Lesson video

Hello geographers, it's Mr. Robertson here and I'm delighted to be learning some more fantastic geography with you.

I'm really excited because we're starting a new unit today and this unit is called Rivers.

What's special about them? And we are going to be investigating the incredible and amazing things that are rivers.

Today's lesson is called Introducing Rivers.

So let's make sure we've got on our geography caps.

Let's make sure we've got all our explorer rucksacks.

If we're investigating rivers, we probably need some wellies as well because we know that rivers are wet, aren't they? Let's see what's gonna happen today.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to describe the key features of a river system and explain how rivers drain the land.

We have four key words today.

I'm going to say the key word first.

And then, I'd like you to say it back to me.

Shall we start? Our first word is reservoir.

Oh, fantastic! Our second words are hydroelectricity.

Amazing, our third word is source.

Fabulous, and our final word today is mouth.

Oh, brilliant! Let's find out what some of these geographical words mean, shall we? So a reservoir is an artificial lake made by humans to store water.

Hydro-electricity is electricity created by water flowing downhill turning a turbine.

The source is the start of a river.

And the mouth of a river is where it enters the sea or a lake.

The river flows slowly, loses its energy, and often deposition occurs.

All of these key words are going to come up through our lesson.

So hopefully by the end, you're gonna really understand what they mean.

So this lesson on introducing rivers has got three parts.

The first part is why are rivers important? Then, we're going to move on to how do rivers drain the land.

And finally, we're gonna finish with what are the key features of a river system? So start with our first section: Why are rivers important? Let's go.

So what is a river? That's the very first question.

We can see a photograph of a river.

Oh, looks pretty wild, doesn't it? Not sure I'd want to canoe down that river.

So we know what a river looks like.

But what is a river? So a river is a flow of water that moves across the land and into the sea, a lake or another river.

You might want to pause the video and whisper to the person next to you: What is a river? Use that explanation to help you.

All brilliant, everybody.

I can see you really thinking about that.

Those ideas of a river, flowing water across the land into a sea, a lake, or another river.

Brilliant geographical learning! Now rivers, of course, can be big or small.

You might have a river near where you live.

I wonder what that river's called.

I wonder if it's a really big river, like the picture of the river on the left, which is a river in Italy or is it more like the river on the right, which is a lot smaller, isn't it? Now sometimes, we give small rivers, a name called a stream.

You might have a stream flowing where you live.

Perhaps it goes along the sides of the roads.

Maybe you've even got a stream near your school.

We find all sorts of rivers all over the world of different sizes.

So let's just check our understanding, shall we? Got a true or false question for you here.

True or false? Large rivers are often called a stream.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think.

Oh, brilliant thinking, geographers! It's false, isn't it? Large rivers are not called a stream, but why? I'm going to give you two possible answers here and I want you to choose the one that makes the most sense.

So is it a, rivers and streams are completely different things; or b, small rivers are often called streams. Again, pause the video, have a think.

Fantastic geography thinking.

It's b, isn't it? Small rivers are often called streams. River streams are not completely different things.

It's just that streams are very small rivers.

Well done if you got that right.

The rivers can be important for humans for different reasons.

There's some photographs here and they might give you a clue.

So I'd like you to turn to the person next to you, maybe your geography buddy, and think about this question.

Why do you think that rivers are important to humans? What ideas can you come up with? Pause the video, have a discussion.

Oh wow, I'm hearing so many amazing things there.

People talking about humans, water for drinking, people talking about perhaps fishing, perhaps using rivers for power.

Oh, so many amazing ideas.

You are really thinking about rivers, aren't you? Well done! So there are many reasons why rivers are important for humans.

They could be used for: water activities like canoeing or rowing.

Maybe you've done that yourself.

Transporting things by boat.

I think if you have a canal near you where we sometimes see things being carried along or you might live somewhere where bigger things are carried by river.

Creating a reservoir for drinking water because we all need water, don't we? And our rivers are really important sources of drinking water.

Creating hydro-electricity.

In that previous photograph, we could see a big dam and that helps create renewable energy for us to use.

So lots of different reasons why rivers are important to humans and maybe you came up with some others which we haven't mentioned.

So brilliant thinking if you did.

This is a photograph of the River Thames in London.

I want you to look carefully at the photograph and think about this question.

How are people using the river in the photograph? Use your geography-looking eyes to look very, very carefully.

Talk to the person next to you.

See what ideas you can come up with.

Oh, brilliant thinking, geographers.

This girl's been thinking about it and she says, "Lots of people are going on a boat ride." If you can see in the middle of the Thames, there's an amazing boat.

I went on one of these recently.

It's a really amazing journey and you can sail all the way down the River Thames and see the amazing sites of London, like the London Eye in that photograph or perhaps Tower Bridge or the House of Parliament.

So the River Thames is used in London by lots of visitors to go up and down or maybe people use it to get to work as well or go to school even.

Imagine taking a boat to go to school each day? Rivers are important in a different way too because there are lots of important places around the world have grown around a river.

Here is a photograph of a very famous river in a very famous place.

I wonder if you might know where this photograph was taken.

There's a big clue with that enormous building there that you might know about.

Pause the video, have think.

Do you know where this river is? Oh, brilliant thinking.

Laura says, "This is the River Seine in Paris, France." She's right, isn't she? Because that's a photograph of the Eiffel Tower.

And the Eiffel Tower is right by the River Seine in the amazing, fantastic City of Paris.

Well done if you knew that one.

As well as humans, rivers are also important for wildlife.

And therefore, it's really important to make sure they're kept clean to protect wildlife.

Look at this photograph on the left here.

I wonder if you know what that animal is.

It's a salmon and salmon every year do an amazing migration.

And one of the things they do is that they try and swim upstream to go and lay their eggs and breed.

Now salmon need really, really clean water.

Otherwise, they get sick and they die out.

If we look at this photograph here, we can see what can happen when we don't look after rivers.

Can you see those people? They've pulled out lots of plastic rubbish that's come into the river.

Maybe it's been left there by people who are fishing.

Maybe people further upstream have thrown their litter into the water where it's washed in.

So if we let our rivers become dirty and polluted like that, then they're gonna be horrible places for wildlife, aren't they? Let's check our understanding then.

True or false question here: It is important to keep rivers clean.

What do we think, geographers? True or false? Pause the video, have a think.

All I can hear you all saying this to me.

It's true, isn't it? It's really important to keep rivers clean.

But why is it important to keep rivers clean? I've got two possible answers for you here and I want you to tell me which you think is the most reasonable answer about why it's important to keep rivers clean.

Is it a, because people in the UK drink directly from rivers? Or b, clean rivers are better for river wildlife? Pause the video, have a think.

All really good thinking, geographers.

It's b, isn't it? Clean rivers are better for river wildlife.

We talked about the example of salmon, didn't we earlier? It's not true that people in the UK drink directly from rivers because river water isn't really that clean and so we have to clean it first to make sure it's okay for humans to drink.

So that's why it's answer b.

Well done if you've got that right.

Okay, so I've got a task for you now and I'm really excited to see what's gonna happen here and what you come up with.

I'd like you to talk to your partner and I'd like to explain why rivers are important for people and wildlife.

Think about everything we've been talking about so far.

We talked a little bit about why rivers are important for humans.

And then, we talked about wildlife as well.

I want you to think about how many reasons you can come up with.

Try and come up with at least three reasons.

Maybe you'll even come up with five reasons.

Pause the video, talk to your partner, see how many reasons you can come up with.

Good luck, geographers.

What a lot of amazing discussions I can hear.

Well done, everyone! So lots of brilliant ideas.

You might have said something like rivers are important because they're home to lots of wildlife.

They also drain water from the land.

You might have said they're important for humans as they can provide drinking water, energy, and a place to do activities.

They're also useful for transport.

Think about that photograph of the big boat in London transporting visitors about.

So well done if you came up with those ideas.

And if you thought of any more, even more amazing.

Brilliant work, geographers! So in the second part of our lesson, we're going to be answering this question.

How do rivers drain the land? Let's go! So rivers are important because they drain water from the land.

Rainfall that falls on the land will be taken by rivers to the sea or lake.

That's really important, isn't it? Because if rivers didn't drain water from the land, our land would become completely saturated and soggy.

And then, we wouldn't be able to use it for the things we need it for like growing crops or just walking and building.

So rivers are absolutely vital to our existence.

Look at the diagram here, which is an important diagram and we're gonna come back to this diagram for the rest of this lesson and we're going to extend our vocabulary each time so that we can really understand what this diagram is showing us.

First of all, I just want you to look at the label I've added here, which shows the river.

And you can show the river winding up the hill and it goes all the way out to the sea and that shows us that rivers are draining and taking water to the sea.

You could see the sea or lake there as well.

So most rain that falls doesn't actually land in a river.

Look at the photograph in front of you there.

You can see the river, can't you? Winding its way through the middle of the photograph.

If you look at this photograph, you can see that the river is actually really quite small, isn't it? In relation to the land around it.

And so any rain that falls in this picture will be more likely to land on the grass or rock than the river.

If you think about it, if it started raining, some of the water would fall in the river, wouldn't it directly? But most of it wouldn't, would it? Because the river is really small and there's much more land surrounding it.

So most of the water does not fall directly into the river.

So I've got a really difficult geography question for you here.

I'd like you to think carefully about this.

How will water that lands on the ground get to the river? I'd like you to pause the video and think about that question with your geography buddy.

What might be happening here? Awesome brilliant ideas there! Thank you very much.

I'm hearing ideas about the water moving across the land.

I'm hearing about ideas of transporting and soaking.

Let's explore that a bit in more detail.

So rain that falls on the land may flow over the surface to the river.

Imagine it's raining really, really hard.

Some of the water will directly run into the river.

Because it will rain so hard, it will just land on the surface and flow down into the river.

Water is more likely to flow over the surface when it's very steep or its bare rock.

Look at the arrows on the diagram.

Can you see we've got a steep slope there? So when the rain falls down, because it's a steep slope, it's going to run down the hill and onto the ground.

And then, it'll continue to drain into the river.

Water flowing over that surface could flow quite quickly.

So that will get some water to the river down the steep surface or over bear rock because bear rock won't absorb any water.

Okay, let's just check our understanding so far.

Another true or false question for you here: All rainwater that reaches the ground will sink into the sea.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think.

Good thinking, geographers.

It's false, isn't it? All rainwater that reaches the ground will not sink into the sea.

But why is it false? I'm gonna give you two options and I want you to decide which one you think is correct.

Is it a, some water will travel over the surface? Or b, water doesn't sink into the soil? Which of those makes sense? Pause the video, have a think.

Well done, geographers.

It's a, isn't it? Some water will travel over the surface.

As we explained, particularly if it's steep, water might land on the slope or on the rock and flow over the surface.

And then, it will get into the river.

It's not true that water doesn't sink into the soil is it? If you think about maybe you've got a garden or you've seen a school field when it's quite dry and the rain comes down and then it soaks away, doesn't it? Lots of it, and so water we know does soak into the soil.

So rainfall that falls on the ground may sink into the soil rock before flowing to a river.

And that will slow down the water getting to the river.

So it won't all necessarily get into it at once.

Rain landing on this flat, grassy surface, which you can see being labelled there is likely to sink into the soil before travelling to the river.

Because it's flat, it's not going to flow as fast as it landed on those very steep slopes.

And so it's much more likely because of the grass and vegetation to sink into the soil rather than directly flow into the river.

So you can see the arrows there showing the rainwater sinking into the soil.

And then once it's sunk into the soil, it will flow through the soil into the river.

And so we've got three ways that water can get into the river.

Some water will flow directly into the river when it rains because it will land onto the surface of the river, but that's not very much.

Some water will flow along the surface, so it might come on some steep slopes or rocks.

It will flow quickly down those.

And then, it will get into the river.

But most of the water will land on that flat surface.

It will soak into the soil and then it will come, it will flow through the soil into the river.

And so those are the three different ways in which water ends up in the river.

So just let's recap our learning there.

Why do we think that rain landing there where the label is taking to you is likely to sink into the soil before travelling to the river? Think about what we've just been talking about.

Pause the video.

Talk your geography buddy.

Have a think.

Oh, amazing thinking, geographers! Yes, I could hear some of you saying it's flat and grassy, isn't it? So that will slow the rain down.

It will get into the soil, and then soak into the river rather than going along the surface.

I'd like us to discuss this question: How do rivers drain the land? We've got three children here: Laura, Sam, and Jun and they've all got something to say about rivers and water.

I'd like you to read with a partner what they're saying and see if you can work out what might be wrong with it.

So Laura says, "Water from the sea will travel to the mountains." Okay, so let's just think about what Laura's saying there.

Something she's saying there doesn't really make sense.

Can you work out what it is? Sam says most rainwater will land in rivers and then get taken to the sea.

I'm not sure about that, Sam.

I wonder if you could think about the section we've just been talking about.

Why has Sam not really understood that and can you help correct him? And Jun says all rainwater that lands on the ground will sink into the soil before flowing to a river.

Oh Jun, I just don't think you quite understand either.

So can you think what Jun has got wrong and help correct him? I'd like you to pause the video and talk to your partner.

Read what Laura, Sam, and Jun are saying again and see if you can work out what they haven't quite understood, and can you explain it in a more sensible way to show what you've understood? Good luck, geographers.

I really look forward to hearing what you've been saying.

Oh, well done, Geographers! what amazing conversations you've been having.

I can see you've really been talking about some of the mistakes that Laura, Sam, and Jun should have made.

Let's have a go at reframing what they've been saying.

So Laura had said, "Water from the sea will travel to the mountains," but she hadn't quite understood it, had she? Because rivers start the mountains and flow to the sea or lake.

So she'd actually got it the wrong way around, hadn't she? Rivers flow from the mountains to the sea or lake.

So well done if you'd help change that misconception.

Sam had said, "Most rainwater will land in rivers and then get taken to the sea," but he hadn't quite understood it either, had he? Most rain will land on the land rather than in the river.

Do you remember we talked about the photograph with the river being quite small? So actually most rain land is on the land, not the sea.

And finally, Jun had said, "All rainwater that lands on the ground will sink into the soil before flowing to a river." But again, he wasn't quite right because do you remember we said that some rainwater will flow over the surface? Particularly if that surface is on a steep slope or if it's made of rock.

So all of those children had got some misconceptions, but well done if you helped turn those around.

Brilliant thinking, geographers.

We are now coming to the final section of the lesson which is what are the key features of a river system? Let's go! Let's look at this diagram that we looked at a bit earlier.

So a river flows from its source, which is the start of the river, to its where it joins the sea or lake.

So that source might be higher up in mountains or hills somewhere.

And the river at that point is often very small.

And then, it flows to the mouth of the river, which is where it joins a sea or lake.

We could see the source right up there in the mountains and we can see the mouth where it comes out in the sea or lake.

So smaller rivers and streams join the river at different points along its course and that helps to make the river bigger.

We call these smaller rivers or streams tributaries.

Try saying that word for me now.

It's actually a word I really like, tributaries.

And there can be many tributaries in a river system.

And you can see there I've labelled lots of these tributaries and they all lead into the main river.

And as each tributary joins, it makes the river bigger.

Area of land that is drained by a river and its tributaries is called a drainage basin.

So let's recap.

We've got the river, you can see the main river there.

We've got the tributary, that's a smaller river or stream that joins the main river.

And this is the drainage basin.

And I've marked the edge of the drainage basin with the orange dotted line.

And what that means is that all the water that falls from the sky that lands in the drainage basin area will drain into this river system.

That's why we've marked it.

Let's just check our understanding 'cause we've learned some new geographical words here, haven't we? I'd like you to label the river, the tributary, and the drainage basin.

Can you explain which one is which? Pause the video, good luck.

Well, really good thinking with those geographical words, geographers.

So we've got the river, that's the main river that runs through the river system.

We've got a tributary, a smaller river or stream that joins the main river; and the drainage basin with the orange dotted line, which is where all the water in that area drains into the river.

Fantastic if you've got that right.

Let's check our understanding further.

I've got a true or false question for you here.

True or false? Rivers take water from the sea and take it into the land.

Is that true or false? Think about that diagram we've just been looking at 'cause it might help you.

Right, geographers, it's false, isn't it? It's not true that rivers take water from the sea and take it into the land.

But why is it false? I've got two statements for you here and I'd like you to think about which one makes most sense.

Off you go.

Is it a, a river's source will be in the mountains and water will flow towards the sea? Or is it b, rivers take water from the sea and transport it towards another sea? Pause the video, have a think.

Well done, geographers! It's a, isn't it? The source of the river is often up in the mountains or hills and water flows to towards the sea.

Rivers flow towards the sea or lake.

Fantastic if you got that right.

So let's just extend our thinking a little bit here.

Going to introduce a new geographical term for you now.

Look at that photograph.

That looks absolutely amazing, doesn't it? What we've got here is two small tributaries joining the main river.

Now the point where two rivers meet is called a confluence.

If you look really carefully at that photograph, you can see one river on the left, can't you? And one on the right.

And then, they come together to make a larger river.

And that point where the rivers meet is called a confluence.

And you can see it also on the diagram as well.

We've got the tributaries and the confluence.

So here, we've got a new geographical word, confluence, where two rivers meet.

Let's just check our understanding using this new geographical word as well.

I'd like you to think, looking at this diagram, where is the confluence and where is the tributary? Pause the video, have a think.

Oh super thinking, geographers.

Yes, the tributary is the smaller river and the confluence is where the rivers meet.

That's the confluence.

The point of meeting is the confluence and the smaller river joining it is the tributary.

Okay, our last practise task.

I want us to bring this knowledge together and see how well we've understood these new key geographical words we've been learning today.

I'd like you to use the diagram we've been using all the way through this lesson.

And I'd like you to enable a diagram with the following terms: mouth source, drainage basin, confluence, and tributary.

And once you've labelled them, I'd like you to try and explain what each of them mean, just a short sentence explaining what is it.

You might wanna say where it's found in the river system.

You might want to say what that word actually means.

Good luck, geographers! Have a go at explaining the key features of a river system.

What a lot of amazing thinking that you have done using this really quite complicated new vocabulary.

So the source is the start of a river and that's often up in our mountains and the hills.

The drainage basin is the whole area drained by a river and its tributaries.

A mouth is where the river meets the sea or a lake.

Confluence is where two rivers meet.

A tributary is a small river stream that joins a bigger river.

Wow, well done if you were able to correctly label those five terms and well done if you were able to write a sentence to explain what they meant.

Fantastic geographical thinking! Sum up what we've learned today.

We've been thinking all about introducing rivers.

We've learned that rivers are important because they're home to a range of wildlife and are used by humans to fill reservoirs, do activities, create hydro-electricity and transport things.

We've learned that rainwater that falls on the ground flows over the surface and through soil and rock to drain into rivers.

We've learned the area of land drained by rivers is called a drainage basin.

We've learned that rivers flow from their source in the hills or mountains to the mouth where they enter the sea or lake.

What an amazing geography that you've done today.

I'm really, really proud of you and I'm really looking forward to our next lesson where we are going to be continuing with this unit on rivers and finding out why they're so special, take care.