.

Remember we talked in the previous slide that a biome really focuses on what the climate is like, but also it includes a focus on plants and animals, and that's what we've done.

We've looked at animals so far and we thought about placing them into climate zones.

It's now time to have a quick check here.

Which three features are similar in a biome? A, rainfall, temperature and animals.

B, climate, plants and animals.

Or C, mountains, plants and animals.

Pause the video and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you say B? That's correct, climate, plants and animals are three features that are similar in a biome.

Well done if you got that right, you can give yourselves a thumbs up.

Climate zones and biomes are not the same.

Biomes relate to animals and plants, as well as weather conditions.

Climate zones can contain more than one biome.

So if you have a look at this map here, you can see a world map.

You can see the lines of latitude that are located on the map and you can also see the different colours representing all of the biomes that we're going to talk about today.

And as you can see, some climate zones contain more than one biome.

Here's a climate zone for example.

I wonder if you can remember what this climate zone is called? It's around the equator.

So it's called the Equatorial Climate Zone, and you can see that it contains savannah and it contains tropical rainforest.

So it has two biomes within that one climate zone.

So that was just a quick example to introduce to you the names of the biomes.

We're going to learn about them in more detail as we go through our lesson.

Maps can show us patterns of where biomes are located in different regions of the world.

The biomes of the world have different names.

Here are six of them.

Tropical rainforest, savannah, which you heard me say on the previous slide.

Desert, temperate deciduous forest, boreal forest and tundra.

Here are the names of six different biomes.

This is where the major biomes of the world are located.

So this was the map that we had on the previous slide and we've explored the savannah and the tropical rainforest.

I wonder if you can just have a look at this map and see what other biomes you can find in different climate zones? Relate this map to the map that we've seen already focusing on different climate zones.

Remember that you can locate the climate zones in relation to the lines of latitude.

So pause the video now and discuss with your partner.

Think about the climate zones that you know already and how these biomes fit into them.

Pause the video now.

Good job, how did you get on exploring this map? Did you have a look at the climate zones that you know already? Did you place these biomes within them and see that some climate zones contain more than one biome? Good job, everyone.

Vegetation belts are large areas in biomes that have similar plants.

You can remember the word vegetation by linking it to the word vegetables.

That's what helps me remember that it's a word that's linked to plants.

So again, I'll read that through so that we don't forget.

Vegetation belts are large areas in biomes that have similar plants.

Plants that grow in hot and wet conditions can be found in tropical rainforest vegetation belts.

So just have a moment there and remind yourselves where the tropical rainforest biomes are.

Here are the tropical rainforest vegetation belts, and remember that vegetation belts are large areas in the biomes that have similar plants.

Let's have a quick check here.

Name the biomes that are marked on the map at locations A to D.

Have a look at the key to help you.

Pause the video and complete this check.

How did you get on? Did you say A was tundra? Good job.

Did you say B was desert? D was tropical Rainforest and C savannah.

Well done if you've got all of those right, you can give yourselves another thumbs up.

That's fantastic learning so far.

Let's continue with our lesson.

It is now time for Task A.

I'd like you to look at maps A and B and talk to your partner.

A is a map of the world's biomes, and B is a map of the climate zones.

Think about these two questions.

How are they similar and how are they different? Pause the video now and complete Task A.

How did you get on? Did you say something like this? "Both these maps show parts of the world that can share similar characteristics like climate, plants or animals." That's talking about the similarities, so you could have said something similar to this.

And then for differences, how are these two maps different? You could have said something like, "But they are different because biomes and climate zones are not the same.

One climate zone can have more than one biome." Well done if you got that right and good job for completing Task A.

I will give you another thumbs up.

It's now time to move on to the second part of our lesson today.

We are going to be thinking about what the major biomes of the world look like.

The tropical rainforest biome is home to over half of the world's plant and animal species.

Tropical rainforests are found in the Amazon region in South America, the Congo Basin in Africa, and parts of Southeast Asia.

Pause the video and see if you can locate where the tropical rainforest biomes are on that map.

There they are.

Good job if you were able to locate them correctly.

So remember that the tropical rainforest biome is home to over half of the world's plant and animal species.

That's an incredible number of plants and animals.

Savannah biomes are located between tropical rainforests and deserts.

They have tall grasses, scattered trees and shrubs.

Animals such as elephants and giraffes live in savannahs in Africa.

Savannahs are found in Africa, South America, parts of Asia and Australia.

Have a look at that map and see if you can locate the areas where the savannahs are.

Did you locate where the savannahs are? They're the areas in light green and you can see them in South America.

There's already a line showing you the one in Africa and there's also some in parts of Asia and Australia as well.

Good job everyone.

Well done if you got that right.

It's now time to have a quick check.

I'd like you to tick the correct column for each sentence to show which biome is being described.

This biome is home to over half the world's plants and animal species.

Is that referring to a tropical rainforest or is that referring to a savannah? The next statement says, animals such as elephants wonder freely around this biome.

Again, is that referring to a tropical rainforest or a savannah? The next one says these biomes separate areas of desert from rainforests.

Is that talking about tropical rainforests or savannahs? And finally, the Amazon is an area where this biome is found.

Again, is it talking about the tropical rainforest or the savannah? Pause the video now and think about each of these sentences and which biome they are describing.

How did you get on? Did you say that the first one was describing a tropical rainforest? That's correct.

Tropical rainforest biomes are home to over half the world's plants and animal species.

Good job, well done if you got that right.

The next one was talking about a savannah.

Animals such as elephants wander freely around this biome.

That's true.

Remember we saw a photo of the elephants wandering around the savannah on the previous slide.

The next sentence, these biomes separate areas of desert from rainforests.

We were talking about a savannah there.

Good job if you got that right.

And the final sentence, the Amazon is an area where this biome is found, was talking about a tropical rainforest.

So well done if you got that right and you were able to figure out if we were talking about a savannah or a tropical rainforest.

You can give yourselves a thumbs up there.

Now let's continue learning about the other biomes.

The desert biome has very little plant and animal life because deserts are so dry.

The Sahara, Namib and Kalahari are large deserts in Africa.

There are also desert biomes in South America, Asia, and Australia.

Pause the video there and see if you can locate the desert biomes on that map.

How did you get on locating where the desert biomes are? You were looking for the areas that are represented as yellow on this map, so everywhere where you can see yellow.

Here's an example and a picture of a desert there.

Remember that the continents that they're in are South America, Asia, and Australia.

Good job everyone.

Temperate deciduous forests are located in Eastern North America, most of Europe, and China and Japan in Asia.

Deciduous trees lose their leaves in winter.

Many animals and birds live in this biome.

Have a look at this map and see if you can locate areas of temperate deciduous forests.

Pause the video now.

How did you get on? Did you locate that area? So we're looking for that teal blue colour.

Remember that temperate deciduous forests are located in Eastern North America, most of Europe and China and Japan in Asia and that many different animals and birds live in this biome.

Good job if you were able to locate those areas on the map.

It's now time for a True or False check.

This means we've got to read this sentence carefully and decide whether or not it's true or false.

Very few plants and animals can live in the desert biome.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and answer that check.

How did you get on? Did you say true? That's correct.

Very few plants and animals can live in the desert biome.

Now, because this is a true or false question, we've got to justify our answer and think about why it's true.

Let's look at these two possible reasons.

A, the desert biome has very little vegetation and animal life because deserts are so dry.

And B, plants that live in the desert biome lose their leaves in winter.

Read those two statements carefully and see which one justifies our answer.

Pause the video now.

How did you get on? Did you say A? That's correct.

The desert biome has very little vegetation and animal life because the deserts are so hot and dry.

Well done for getting that right.

You can give yourselves another thumbs up.

Let's keep learning about different biomes.

The boreal forest is the largest land-based biome in the world.

Boreal forests are located between temperate deciduous forests and the tundra biome.

Boreal forests can be very cold, so not all trees can grow there, but tall pine trees grow all over this biome.

And there's a picture there of those tall pine trees.

Looking at this picture, you can see a clue of the climate.

There's lots of snow on these tall pine trees and there's snow on the ground as well.

See if you can locate other areas where boreal forests are.

How did you get on? Did you locate them around the Arctic Circle and the Polar and Arctic Climate Zones? Good job, well done if you did.

It was that area that's represented by the light blue colour.

Tundra biomes are found in the Arctic and Polar Climate Zone.

The top layer of soil there is frozen almost all of the time, so not much vegetation grows there.

There are tundra biomes in the far North of Canada, in Russia and in Scandinavia as well as other places near to the poles.

And there's an image there showing you what a tundra biome looks like.

Pause the video and see if you can locate those places on the map.

How did you get on? Did you locate them as those areas that are represented in orange? The areas that are in the far North of Canada, in Russia and in Scandinavia.

Good job if you located the tundra biome successfully.

It's now time for a quick check.

Which image shows vegetation in a boreal forest biome? Is it A, B, or C? Pause the video and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you say B? That's correct.

Remember that boreal forests are home to those really tall pine trees, and you can see them there covered in snow.

Well done if you got that right, you can give yourselves a thumbs up.

It's now time for Task B.

This task is split into two sections.

The first part of this task asks you to match these biomes to the facts that are true for them.

So read the facts, look at the picture, and see the name of the biome and match them so that they are correct.

You've got temperate deciduous forest, tundra, desert, and tropical rainforest.

And the facts about them are soil here is frozen most of the year.

It is too dry for most animals to survive here.

Home to half the world's plant species.

And, trees here can lose leaves in winter.

Pause the video and complete the first part of Task B.

How did you get on? Were you able to match these biomes to their facts? So the first one, temperate deciduous rainforest matches with trees here can lose leaves in winter.

And the clue is in the name.

Remember that deciduous means that leaves fall in the winter.

Well done if you got that right.

The next one, tundra matches with soil here is frozen most of the year and that's because the tundra biome is very close to the Arctic Circle and the Arctic and Polar Climate Zones.

Good job everyone.

Next it was the desert.

Did you say that it is too dry for most animals to survive here? Good job, well done if you did, and that's because it's very hot and there's not much water or vegetation.

The final one, tropical rainforest.

Did you match it with home to half the world's plant species? Good job, well done if you did, you can give yourselves a big thumbs up.

Well done if you were able to match those correctly.

It's now time for the second part of Task B.

What I would like you to do is to use an atlas and the biome map below to find a country located in each of these biomes.

The biomes that you're looking for are savannah, desert, temperate deciduous forest, and tropical rainforest.

Pause the video now and complete that task.

How did you get on? Did you find some countries that are in each of these biomes? The ones that I found for each biome were savannah, I found the country called Kenya.

Desert, I found Australia.

Temperate deciduous forest, I found the United Kingdom where we live.

And tropical rainforest, I found a country called Peru.

So those were the countries that I was able to locate.

Did you find other countries? I'm sure you did.

Well done everyone for completing that task.

You can give yourselves one last thumbs up.

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

Good job, geographers.

You did really well understanding and explaining the differences between climate zones and biomes.

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

Today we learned that regions of the world that share similar plants, animals, weather, and climate conditions are called the biomes.

Climate zones can contain more than one biome.

Large regions that share similar plants are also called vegetation belts.

The major biomes of the world are tropical rainforest, savannah, hot desert, temperate deciduous forest, boreal forest, and tundra.

Each biome has different species of plants and animals that have adapted to survive there.

Good job everyone.

You've been fantastic today.

Well done for joining me and for working through that lesson with me.

I'll see you soon for more geography lessons.

Goodbye.