New
New
Year 3

Villages, towns and cities in the UK

You can locate and identify villages, towns and cities in atlases and on OS maps.

New
New
Year 3

Villages, towns and cities in the UK

You can locate and identify villages, towns and cities in atlases and on OS maps.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Villages, towns and cities have different features.
  2. Atlas maps of the UK often use different symbols or text size to indicate the size of a settlement.
  3. Atlas maps can be used to investigate the location and distribution of the UK’s significant cities.
  4. 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.

Following the completion of task A, this would be a great opportunity for fieldwork. Pupils could use the local area map to plan a route past some of the features they identified then go out and follow it.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which country is not part of the UK?
England
Northern Ireland
Correct answer: Republic of Ireland
Scotland
Q2.
The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and __________?
Edinburgh
London
Belfast
Correct answer: Wales
Q3.
Which of the following settlement types is the smallest?
city
village
town
Correct answer: hamlet
Q4.
Which of the following settlement types is the largest?
Correct answer: city
village
town
hamlet
Q5.
__________ generally has a population of between 500 and 3000 people and usually has a few services: typically a church, a post office, a school and a pub.
a town
Correct answer: a village
a megacity
Q6.
__________ has a population in excess of 10,000,000 with a large transport network and has global importance.
a town
a hamlet
Correct answer: a megacity

6 Questions

Q1.
What is the capital city of Wales?
London
Correct answer: Cardiff
Belfast
Edinburgh
Q2.
What is the capital city of England?
Correct answer: London
Manchester
Birmingham
Edinburgh
Q3.
What is the capital city of Scotland?
Glasgow
Cardiff
Belfast
Correct answer: Edinburgh
Q4.
What is the capital city of Northern Ireland?
Glasgow
Newcastle
Correct answer: Belfast
Edinburgh
Q5.
The vertical lines on an OS maps are called
Correct Answer: eastings, Eastings
Q6.
The horizontal lines on an OS map are called
Correct Answer: northings, Northings