In Year 3, our geography learning helps us to understand the world around us, from our local area to faraway places. We build on key geographical skills such as map reading, using atlases and globes, interpreting data, and carrying out fieldwork. We explore both human and physical geography, comparing different places and learning how people interact with their environment.
Enquiry Question: Where in the world is the United Kingdom and how is it made up?
Children will learn to locate the UK on a world map and explore how it is made up of countries, regions, cities, and counties. They will also investigate the UK’s key human and physical features, understanding how geography helps define different places.
National Curriculum Link:
Name and locate counties and cities of the UK.
Name and locate geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics.
Key Vocabulary:
Country, county, city, region, capital, landmark, human geography, physical geography, settlement.
Key Knowledge:
The UK is made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Each country has its own capital city.
Regions and counties have unique features that make them distinct.
Enquiry Question: What are the invisible lines of the Earth?
Children will investigate latitude and longitude, as well as other significant geographical lines such as the Equator, Tropics, and Arctic and Antarctic Circles. They will also explore how the Earth’s rotation creates time zones and day and night.
National Curriculum Link:
Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, Prime/Greenwich Meridian, and time zones (including day and night).
Key Vocabulary:
Latitude, longitude, Equator, hemisphere, Tropics, Arctic Circle, Antarctic Circle, Prime Meridian, time zone, Greenwich.
Key Knowledge:
Latitude and longitude help us locate places accurately on Earth.
The Equator divides the Earth into Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
The Earth’s rotation causes day and night and different time zones.
Enquiry Question: What are the different biomes and what is the biome of the UK? How are they different to vegetation belts?
Children will study the world’s biomes and vegetation belts, comparing them to the UK’s biome. They will learn about climates, plants, and wildlife found in different regions of the world.
National Curriculum Link:
Describe and understand key aspects of physical geography, including climate zones, biomes, and vegetation belts.
Key Vocabulary:
Climate, biome, vegetation belt, rainforest, desert, tundra, savannah, temperate, habitat.
Key Knowledge:
Biomes are large areas defined by their climate, plants, and animals.
The UK has a temperate deciduous forest biome.
Vegetation belts are narrower zones influenced by climate and rainfall.
Enquiry Question: Sheffield or Scarborough: Which would you like to live in?
Children will carry out a regional study of Yorkshire and the Humber, comparing the human and physical geography of Sheffield and Scarborough. They will explore settlements, land use, and environmental issues, developing their fieldwork skills through local studies.
National Curriculum Link:
Understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the UK.
Describe and understand key aspects of human geography, including types of settlement.
Key Vocabulary:
Settlement, urban, rural, industry, coast, landscape, population, environment.
Key Knowledge:
Sheffield is a large inland city known for industry and surrounding hills.
Scarborough is a coastal town with tourism, fishing, and seaside features.
Human and physical features shape how people live and work in different areas.