Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Jaretjan, I'm so excited to be learning with you today.

I will be helping you with your geography lesson.

We are going to have such a great time learning together in this lesson.

Let's start our learning journey.

Welcome to today's lesson from our unit, "The Americas, How Diverse are its Places and Landscapes".

This lesson is called "Physical Geography of North and South America".

You'll be learning to describe the key features of the physical geography of the Americas, including a range of landscapes and biomes.

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

This links back to previous learning you might have done, exploring the continents North and South America, and learning about their diverse climates.

I'm really excited to get started, I hope you are too.

The keywords you'll be using today are physical geographical feature, landscape, and biome.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson and learning more about them later.

Let's do my turn, your turn.

Physical geographical feature, physical geographical feature.

Landscape, landscape.

Biome, biome, well done.

I want you to be using these keywords throughout our lesson as well.

Let's think in more detail about what our keywords mean.

Here are the definitions of our keywords.

A physical geographical feature is natural and has not been built by humans.

A landscape is an area and its land forms and features that can be seen when viewed from another place.

Biomes are regions of the world with places that have similar climates, vegetation and animals that have adapted to living there.

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

First, we'll be learning about landscapes in North and South America.

Then we'll be learning about types of biomes in North and South America.

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

As well as having a variety of climate zones, north and South America have a diverse range of physical landscapes.

What is a physical landscape? Have a think, pair, share discussion.

Pause the video now.

Great, I'm sure you had a fantastic discussion.

Let's look at that question in more detail.

A physical landscape is made up of a collection of physical geographical features.

Remember that physical features are natural and are not built by humans.

The features that occur naturally could be things like mountains, glaciers, beaches and rivers.

Pause the video now and see if you can think of any more examples of physical geographical features.

Great, did you talk about rainforests, oceans or rock formations? I'm sure you talked about a lot of physical geographical features.

Well done.

Let's check your learning so far by answering this question.

Which of the following are physical geographical features? A, waterfall, B bridge, C, mountain, or D, road? You can select two answers.

Pause the video now and answer this question.

How did you get on, did you say A and C? Well done, waterfalls and mountains are examples of physical geographical features, and that's because they're natural and not built by humans.

Let's continue with our learning.

Glacier Bay National Park is located in the state of Alaska in the north of the United States of America.

It's home to more than 1000 glaciers.

The Grand Canyon is a steep sided river valley in the state of Arizona in the USA.

The canyon is 277 miles long and reaches a depth of more than one mile.

So we've now looked at Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Both of these are examples of physical geographical features.

Let's look at some more.

Many tourists visit the Caribbean islands in North America each year.

These islands are famous for their beautiful beaches and coastlines.

So this is another example of a physical geographical feature.

The Andes form the longest continental mountain range in the world.

The mountains stretch along the western edge of South America.

Aconcagua is a mountain in the Andes, with a height of 6,961 metres, it's the highest mountain in the Americas, so that's another example of a physical geographical feature.

Iguacu Falls are a collection of waterfalls of the Iguacu rivers.

The waterfalls are shared by Argentina and Brazil.

The name Iguacu comes from the indigenous term for great water.

So yet another example of physical geographical features.

Salar de Uyuni is a salt flat in Bolivia.

It is part of the Altiplano, a plateau located at high altitude in the central Andes in South America.

A plateau is a raised area of land that is flat on the top.

It is the largest salt flat in the world.

So this is also another example of a physical geographical feature.

Let's have a check here.

This is a true or false question, so you have to think carefully about this statement.

The landscape across South America is mostly the same.

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

How did you get on, did you say false? That's right, well done.

So now let's think about justifying our answer to explain why it's false.

Is it false because A, South America is a large and diverse continent, or B, south America is a very small continent? Think about all the learning that we've done so far.

Pause the video now and justify the answer to this question.

How did you get on? The correct answer is A, south America is a large and diverse continent, so the landscape across it is not the same.

Well done, you can give yourselves a thumbs up.

It's now time for our first task.

Draw a postcard to show an example of a landscape in North or South America.

Imagine that you visited this locality.

Write a message to someone on the back of your postcard to describe what physical and geographical features you saw there.

You can go back and have a look at some of the photos of the places that we've explored together today.

Find out one or two interesting facts to include in your message.

Pause the video now and complete task A.

Well done geographers.

How did you get on? Here's my example of task A.

Did you draw some pictures and did you describe some physical geographical features in your message on the back, here's an example of something you can write on the back of the postcard.

I'm on holiday in South America at the moment.

I've just visited Iguacu Falls.

They are a collection of waterfalls on the border between Argentina and Brazil.

There are around 275 waterfalls in total, and they are amazing.

I'm taking lots of photos to show you when I get back, love Aisha.

And I'm sure you also wrote the address on the right hand side of the postcard as well, just like what I've done.

Good job everyone, well done for completing task A.

Let's continue with our learning.

Now we're going to look at types of biomes in North and South America.

Biomes are regions of the world with places that have similar climates, vegetation and animals that have adapted to living there.

North and South America have a diverse range of biomes.

These include tundra, rainforests, deserts, Savannah, coniferous forests and grass lands.

Let's have a little check here, what are biomes? Select one of these answers.

Biomes are A, different types of vegetation found on Earth.

B, regions of the world which have similar climates, landscapes, plants and animals, or C, communities of plants and animals.

Pause the video now and answer this question.

How did you get on? The correct answer is B, give yourselves a thumbs up.

Biomes are regions of the world with places that have similar climates, landscapes, plants and animals that have adapted to living there.

Tundra is the coldest of biomes.

There is very little rain and snow and temperatures remain below freezing for most of the year.

They are very cold places.

Tundra is found south of the Arctic Circle in the northernmost parts of North America.

So that's in Canada, Greenland and northern USA.

Rainforests are another type of biome.

The Amazon rainforest is a tropical rainforest in South America.

It's the largest rainforest in the world.

Tropical rainforests are located close to the equator, mostly between the tropic of Capricorn and the tropic of cancer.

Deserts are a type of biome with little rainfall and vegetation.

Death Valley is located near the border of the Mojave Desert and the great Basin desert in the United States of America.

It is the hottest and driest part of North America.

Summer temperatures are higher than 49 degrees Celsius, and the highest recorded here is 57 degrees Celsius.

That is incredibly hot.

So let's have another little check here.

This is a true or false question, so you have to think carefully again about this statement.

Tundra is one of the biomes found in Central America.

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

How did you get on? Did you say false? That's right, well done.

Now let's think about justifying our answer to explain why it's false.

Is it false because A, central America is mainly confers forest or B, arctic Tundra is located in the northern hemisphere, mostly found in the Arctic circle.

Central America is located in the southernmost part of North America nearer to the equator.

Read those two answers carefully and think about justifying why that statement is false.

Pause the video now.

How did you get on for that question? Did you answer B? That's right, well done.

You can give yourselves another thumbs up.

Arctic Tundra is located in the northern hemisphere, mostly found in the Arctic Circle.

Central America is located in the southernmost part of North America nearer to the equator, so that's why Tundra as a biome is not found in Central America, and that's why that statement was false.

Well done.

Let's continue with our learning.

Savannah is an area of open land with grasses, shrubs, and sometimes trees.

The Cerrado is the largest savanna region in South America, like the Amazon rainforest, it provides important habitats for many plants and animal species.

Most of the Cerrado is in Brazil, but it extends into Bolivia and Paraguay as well.

Evergreen trees are found in coniferous forests.

Remember that evergreen trees do not shed their leaves.

Coniferous forests are found in cool climates with a moderate rainfall.

This type of biome is also known as Boreal forest or Taiga.

A large area of Canada from east to west is covered with coniferous forest.

Grasslands are large, open areas of land where the main plants are grasses.

In South America.

Grasslands are also known as Pampas.

A large area of central Argentina is covered in pampas.

Pampas comes from a word in Quechua, which is an indigenous language, meaning plain.

It's time for another little check.

What type of biome is the Cerrado? Is it A, rainforest, B Tundra, C, desert, or D, Savannah? Pause the video now and answer this question.

How did you get on? The correct answer is D.

The Cerrado is a savanna.

Well done for completing that check.

You can give yourselves another thumbs up.

It's now time for task B.

You've got to complete this table for each type of biome that's listed on the column on the far left, you've got to write a brief description of that biome in the middle column, and then in the column on the far right, you've got to write an example of the country in North or South America where it's found.

Pause the video now and complete this task.

How did you get on completing that task? I'm going to show you my example, which is the first row of that table.

So the type of biome was confers forest, and then my brief description of this biome says, forest mostly consisting of evergreen forests found in areas with long winters and moderate to high rainfall, and then the example of a country in north or South America where it is found is Canada.

Well done, you worked really hard during that task.

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

We learned that there is a diverse range of landscapes and biomes in North and South America.

The key physical features of North and South America can be investigated using a variety of resources, including atlases, maps and photographs, and we remember that key geographical features that are physical are natural and have not been built by humans.

Well done for completing all of your fantastic learning today.

It was really tricky learning, but you've worked so hard.

You can give yourselves one last thumbs up.

Well done for joining me today and for sharing your learning with me.

See you next time for more geography lessons soon, bye.