Geography ‘Location, Location, Location’’
This term we will continue to look at our geography topic ‘Location, Location, Location.’ We should be visiting both Low Fell high-street and then Hexham to investigate the different features of urban and rural settlements, however 2020 seems to have a different plan for us all in mind.
Already, before the Easter holiday, I had given you lots of different activities that you could complete at home to familiarise yourself with both Low Fell and Hexham. However, as we can’t go and visit our different types of settlement together, I’d like you to use Digimaps to try and do some further investigating whilst at home.
Digimaps is a new resource we have in school and there are many things you can do with it, so enjoy navigating it and learning how to use it. I know that you are all computer whizzes and will be able to figure out how to use it in no time!
Remember that your parents are your new teacher and they will expect you to try your best with each task, just like I do at school. Make sure you listen to them and do as much as you can under the current circumstances.
A quick message for parents, who may not be as technologically advanced. The link below will take you to a YouTube video, which might help you navigate
Digimaps a little better, however it might be best to let your child take the lead as they’re usually pretty fast at picking new technology up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb1nIOyjU_g&feature=youtu.be
The tasks are best done in the order however task 10 is a standalone activity, if you wanted to have a go at that at a different time.
Remember to have fun and try your best!
Task 1
Your first task will allow you to get to know some of the features of digimaps.
Log in to Digimaps for schools at
https://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/roam/map/schools. Digimaps is an online mapping tool. Your parents have been sent the username and password via text.
Then type in the school’s postcode NE9 5TU into the search bar which is above the map in the left.
Now select the magnifying glass next to the search bar.
The map should show St Peter’s. To remove the red marker click on the x next to the search results.
Let’s zoom in on school. You can select the plus button on the scale bar or double click or double tap where you want to zoom in.
Let’s measure how long it is to walk all the way around our school.
1. Open the Measurement Tools – you’ll find them on the left of the map.
2. Select Distance:
3. Now let’s draw a line around the outside of our school grounds.
• Tap or click on a point on the screen to start.
• Keep tapping or clicking to add new points. Work your way around the school grounds.
• Double click at the end.
• You should see a measurement on the screen AND in the measurement tools box.
4. Make a note of the measurement. Can you round it up to the nearest whole number?
Top tip for rounding:
• Remember that with rounding, if your number is 435.4m we would round this down to 435 m, because our number after the decimal point is below 5.
• If our number was 435.7m, we would round this up to 436, because our decimal number is greater than 5.
So, for the map above, which shows 431.7 metres, we will note down 432 metres.
Task 2
Can you measure the distance from your house to school?
1. Using the map, zoom out until you find your house. If you are struggling to find it this way, you can always search your postcode.
2. Measure a line from your house to school, recording the distance down in metres.
3. What do you notice about the distance from your house to school, is it longer or shorter when compared to the measurement of the outside of school?
Challenge:
Can you see how far it is from your house to Low Fell high-street?
Before you use Digimaps to calculate the distance, make a prediction. Do you think the distance from your house to Low Fell high-street will be shorter or longer than your journey to school from your house?
Next, using the tools on the Digimaps, draw the route from your house to the high- street and record the distance down.
Which journey had the furthest distance?
Did you expect this result?
Can you explain why
Task 3
Who lives nearest?
1. Can you add a marker to show a school friend’s house?
2. Open the Drawing Tools.
3. Select a marker then select a place on the map to add it.
4. Add a label with their name. Select the label tool (the orange one in the picture above). Choose a place on the map. Type the name.
5. Now go back to Measurement Tools.
6. Measure the distance from your friend’s house to school.
Here is an example of what one of your maps might look like, if you were planning the route that your friend would take from their house to school.
7. Who has to travel the furthest to get to school?
Challenge:
Can you calculate the distance between the amount of metres that you and your friend have to travel?
If you have a printer you can print your map and send a picture holding your work up with pride!
Task 4
Thinking about the research you have already done on the features that make Low Fell an urban settlement, use Digimaps to plan a route that you could walk
with your family to see some of these urban features.
Remember an urban settlement is a place where lots of people live and work.
These are built up areas, with lots of buildings and have good transport links.
If you can, take some pictures of these urban features as you walk.
- Plan your route
- Measure your distance
- Document your route (take pictures of different features that make an urban settlement)
- When you return from your walk you can upload your photographs onto the map of your walk.
TOP TIP:
These are some of the urban features that you may want to take pictures of on your walk:
- Different types of shops
- Main roads where there is traffic, you may see different types of cars too!
Upload your photographs by clicking on the icon of a camera.
- Different types of houses that you see
- Any services that you pass, like the fire station, police station, doctors, school.
Task 5
Looking at ordnance survey symbols
Maps use symbols instead of words to label real life features and make maps clearer. With so many features on a map there would not be enough space to write everything down. Symbols can be small pictures, letters, lines or coloured areas to show features like campsites, churches, railway stations and many more. There is usually a key next to the map to tell you what the symbol means.
Click on the second icon down below the search bar to find the key which will show you all of these symbols.
Type Low Fell into the search bar and have a look to see what urban features you can identify in that area.
Were you able to see any of these features on your walk?
If you want an extra challenge, you could look at another urban settlement of your choice and compare its’ features to the ones you found in Low Fell
Click on this icon and it will show you what all the symbols mean.
Task 6
Type Low Fell into the search bar
- What type of settlement are we looking at?
- How do you know that you are looking at this type of settlement?
- Spend some time zooming in and out of the map and write down anything that you notice.
- What are the pink lines on the map?
- What are the green lines on the map?
- What are the yellow lines on the map?
- Can you find a main road that passes through Low Fell?
- Can you calculate the distance from Low Fell to Gateshead?
Task 7
Type Hexham into the search bar
- What type of settlement are we looking at?
- How do you know that you are looking at this type of settlement?
- Spend some time zooming in and out of the map and write down anything that you notice.
- What do you notice about the way that the land is used outside of this settlement?
- When you look at it the map from an aerial view, can you see many shops?
Explain why?
- Can you find the name of the river that runs through Hexham?
- Can you find a main road that leads into Hexham?
- Can you calculate the distance from Hexham to Gateshead?
Task 8
Here is an aerial view photograph of Hexham and an aerial view photograph of Low Fell. An aerial view means that the picture has been taken from above, high
in the sky.
Have a good look at both the pictures:
- what features do you notice are the same?
- What features do you notice that are different?
You can use Digimaps to change from an ordnance map to an aerial map by clicking on the map selector.
Spend some time looking at both Hexham and Low Fell with an aerial view.
Zoom in and out, looking closely at both areas, thinking about the following:
- The amount of main roads/ the different types of roads. Does one settlement have more main roads than the other? Why do you think this is?
- The types of buildings in each settlement, are they similar/different?
- How the land around each of the settlements is used. Are they both used in the same way, or differently?
- Can you calculate the distance from each settlement to their next closest settlement? What do you notice about each of these distances? Is one longer than the other? Why do you think this could be?
You could create a poster to highlight the similarities and differences between each of the settlements or you could just answer each of the questions in full sentences in your books and then draw a picture of what
you can see.
KEY WORDS:
Landmark Rural Agriculture Land-use Distance Protected land Urban Population Coastal
Task 9
Now choose any place you like, it may be an urban, rural or even a coastal
settlement. It could be somewhere you know really well, or somewhere that you would like to visit. I know that many of you really enjoyed looking at the
pictures of Egypt, when we were learning all about the ancient Egyptians, so you may want to have a look at a city there such as Cairo.
Put the place into the search bar and have a look at the place. Note that for some places abroad there is an option to look at an aerial map.
What are the places of interest?
What are some of the features that this settlement has?
Think of all of the features that you have seen in both our urban setting (Low Fell) and our rural setting (Hexham). What is similar or different with the place that you have chosen to research?
You could create a poster with pictures to explain what you have researched, or you could write a paragraph or even your own fact file.
Task 10
Scavenger Hunt
https://youtu.be/pIUqZLGsSCM
After all of your hard work, I thought you deserved a little bit of fun. Watch the clip from YouTube and then use Digimaps to have a go at mapping out your own scavenger hunt.
Remember Year 3 that I love seeing all of your hard work, it brings me endless smiles, so please keep sending email updates and pictures of everything you’re doing!
