Lesson video

Hello, my name is Miss (indistinct).

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

I will be helping you with your geography lesson.

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

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 Using Lines of Latitude to Locate the Main Climate Zones.

Your learning outcome today will be to understand what the main climate zones are and describe where they are found.

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 around the poles and hot places around the equator.

You might have also been thinking about the position of Earth in space, and how the position of Earth affects climate.

You might have also identified where the hottest places are and where the coldest places are.

I'm really excited to get started.

I hope you are too.

Here are the key words that we'll be using together in today's lesson.

Let's go through them and practise saying them before we find out what they mean.

Let's do my turn, your turn.

Latitude, latitude.

Weather, weather.

Temperature, temperature.

Location, location.

Good job, everybody.

Let's find out what these words mean by going through their definitions.

Latitude, lines of latitude are imaginary lines on Earth showing position north or south of the equator.

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

g.

sunny, snowing, warm, et cetera.

Temperature, temperature is the degree of hotness or coldness of a place.

Location, a location is a particular position of something on Earth.

Well done for going through those definitions with me.

I want you to be using these key words throughout our lesson.

Here are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

First, we'll be thinking about how lines of latitude relates to climate zones.

And then we'll be thinking about how temperature relates to climate zones.

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

Some places on Earth share a similar climate because they have similar average weather patterns.

These places are called climate zones.

Many different countries are located in each climate zone.

And remember, the average weather patterns are calculated over a period of roughly 30 years.

Have a look at this map and see if you can remember what the climate zones were called.

Good job, everyone.

Did you remember that the climate zones are called the equatorial climate zone, the tropical climate zone, the desert climate zone, the temperate climate zone or the Arctic and polar climate zones.

Well done if you remembered those correctly.

Many different countries are located in each climate zone.

Some countries such as the USA have more than one climate zone.

There are quite a few other countries in the world as well that have different climate zones.

I wonder if you can spot any of them.

Pause the video now and see if you can spot any more countries that have more than one climate zone.

How did you get on? Did you say countries like Brazil, China, India or Australia? And those are some countries, just to name a few.

There are many other countries that have more than one climate zone.

Remember, some countries might have more than one climate zone, but there are many different countries that can be located within each climate zone.

It's now time to have a check.

This is a true or false question, so you have to think really carefully about whether or not this statement is true or false.

Every country has its own unique climate zone.

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

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

It's now time to think about justifying our answer and explaining why it's false.

A, borders of climate zones are not the same as borders of countries, or B, climate zones can cover large areas that include several countries.

Pause the video now and justify your answer.

How did you get on? Did you say B, climate zones can cover large areas that include several countries? That's correct.

So remember, we looked at the example of the USA.

That country has got several climate zones within it, and climate zones are quite large, so they include several countries within them.

Good job, everyone.

Let's continue with our learning.

We can use lines of latitude to help us describe climate zones.

The five main lines of latitude are shown on this map.

Take a minute to explore the climate zones that you can see in relation to the lines of latitude that are shown.

Let's go through the lines of latitude together.

So you can see that in the middle of the Earth is the equator.

We've talked about that line of latitude quite a lot.

And then further out, you can see the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

And then towards the North Pole, you can see the Arctic Circle located there, so that's also a line of latitude.

And then towards the South Pole, you can see the Antarctic Circle.

That's also a line of latitude.

So here are the five lines of latitude, and we can use lines of latitude to relate to climate zones.

Let's have a quick check here.

On a map, the Arctic Circle is an example of what? A, an ocean, B, a pole, or C, a line of latitude.

Pause the video now and complete that check.

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

The Arctic Circle is an example of a line of latitude.

Well done, everyone.

You can give yourselves a thumbs up.

That's great learning so far.

The equatorial climate zone is found around the equator, so you can see that area is located there on the map.

Temperatures are warm all year and it rains almost every day.

So that's what the conditions are like in that climate zone, which is around the equator.

The Arctic and Polar climate zone is found around the Arctic and Antarctic circles.

These are the coldest places on Earth.

They are also very dry.

So you can see an example of what the climate is like in those two areas.

The tropical climate zone sits between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

So you can see the Tropic of Cancer is the line of latitude above the equator.

And the Tropic of Capricorn is the line of latitude below the equator.

So the tropical climate zones sit between those two lines of latitude.

This climate zone is hot and dry in winter and hot and wet in summer.

Places along the tropics are close to the borders where the tropical and hot desert climate zones meet.

So remember that the tropical climate zone is that orangey colour, and the desert climate zone is represented by that yellow colour.

The hot desert climate zone is found north and south of the tropical climate zone.

In hot desert areas, it hardly ever rains.

Temperatures are very hot in the day and very cold at night.

The temperate climate zone is found mainly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle in the north.

The UK is in the temperate climate zone.

You can see that area is located on the map.

And there's the UK.

So remember, the UK is in the temperate climate zone.

Let's have a check here.

In which climate zone is the UK? A, equatorial, B, tropical, C, temperate, or D, Arctic.

Which of those climate zones is the UK located in? Pause the video and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you say temperate? Good job, the UK is located in the temperate climate zone.

Well done, everyone.

You can give yourselves another thumbs up.

That's fantastic learning so far.

It's now time for task A.

What I would like you to do for the first part of task A is to match the letters on the map to the lines of latitude in this table.

Remember, the lines of latitude are called the equator, the Antarctic Circle, the Tropic of Cancer, the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Capricorn.

For part two, I'd like you to again look at the map.

The numbers on the map represents the five main climate zones.

What I would like you to do is to shade the climate zones and complete the key.

Pause the video now and complete task A.

How did you get on with task A? Did you match the letters on the map correctly to the lines of latitude? C is the equator, E is the Antarctic Circle, B is the Tropic of Cancer, A is the Arctic Circle and D is the Tropic of Capricorn.

Well done if you've got those correct.

How did you get on for the second part of task B? Did you shade the climate zones in the correct colours that were represented on the map that I showed you earlier? Have you coloured them in like how I have? And did you remember to also colour in the key with the matching colour? Good job if you did, and you were able to shade and locate those climate zones and the lines of latitude.

Well done, that was a really tricky task, but you've done so well.

You can give yourselves a thumbs up.

Good job, everyone.

It's now time to move on with our learning.

Now we're going to think about how temperature relates to climate zones.

Temperature varies around the world.

This is mainly a result of how far places are located from the equator.

Remember that the Sun's rays are concentrated at the equator, so those places are the hottest places on Earth.

Places near the equator are mostly warmer than places far from the equator because remember we talked about places that are further from the equator, closer to the poles, that's where the Sun's rays are spread out further, making the temperature cooler there.

So this means in the equatorial climate zone, there are higher temperatures, and in the Arctic and polar climate zone, there are lower temperatures.

The further away from the equator, the cooler temperatures tend to become.

This can help us to identify climate zones.

For example, temperatures are cooler in the temperate climate zone than in the hot desert climate zone.

So a place with cold temperatures and snow or ice is not likely to be in the tropical climate zone.

Let's have a check here.

Choose the best word to complete each sentence.

Sentence one, altitude or temperature varies due to distance from the equator.

Two, locations closer to the equator are hotter or cooler than places further from the equator.

And finally, sentence three, temperatures in the equatorial climate zone are lower or higher than in the temperate climate zone.

Pause the video now and choose which word best completes each sentence.

How did you get on? Did you say temperature as the first one? Temperature varies due to distance from the equator.

That's correct.

Did you select hotter for the second sentence? Locations closer to the equator are hotter than places further from the equator.

That's correct.

Temperatures in the equatorial climate zones are higher than in the temperate climate zones.

Well done if you got that check right.

You can give yourself another thumbs up.

This is such great learning today, everyone, well done.

There are other factors that can also affect the temperature of a location.

One of the greatest factors that can affect temperature is altitude.

That is how high above sea level a place is located.

Mountainous locations are at a higher altitude than coastal locations.

That means that mountainous areas are high above sea level.

So latitude and altitude can both affect the temperature of a place.

Let's think about that in a little bit more detail.

As the altitude gets higher, temperatures decrease.

This happens no matter what climate zone a location is in.

You can see this on mountains that have snow capped peaks while the surrounding lowlands have no snow.

So you can see that in the example here.

The top of the mountain has snow on it, so it has a snow capped peak, whereas the areas at the bottom have no snow, that means those areas are hotter.

There you go.

So you can see that there's snow at the top, and then at the bottom there's no snow.

Even in locations that are close to the equator, we can find places that are much colder than their surroundings.

And remember, that is because of altitude.

That's how high a place is from sea level.

These places experience colder temperatures, not because of the climate zone, but because of the altitude.

Remember, we said altitude and climate zones both can affect the temperature of a place.

Let's have a check here.

Match the words to the definitions.

Latitude, altitude, climate zone and temperature.

And the definitions are how warm or cool something is.

An area where all places have similar average weather.

How high above sea level a location is, or how far north or south of the equator a place is.

As an extension task, can you use each word in a sentence? Pause the video and complete that check.

Well, geographers, how did you get on? Did you match latitude with its definition? That is how far north or south of the equator a place is.

Well done if you did.

Did you match altitude with how high above sea level a location is? Well done if you got that correct.

Next, climate zone means an area where all places have similar average weather.

And finally, temperature is how warm or cool something is.

Well done if you correctly matched all of those words to their definitions.

Good job, everyone.

You can give yourselves another thumbs up.

It's now time for task B.

The photograph shows Mount Kilimanjaro, which is located in the country of Tanzania in the equatorial climate zone.

Remember that we said areas or places around the equator are the hottest places on Earth.

That's because the Sun's rays travel a shorter distance and are not spread out.

But you can see that there's snow on the top of the mountain.

So what I would like you to do is to describe the conditions on Mount Kilimanjaro and explain why they are different to their surrounding area.

Use all of that geographical thinking that we've explored together today.

Pause the video and complete task B.

How did you get on with your answer? Did you say that the photograph shows there is snow at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro? This means that the temperatures are cold because the snow is not melting.

Cold temperatures in mountain locations are caused by altitude.

It is colder at the top of the mountain than at the bottom.

And that's because the areas at the top of the mountain have a higher altitude, which means that they are high above sea level.

The area around the mountain is warmer.

That was the area at the base of the mountain.

It is very hot, in fact, because it is in the equatorial climate zone where the Sun's rays are most concentrated.

Well done if you were able to describe something similar.

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

You've worked really hard today, and I'm so proud of all the learning that we've completed together today.

This was a really tricky lesson, but you've worked through it so well.

It's now time to go through a quick summary of all the learning that we've completed together today.

Lines of latitude can help us understand and describe the location of the five main climate zones.

Climate zones crossover national and international boundaries, and also lie within them.

Average temperature is a clue to identifying climate zones.

Latitude and altitude are both related to climate zones.

Some places near the equator are colder because they are higher, as altitude affects temperature.

And remember, we looked at the example of Mount Kilimanjaro there.

Well done, everyone.

You've worked so well today.

Thank you for joining me for today's lesson.

I'll see you soon for more geography lessons, bye.