Lesson video

My name is Mr. Robertson and it's fantastic to be learning with you today.

This is a new unit of work and the question that we are going to be answering is Europe, how diverse are its landscapes and.

I'm really excited about this unit and I can't wait to get started with you today.

Today's lesson's outcome is this.

I can use atlas maps and a globe to locate the continent and countries of Europe.

We got some key words today, so I'm going to say that and then I'm gonna ask you to say that back.

So our first word is this, continent.

Brilliant.

Location.

And it's well done.

Globe.

Easy.

Finally atlas map.

Fabulous.

You said that brilliantly.

And let's find out what they mean, shall we?

Okay, so a continent is a large landmass on Earth, and there are seven: Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania.

A location is the particular position of something on earth.

A globe is a map of Earth on a sphere.

And Atlas maps show the location of places and features at a global or national scale.

Those keywords are going to come up during our lesson.

So let's get started.

There are three parts to our lesson today.

Part one, we're going to ask what do we already know about Europe?

Next we're going to move on to locating the continent of Europe.

And finally we're going to look at locating the countries in Europe.

Are you ready to explore Europe?

Let's go.

As geographers, when we start a new unit of work or a new topic, it's really good to a little bit about what we already know.

So in this unit we go through learning about the continent of Europe and here are some questions.

Aisha's asking, "What do you already know about this continent?

" And Jun is saying, "Where does this knowledge come from?

" So if you've got someone to talk to, pause the video now and let's think about these questions, what you already know and where does this knowledge come from?

Here's some of your ideas.

Now when we think about what we already know, it's useful to think really carefully so we can identify any gaps.

In other words, we might know some things, but what might we not know as well and what we need to find out.

So there are some big questions here.

Aisha is asking, "What is continent?

" You might have done learning about continent at some other point in school and know what that word means.

She's also asking, what is Europe like?

You know anything about Europe?

Describe it all what comes into your mind when you hear that word.

Jun is asking which countries are located in Europe?

Can you think of any?

And can you name landmarks or major sittings in Europe?

Maybe you traveled in Europe.

Maybe some of your friends or relatives have been there.

Can you think of any places that they might have visited or any things they might have seen?

Again, pause the video and talk around you.

As well as thinking what we know about Europe itself, we might also want to think about where does this information come from?

We might have learned about Europe in school in a previous topic, friends or family may have been to Europe.

We might look to something on the internet.

We might read books which can give us useful information or we might have seen some programs on television.

All of these sources of information can help bring us some knowledge, which is gonna be really helpful in the topic we're gonna explore today.

So I want to think about this true or false question.

When you learn about a topic, it's useful to think about any existing knowledge we already have.

Is that true or is that false?

Hmm, pause the video.

Let's have a think about that.

If you said yeah, absolutely right, well done.

It is true.

It is really useful to think about an existing know already have when we're learning about a topic in geography.

Now why is that?

Here, I'll get you some answers to help justify why this is true.

A, thinking about what we know already helps us to identify any gaps in our knowledge.

Or B, thinking about what we know already will prove we have nothing else to learn.

Which of those is a better reason do you think?

Why this is true?

Pause the video and have a think.

Absolutely you are amazing.

Well done.

Thinking about what we know already helps us identify any gaps in our knowledge, whether we use our prior learning that can work out what we need to know going forwards.

Here is going to be a task for you to do.

We can use a spider diagram to show what we already know about Europe.

This is a spider diagram.

You can see we've got the word Europe in the middle.

That's the topic that we are going to be investigating.

And around the outside we've got different groups of information.

So we've got landmarks, people, countries, climate, that means what the weather is like in Europe, cities and food.

These are all ways in which we might classify different pieces of knowledge we might already have about Europe.

Spider diagram is really useful because it helps us organize the information.

Our spider diagram add to the categories.

So for example, we might know some countries in Europe, so we might say yes, of course France is in Europe, Italy is in Europe, Poland is in Europe.

They are all different countries in Europe.

We might also know some things about different foods we might find in Europe.

So we might say "Aha omelet," that's a food that people might eat in Europe or pizza of course, pizza or borscht.

All of these are examples of different sorts of food people in Europe might eat.

And so we can put the countries in the part of the spider diagram where it says countries and foods could be grouped somewhere else.

And this way we're building up a picture of all our existing knowledge, things we already know about Europe.

So your task is going to be this.

I'd like you to create a spider diagram to think about your existing knowledge and ideas.

Think about what we said a while ago about different places you might have this information, maybe information from family and friends, maybe information seen on the internet or at a television program.

Have a go at creating the spider diagram and think, what do I know about different countries, landmarks, food, cities or climates.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you found out.

So here is some examples of things you might've found out.

Yours might look similar to this.

You might have different information; that doesn't matter because we all have different source of knowledge.

We've already looked at some countries like France, Italy and Poland, and we looked at some possible foods like omelet, pizza or borscht.

You might have added your own countries or own examples of food in as well.

How about some landmarks you might find in Europe?

Oh yes, we've got the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we've got the Matterhorn.

That's a huge amazing mountain in Europe.

And we've got Parthenon, if you did ancient Greek in school, you might have discovered that as well in Greece.

Got some cities, we've got Madrid, the capital of Spain, we've got Berlin, the capital of Germany and Oslo, the capital of Norway.

And finally, what might we know about the climate in war?

We've got the word temperate, temperate climate like we have in the UK, a Mediterranean climate, places that experience that might be places like Spain or Italy.

And finally we've got a polar climate as well.

Places far up in the northern Scandinavian like Norway or Sweden and Iceland might experience polar climate.

Part of our lesson today is this, locating a continent of Europe.

Europe is a continent.

If you remember from our keywords, a continent is defined as a group of countries on a large landmass.

Now you might heard this word continent before.

I want you to think how many continents are there in the world?

Talk to your talk partner or pause your video.

How many continents are there in the world?

Well you're right.

Jun says there are seven continents in the world.

Well done if you've got that correct.

Name the seven continents.

We've got Africa, you can see it there in yellow in the middle of our map.

Antarctica, right down in the south, all down there.

Asia, huge continent.

North America and South America, Europe, which we studied now conceding green in the middle of our map there, and Oceania.

Well done if you could name all those continents.

Okay, a quick check and learning.

How many continents are there in the world?

Are there five?

Are there six or are there seven?

Pause the video, have a think.

Let's see if you are right.

Yes, correct.

There are seven continents in the world.

Well done geographers, should've got that correct.

Now another question, which of the following is not a continent?

Africa, B, Antarctica, C Arctic or D Asia?

Which of those is not a continent.

Pause and have a think.

Good luck.

Absolutely right.

Well done.

Arctic is not a continent.

It's a big area of ice right in the north of the globe, but it's not a continent.

Well done.

Now both atlas maps and a globe can be used to locate the continent of Europe.

So what is an atlas map?

Well, an atlas map is something which represent the world in two dimensions.

That means they're flat, they only height or width.

But our world is actually in three dimensions.

It has height, weight, and depth.

And so that can pose quite a problem for geographers.

The best way to view our world is a globe.

Maybe you'll have a globe in your classroom, maybe have a globe at home.

That is a three dimensional model and that is the best way to understand what the world is like.

But this can be really, really difficult because as our world is in three dimensions, it's really difficult to represent in a two dimensional map.

You could try this for yourself.

Get an orange or a Satsuma and by taking a peel off as much as you can, it doesn't matter if it's not the whole fruit and try reading it out.

Can you see what happens if you draw the world on the skin or you do it and spread it out?

You'll see it's really hard to spread it out.

You kind of have to tear the peel and then it doesn't look quite right.

So this is a really complex idea in geography about how do we take three dimensional views and turn them into two dimensional.

Question for you here true or false?

A globe is a more accurate representation of the world than an atlas map.

Is that true or false?

Have a think.

You are right.

It is, it's true.

A globe is more accurate than an atlas map because a globe is in three dimensions like our world itself and justify answer here.

A is a globe is a three dimensional model of world or B is an atlas map a three dimensional model of the world?

Okay, yes, you are correct.

A globe is a three-dimensional model of the world.

Europe is located in the Northern Hemisphere.

That means it's north of the equator, which is the imaginary line around middle of the world.

It is the second smallest continent.

You can see it there in green.

Oceania is the smallest continent in the world.

Which of these statements describe the location of Europe?

How about you just select two answers, A, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, B, bordered by the Pacific Ocean, C, in the northern hemisphere or D in the southern hemisphere, which two answers are true?

Discuss with person next to you.

See if you're right.

Europe is bordered by the Atlantic ocean, which is the ocean between Europe and North America.

And C, it's in the northern hemisphere, which is to the north of the equator.

Well done if you've got those right.

So our second task today is this.

You are going to locate Europe and the other continents on a globe and an atlas map.

You see an atlas map in front of your gate.

I'd like to find a different continent and name them very clearly.

Know what they all are.

Be very careful with the spellings and make sure you use a capital letter.

Let's see if you were right.

We have in orange North America, brown South America, Europe in green, Africa in Yellow, Asia in white and Oceania in red and down in south Antarctica.

Well done if you managed to name those correctly.

Brilliant geography work.

Our final part of this is this.

We're going to locate the countries in Europe.

Start our learning here.

So we have done some thinking about what a continent is.

A continent is a large land mass.

Now we're going to think about countries.

Countries are part of what makes up a continent.

It's widely agreed there are 44 countries in Europe.

That's a lot of countries, isn't it?

This includes Russia.

Russia is an enormous country, largest country in the world.

Part of Russia is in Asia.

Part spreads to the borders of Europe.

An interesting country, which is also part of Europe is Turkey.

Most of Turkey is out in the continent of Asia, but a small part of it Western Istanbul, is considered part of Europe.

Europe extends from the Atlantic ocean and the West, Asia in the East, if we carry up into the north, we get the Arctic Circle.

And down in the south, it's bordered by the Mediterranean Sea.

Which country in Europe is the farthest north?

An interesting geography question, isn't it?

I wonder what clues we might use in the map to help us answer that question.

Discuss with the person next to you, have a little think.

Aisha says Norway is farthest north, if you include the Norwegian island of Svalbard.

If you look at the map on your screen, you can see the country of Iceland, which is really far north and above that can you see Red Island that belongs to Norway called Svalbard.

Beautiful based right up in the Arctic ocean.

So officially Norway is farthest north.

Now, as we said, Europe is made up of of many different countries.

We can use an atlas map to locate these countries in Europe, find out where they all are.

I want to know what's the three largest countries in Europe?

What another interesting geography question.

Can the atlas map on your screen help you with this?

Have a little think.

Discuss with the person next to you.

Jun says Russia, which we can see in green the furthest east is the largest country in Europe.

Then the country of Ukraine, which is on the border of Ukraine at Belarus, you can see it there in orange.

And finally France, which is just below the United Kingdom in light blue, they are the three largest countries in Europe.

So a question for you about countries in Europe.

Which of these countries are in Europe?

I'd like you to select two answers.

A, Iceland, B, Israel, C, Morocco or D, Ukraine.

Have a ponder with person next to you.

Let's see if you are right.

Far up in the north of Europe is part of Europe.

Well done as you got that one.

And Ukraine in the east of Europe, bordering Russia.

Both of those countries are in Europe.

Fantastic geography work if you got those right.

Israel is in the continent of Asia and Morocco, you might know this, yes, it's in the continent of Africa.

So they're not in Europe.

Okay, the final task for today is this.

You are going to be locating the countries in Europe.

You're going to use an Atlas map.

There'll be one on the worksheet.

And I'd like you to name the countries of Europe.

If you remember we said there are 44 countries in Europe.

Can you locate and name them all?

So roll up your sleeves, put your geography hats firmly on your heads.

Use your map skills and off you go, locating and naming the countries of Europe, good luck.

I hope you enjoyed that task.

I absolute love using an atlas map, it is one of my favorite things to do.

And learning countries I just think is fantastic.

Here are the answers.

44 countries in Europe, 1 Russia the largest country in Europe all the way to 44, The Vatican City.

She's a tiny little part of the city of Rome, which is the smallest country in Europe.

How many of those did you manage to find?

I hope you enjoyed locating those.

Great geography work, everybody.

Well done.

Let's summarize our learning today.

We've been using maps to locate the countries of Europe.

So what have we learned?

We've learned that Europe is a continent.

It's location is in the Northern Hemisphere.

Europe is the second smallest continent.

It has 44 countries.

Europe extends to the Atlantic Ocean in the West to Asia in East, the Arctic circle in the North to the Mediterranean Sea in the South.

And finally, atlas maps and a globe can be used to notate the countries in Europe.

Thanks so much for being part of our learning today.

I've really enjoyed learning about Europe with you.

I look forward to seeing you in another lesson, where we're going to be further exploring the amazing diversity within Europe.

Thank you very much.