Lesson video

Hello again.

It's lovely to see you.

My name is Mrs. Gulliver and I'm so excited that you are joining me for today's geography lesson.

So our lesson today is called wood and it's many uses and it's from our unit on natural resources.

By the end of today's lesson, you are gonna be able to explain the many different uses of wood and describe locations where it's grown.

Now some of this learning might be new to you, but that's okay 'cause I'm gonna be here with you through the whole lesson to help.

This learning is going to build on some of our prior knowledge about natural resources and how they are used.

I hope you've got your geography brains with you today, I've got mine.

Let's go.

We've got four key words for us to understand today.

I'm going to say each one first and then I will give you a chance to say each one afterwards.

So the first word, biofuel.

Great.

Timber.

Well done.

Exporter.

And finally, boreal.

Great job.

So biofuels are fuels made from plant materials.

Timber is wood that has been cut down from trees and prepared for use in industries.

An exporter is a company or country that sells goods and products in other countries.

Boreal forests are the world's largest land biome and are found in the northern hemisphere.

Our lesson today is going to be split into two parts, and the first part is going to be all about what are the different uses of wood.

So wood is a natural resource that can be used in many, many different ways.

It's a highly renewable resource because we can replant and regrow trees quite easily.

I'd like you to have a look around your classroom and see if you can spot anything that is made from wood.

Great job.

Did you see lots of things? Izzy here, thought that in your classroom you might find desks and pencils that are made from wood.

You might have a wooden floor or wooden window frames in your classroom as well.

I bet you came up with some other ideas too.

So wood that has been cut down from trees and prepared for use is called timber.

We were thinking about things you could see in your classroom that are made from wood, but now I want you to think a bit bigger than that.

How many different uses of wood and timber can you come up with as a class? All the different ways that wood can be used by humans.

Have a good think and list down all your ideas.

Great job.

I'm sure you came up with so many uses for wood.

Here are the six key ones that I thought of that we are going to be learning about today.

So wood can be used for hobbies and recreation, things that we do in our spare time.

Wood and timber can be used for fuel to power things.

It can be used in the construction industry, so for building, for furniture, for wooden toys.

And finally, it can be used for paper and cardboard products.

Did you get all those ideas as well? Great job.

We're going to go through each one of these and have a look in more detail.

So wood can be used for hobbies and recreation.

Can you think of any of the ways that it can be used for hobbies and recreation? I bet you have lots of great ideas.

It can be used to build play parks.

Lots of children and adults have fun climbing and exploring wooden play parks.

So that's one way we can use wood, for our recreation, something to do in our spare time.

It's also used to build sports equipment.

Here we can see that there's a cricket bat and the wickets are made of wood.

It's also used for making hockey sticks and football posts.

So lots of our sports that we play in our spare time are also using wood.

Wood can be turned into brilliant musical instruments.

There's an example of a guitar, but there are other musical instruments as well that use wood.

I wonder if you can, some.

Yes, that's right.

Violins and cellos also use wood.

And finally, woods that we find can be enjoyed by many families for a walk to enjoy during our spare time.

So lots of ways that we use wood just for our hobbies and recreation.

Wood can also be used as a fuel to power things.

In parts of the world with no access to electricity.

wood can be burned to make heat and energy for cooking.

And you can see the picture on the right there is showing that wood is being placed into that stove to heat the top above it so that it can cook something.

Wood can also be made into biofuel pellets.

And as we found out, biofuel is fuel that is made from plants and trees.

So it can be turned into pellets, which can be burnt to fuel things.

Wood is often used in the construction industry to build things.

What sorts of things might be built with wood? Turn to the person next to you and have a think.

Did you get lots of different ideas? Here's some that I thought of.

In the older days, wood was especially used to help construct houses, and it was used as beams in houses to help support the walls.

That's a beautiful example.

Some entire buildings may be made from wood, barns on farms especially.

You may see examples of this.

So whole buildings could be made of wood.

Window and door frames might be made of wood.

We thought about that, didn't we? You might have some in your classroom.

Fencing can be made of wood.

You might see that on your walk to school or in your gardens.

And lastly, floors can be made of wood.

So within the construction industry, the building industry, there may be many examples of different uses of wood.

Lots of furniture is also made of wood.

How many different items of wooden furniture can you think of? Great job.

Alex thought of five different examples.

He thought of chests of drawers, tables and chairs, kitchen cupboards, beds, and bookcases.

So lots of the furniture that we might have in our houses or around school are also made of wood.

Wood can also be turned into paper and cardboard.

There are many, many different uses of paper and cardboard in school, at home, and for businesses.

Can you think of some different uses of paper and cardboard? I think I came up with eight different ideas.

Let's see if they're the same as yours.

Well, the first thing I thought of is that paper and cardboard are often used to make newspapers to tell people about news around the world.

They're also used to make books.

I'm sure you've read many books, and that's another use of wood we don't always think of.

It can make wallpaper, that's a beautiful example there.

It can make party decorations.

We can have paper straws to enjoy our drinks.

Toilet roll, which we all need.

It can make packaging.

And finally, it can be used to make stationary.

So all of these trees that are cut down and turned into wood and timber products are helping us to make all of these ideas as well.

A very important use of wood, and woods and trees is that they help us combat pollution.

Trees are absolutely vital in protecting us from air pollution.

The trees can help because they remove the harmful pollutants, including carbon dioxide, from the air, and in return, they provide us with more clean oxygen.

So one very important use of trees is that they help us combat pollution.

Here's my first check for you.

I'd like you to identify all of the items or uses below that use timber or wood.

Great job.

So we can use wood for heating, packaging, window frames and bookcases.

Here's your first task for today.

Please can you talk to your partner and come up with a list of as many different uses of wood that you can think of.

I've got a challenge for you because we have talked about over 20 uses of wood in this lesson already.

I wonder if you can come up with all of them.

I'm sure you did lots of great thinking.

Here are some of the examples that we thought about today.

Wood can be used for play parks, musical instruments, fuel for heating, fuel for cooking, sports equipment to build barns, fencing, door and window frames, flooring, tables and chairs, chest of drawers, cupboards, beds, bookshelves.

Very importantly, it can be used to combat pollution, make newspapers and decorations, toilet rolls, packaging and books.

I wonder how many you did.

I'm sure you did some great thinking.

We're moving on to the second part of our lesson today, all about where wood is grown.

Forests cover about one third of Earth's land surface.

There are three main types of forests in the world, tropical, temperate and boreal.

And the boreal forests are the ones that we are going to be focusing on today.

Boreal forests account for over one quarter of global forest area, and are found in the northern hemisphere.

And you can see on this map, they are the dark green colour.

So the boreal forests stretch all the way across Canada in the very far north there, and across northern Europe, and across the width of Russia.

You can see that the tropical forests are found on either side of the equator, and the temperate forests are found across most of Europe, including the United Kingdom and in East Asia there.

And we're gonna be focusing on those furthest northern forests today, the boreal forests.

I'd like you to have a think.

What are the three main types of forests found on earth? Is it A, rainforests, temperate and boreal forests, B, tropical, temperate and boreal forests or C, rainforest, woodlands and snowy forests? Great job.

It's B, tropical temperate and boreal forests.

As you can see, boreal forests grow across the entire width of Canada all the way from the west, across the entire width of the country, to the east.

And countries like Canada have the right climate for boreal forests to thrive.

They have short, moderately warm and moist summers and long, extremely cold and dry winters.

In fact, their winters are so dry that some boreal forests don't get much more rainfall than a desert and the temperature can get as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius in winter.

So in their winters, they have very long, dry, cold spells.

So quite different to our climate in the United Kingdom, but that's why boreal forests do so well in Canada.

The Boreal forest in Canada is actually the third largest forest area in the world, and as we saw, it stretches across the entire width of Canada, all the way from the west to the east.

The Boreal forest in Canada covers nearly 60% of land in Canada.

So if you split up Canada into 10 equal pieces, six of those pieces would be boreal forest.

So it's a significant part of the country.

And these boreal forests in Canada serve a very important global purpose because the Canadian boreal forests are important for absorbing carbon dioxide and removing it from the atmosphere.

So again, the Boreal forest in Canada, play an important part in helping us combat air pollution.

Unsurprisingly, the boreal forests are very important to the Canadian economy.

The forests employ many people and produce a range of wood products for export for them to sell to other countries.

And perhaps, it's no surprise that the United States of America is the main place that Canadian timber is exported to.

I've got some gaps for you to fill in all about the boreal forests in Canada.

The Boreal forests in, stretch the entire, of the country.

In winter temperatures can get as low as.

Canada's boreal forests are the, largest forest area in the world and are very important for Canada's timber.

I'll let you have a think and see if you can fill in those gaps.

Great job.

The Boreal forests in Canada stretch the entire width of the country.

In winter, temperatures can get as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius.

Canada's boreal forests are the third largest forest area in the world and are very important for Canada's timber exports.

We're gonna have a look at in more detail at the features of Canada's boreal forests.

Boreal forests are normally made up of coniferous trees such as pine, spruce and fir.

Can you think of any features of coniferous trees? Well done.

Coniferous trees are evergreen.

They do not lose their needles, they're green all year round.

And these trees have needles instead of broad leaves to help them conserve water.

As we found out, boreal forests have a very long, dry winter, so they need to conserve as much water as possible.

The seeds of coniferous trees grow inside cones to protect them from the cold.

You can see an example of a pine cone there and the seeds would grow inside it.

So quite different to what we have in the United Kingdom as we mostly have broad leaf forests in the United Kingdom, but the boreal forests are made up of coniferous trees.

And there's a range of amazing wildlife that is found in Canada's boreal forests.

They've used the forests to shelter and we especially find animals that are adapted to withstand the very cold temperatures.

If you can remember, it goes down to minus 60 degrees.

So these animals must have warm fur to protect them.

Some of the wildlife found in boreal forests include reindeer, wolverine, lynx, brown bears and caribou.

Canada's boreal forest is sustainably managed.

What do you think this means? Great thinking.

Lucas has told me that forest companies have to replant all the areas they harvest or allow the forest to grow back.

So when companies are cutting down the trees to produce wood and timber, they must replant the areas that they have cut so that there will be new forests growing for future generations to also use.

So all of Canada's boreal forest is sustainably managed, managed in a way that it can be used again and again by future generations.

Sustainable forest management in Canada is incredibly important because Canada has 9% of the world's forests.

These, as we've learned, help protect ecosystems all over the world and keep the climate stable.

So because Canada's forest cover, accounts for so much of the global forests, they must be looked after and replaced through sustainable management.

Time for a check.

Which of the following is not a feature of Canada's boreal forests.

A, coniferous trees.

B, reindeer, wolverine, lynx, brown bears and caribou.

C, high rainfall all year round.

D, sustainably managed.

Great job.

It's that high rainfall all year round, we found they have very little rainfall and can actually be as dry as deserts.

I've got another task for you.

Using the map provided, I would like you to shade in the boreal forests in a colour of your choice and then complete the key at the bottom to show which colour represents boreal forests on your world map.

You can see that tropical and temperate have already been included.

Once you've done that, I'd love you to complete a fact file about boreal forests in Canada.

You might use some of the subheadings I've shown you here.

You might tell me about their climate, about their location, the trees, the wildlife, and the management.

You could use some of your own ideas to create your fact file about boreal forests.

I'm sure you are going to create a brilliant fact file.

So here's my world map with my boreal forest shaded in there in the northern hemisphere right at the top, and I've coloured in the key to match.

And here was my fact file about boreal forests in Canada.

You may have included some of the following facts, or you may have done yours differently.

I included some information about climate.

Boreal forests have short, warm, and moist summers and very long cold dry winters.

Temperatures may get as low as minus 60 degrees celsius in the winter.

Location.

Boreal forests are found across the entire width of Canada.

Trees.

They're made up of coniferous, evergreen trees with needles such as pine.

Seeds are stored in cones to protect them from the cold.

Wildlife.

A range of animals adapted to the cold climate, such as caribou, lynx and wolverines.

Management.

The forests are sustainably managed to protect boreal forests for future generations.

Areas cut down have to be replanted or allowed to grow back.

I'm sure your file about boreal forests in Canada was very informative.

Great work.

Thank you so much for completing this lesson about wood and its many uses with me today.

We've learned that wood has multiple uses.

including for construction, recreation, paper, and biofuel.

In some areas of the world, wood is used to power heating and cooking.

Woods are also important for helping combat pollution and absorbing carbon.

Canada has the right climate for boreal forests to thrive and produce a lot of timber for export.

Great work today.

I hope to see you for another geography lesson soon.