About this unit: This is a ten-lesson unit of English work based on the reading and writing of a newspaper discussion. It is intended for Upper Key Stage 2. This unit follows the 2014 National Curriculum objectives which are outlined below. The English objectives covered by this unit are highlighted in yellow. The ten lessons in this unit allow children to explore, discuss and understand writing based on a newspaper discussion text. During the first week children will prepare and participate in a debate. A petition has been submitted to Lakeview Council which was organised by animal welfare officers. Children discuss and take part in hot seating activities to understand the viewpoints of different stakeholders. After these activities children prepare and participate in a debate on whether or not to close the zoo permanently. In the second week, children will discuss, plan and write a discussion based on the decision to close the zoo. A newspaper article has been published reacting to Lakeview Council’s decision. Through guided and shared activities children will write their own version of this text ensuring they have included the correct language and organisational features appropriate to a newspaper discussion text.

The National Curriculum states that children should be taught to identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the equator and the North and South Poles. Children should also be taught to use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied at this key stage. In this lesson children locate the polar regions of the Earth and learn about the weather and climate. Children take part in a polar regions quiz to test and consolidate this knowledge. Resources are also provided so that children can learn about polar bears in the Arctic and emperor penguins in Antarctica. What is included? Full lesson plan. PowerPoint for the lesson. Polar regions activity describing the location and climate of the polar regions (differentiated on three levels). Polar regions quiz. Links to YouTube videos for polar bears and emperor penguins. Polar bear fact sheets (class version and higher-ability extension). Emperor penguin fact sheets (class version and higher-ability extension). Files Included: Polar Regions: Single Lesson for Year 1/2 PDF file. Polar Regions: Single Lesson for Year 1/2 Lesson PowerPoint.

he National Curriculum states that children should be taught to identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the equator and the North and South Poles. Children should be taught to use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied at this key stage. In this lesson children learn about the equatorial climate of the world’s tropical rainforests and their location across the world. Children label the location of the world’s tropical rainforests on a map of the world and also consolidate their previous learning about the continents of the world. Children complete a tropical rainforests quiz which consolidates their learning about the climate and location of the tropical rainforests. Children visualise and draw what they imagine a tropical rainforest looks like. Children conduct research into a tropical rainforest animal of their own choice. What is included? Complete lesson plan. PowerPoint for the lesson. World map with rainforest locations labelled. World map: tropical rainforest location questions activity. Tropical rainforests quiz! What do you think a tropical rainforest looks like? Activity sheet. Photograph of a tropical rainforest. Link to YouTube video describing the layers of a tropical rainforest. Links to YouTube videos about tropical rainforest animals. Tropical rainforest animals activity sheet for the class and extension activity sheet for higher-achieving children.* Files included: Tropical Rainforests: Single Lesson for Year 1/2 Lesson Plan in a PDF file. Tropical Rainforests: Single Lesson for Year 1/2 Lesson PowerPoint

The National Curriculum states that Children should be taught to identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the equator and the North and South Poles. Children should also be taught to use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied at this key stage. In this lesson children will learn about desert regions across the world. Children will use a world map to locate fifteen deserts across the world’s continents. Children will participate in a desert regions quiz all about the location of the deserts and their climate. Children will visualise and draw what they think a desert looks like. Children will then look at photographs of the Gobi Desert, Sahara Desert and the Sonoran Desert and discuss their similarities and differences. Children will record facts about meercats and the saguaro cactus which are animals and plants found in desert climates. What is included? Complete lesson plan. PowerPoint for the lesson. World map with desert locations labelled. Location of deserts activity sheet. Desert regions quiz! Photographs of the Sahara Desert, Gobi Desert and Sonoran Desert. Draw a desert activity sheet. Links to YouTube videos about meercats. Meercats facts sheets (class version and extension version for higher-achieving children). Links to YouTube videos about the saguaro cactus. Saguaro cactus facts sheets (class version and extension version for higher-ability children). Files included: Desert Regions: Single Lesson for Year 1/2 Lesson Plan in a PDF file. Desert Regions: Single Lesson for Year 1/2 Lesson PowerPoint.

The National Curriculum states that children should be taught to name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers, and land-use patterns); and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time. Children should also be taught how to use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied. In this lesson children learn about the cities of the United Kingdom. Prior learning from key stage 1 is revised including the capital cities of the four nations. Children participate in a cities of the UK quiz which can either be presented in paper form or used for the basis of a ‘Corners Game’. Children use google maps or an atlas to find cities in the UK and plot their location on a blank map of the UK. Children identify landmarks of cities in the United Kingdom and then children create fact files on landmarks in the UK and/or a city in the UK of their own choice.