Why are rivers important?

An introduction lesson to a unit on rivers, providing an overview of the names and locations on major world rivers, the value/importance of rivers and an introduction to writing developed explanations in Geography.

Lesson Overview
Starter: List as many river names as you can in 3 minutes…some clues are on the slide to help

Activity 1: Map Challenge – Rivers and Cities
• Write a list of 5- 10 large cities you know (the bigger the city, the better).
• Swap books with someone at your table.
• Using Google Earth, check if a river runs through or near each city.
• Write the name of the river next to each city.
• Challenger task: Use an atlas to find a city that is not near a river.

1. Activity 2: Group Task – Rivers by Continents
   • Assign one continent to each team member.
   • On the world map provided (slide 5), label each river in your continent using an atlas
   • Find one large city located on each river in your continent and mark it on the map with an arrow.

2. Activity 3: Pictionary – The value of Rivers
   • Work in pairs.
   • Person 1 has a mini white board and faces the board.
   • Person 2 sits with their back to the board.
   • Person 1 draws a reason why rivers are important.
   • Person 2 guesses.
   • If guessed correctly, both write the answer in their books.

3. Activity 4: Writing Developed Explanations – Card Sort
   • Students match point sentences with the explanation of how and why rivers are important.
   • Write full sentences in books to demonstrate understanding. (answer provided on last slide)