Geography at key stages 1 and 2    (Year 6)

• Ask the children to look at pictures of different kinds of environments and identify the varying features of each type of environment.
• Discuss with the children the difference between a hill and a mountain.
• Ask the children to name and locate the main world mountain areas.

• Divide the class into small groups and ask each group to investigate a mountain environment, eg the Lake District (Grasmere), the Austrian Alps (Goetzens), the Himalayas (Katmandu). They should think about what the place is like, where it is, what the landscape is like and what people do in the area, using sources like pictures, maps, artefacts, CD-ROMs and the internet. They should make a presentation of their findings to the rest of the class.

• Ask each group to produce a set of weather data for their location, plotting the data on a graph and analysing the results. If possible, ask the children to find out the weather data for each environment on the day of the lesson from the weather services on the internet or the Meteorological Office's METFAX service.
• Discuss with the children the similarities and differences between the weather in each of the environments.
• Discuss with the children what the weather would be like in a different season and consider what specific weather conditions are associated with these places, eg blizzards, snowdrifts, avalanches, floods, and the effects they have on human activity.

• Ask the children to use a range of brochures advertising holidays in these areas to identify how weather conditions can enhance or detract from tourism in the area.

• Using a variety of resources, eg pictures, videos, ask the children to list how tourism affects the areas. Ask them to consider questions like: what are the good effects, eg creates jobs, opens up the area, encourages local crafts, and what are the bad effects, eg higher prices, litter, traffic problems, erosion.

• Ask the children to plan a camping holiday to one of the areas. Ask them to consider questions like: How would we travel there? What sort of equipment would we need? What would we have to watch out for? What safety precautions would we need to take? How could we find out about local weather conditions?
• Ask the children to draw a poster to warn people of the dangers they might face in the area.