Geography and literacy

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Shape poems
Once children have been introduced to mountain environments through video or photographs and have learnt a range of relevant vocabulary (the names of features and words to describe these such as deep gorges, jagged rocks, thundering avalanches), they can write shape poems. These can be written within:

• the shape of a single peak, for example in a winding path to the summit
• the shapes of a number of peaks or up and down the sides of the peaks.

The poems could reflect, for example, changes in the environment as you climb the mountain or describe an avalanche. This activity links with the QCA/DfES unit 15 'The mountain environment'.
[Jane Chappell, Halfway Junior School, Sheffield]

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Using stories
Stories provide an excellent springboard for children to relate to people and places beyond their direct experience, to generate discussion on geographical issues, and to broaden their view of the world to counter stereotypes. Stories are also a vehicle for getting to grips with geographical skills.

Using maps from Winnie the Pooh or Lord of the Rings as examples, children can design their own pictorial maps with a story.

'The wind in the willows is a story that looks at many different homes, river features and human features, changes in the seasons (flood in February, changing flora) and sounds. Children can make drawings of the different homes of the characters and explain how each home is suitable for the occupants. Or they could draw a map of the river based on Ratty and Toad's adventures.

To explore diversity, The village by the sea by Anita Desai (Penguin 1982) is a longer book set in India. Reading the opening passage while listening to Indian music stimulates the children's imagination of place and character. The children can then draw their own image of the beach scene described in the passage, labelling their drawings and researching any unknown birds or plants. [Sue Penhallow, Albert Bradbeer Junior School, Birmingham]

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Telling stories
Children tell a story around the class, with each child adding a sentence or a phrase. Start with a geographical theme like being lost in the forest or going on a world journey. Ask the children to make drawings or even a map to show the different stages of the story.

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Being authors
Children can design and write picture books for younger children. They need to interview their audience to find out what they like and dislike about books, then base each book in a specific place. This requires research as well.

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Jigsaw stories
Divide the class into groups, giving each group unique information. Children decide what information is important to carry forward to the next group. From each original group, children join new groups to present information from their first group. For example, to survey the local graveyard each group can have information on either headstone shape or headstone rock type or degree of weathering or recurring names and dates.
[Roger Carter, Primary Geographer, Geographical Association, January 1998]

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Developing oracy skills and understanding of physical features and processes
Children take it in turns to describe a coastal or river feature without using visual aids. Their peers guess the answer and then look at a photograph of the feature and see if they can add any further detail. Alternatively, children take it in turns to imagine that they are a coastal or river process and describe what they do for their peers to guess.

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Role play
(links with QCA Scheme of Work Unit 15 The mountain environment)
In 'expedition groups', children take on the role of the different expedition members (eg doctor, reporter, lead climber) who are going to climb a mountain which the class has studied. They think about the knowledge and skills they will need, the equipment they will take, the problems they might encounter and how they will overcome these, etc and present this information, in role, to the rest of the class.

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Writing a newspaper article
In literacy sessions, children identify different types of writing in newspaper articles (eg persuasive, report), analysing the words and phrases which are typically used and the importance of the headline, illustrations, etc. They can then write, for example, a balanced account of a local issue, or an article persuading people to walk to work or school. Using a publishing program on the computer will give their work a more professional finish.

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Letter writing
In literacy sessions, children identify the purpose of different letters (eg to persuade, complain, protest, support). They can than write, for example, a letter to the local council complaining about traffic round the school, or to the local newspaper in support of new recycling initiatives in the local area.

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Writing captions
The children work in pairs or in small groups and are given a brief to write captions for photographs, eg they have to create publicity material for a holiday destination or tourist attraction; or produce material for an interpretation board at an environmentally sensitive site to encourage the public to act more responsibly.

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Writing speech or thought bubbles
Ask children to write speech or thought bubbles for people in photographs to encourage empathy.

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Using fiction with an environmental theme
Include fiction with an environmental theme in the literacy lesson (eg Helen Cowcher's Rainforest and Antarctica, Jeannie Baker's Where the forest meets the sea). Use these stories as a stimulus for an enquiry into a related issue in the local area.

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A geographical rap
Make sure the vocabulary associated with the current geographical topic is readily available (eg on the board or on a flip chart). Quickly recap on the features of rap music (spoken rather than sung, a strong beat, a fast tempo) and the techniques rappers use (rhyme, repetition, ostinato, etc). The children then work in pairs to compose a rap about their current geographical topic. For example 'There's too much traffic in our town, it pollutes the air and get us down...'

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Reading and writing poems
Bright ideas involving reading and writing poems

More developed ideas

Geography plus