Villages, towns and cities in the UK
You can locate and identify villages, towns and cities in atlases and on OS maps.
Villages, towns and cities in the UK
You can locate and identify villages, towns and cities in atlases and on OS maps.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Villages, towns and cities have different features.
- Atlas maps of the UK often use different symbols or text size to indicate the size of a settlement.
- Atlas maps can be used to investigate the location and distribution of the UK’s significant cities.
- Any settlement can be located on an OS map, and its features investigated using the key.
Keywords
Atlas map - Atlas maps show the location of places and features at global or national scale.
Symbol - A symbol is used to show an important landmark, place, feature or area of a map, diagram or drawing.
Location - A location is the particular position of something on Earth.
Distribution - Distribution is how something is spread out across a geographic area.
Common misconception
Pupils often read four figure grid references the wrong way round.
Remind pupils that they find the easting first by reading along the corridor, then read the northing by going up the stairs.
To help you plan your year 3 geography lesson on: Villages, towns and cities in the UK, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 3 geography lesson on: Villages, towns and cities in the UK, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 geography lessons from the Settlements: where do people live and why? unit, dive into the full secondary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.