Rainforests of life: Geography resource

Explore the rainforests’ positive ecological impacts on the Earth

This primary resource introduces children to the geographical features of rainforests. Discover the positive ecological impacts that rainforests have on the Earth. How much of the world’s oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest? How much rainfall do the planet’s tropical rainforests receive each year? How many species of animals, insects and plants live in the rainforests?

Pupils will learn about different kinds of creatures that live in the rainforest and the environment that the rainforest provides in our National Geographic Kids’ Geography primary resource sheet.

The teaching resource can be used in study group tasks for discussion about weather and the water cycle in relation to the Earth’s rainforest. It could be used as a printed handout for each pupil to review and annotate, or for display on the interactive whiteboard for class discussion.

Activity: Ask children to use the information in the resource to make a leaflet about the positive impacts of the rainforests on the Earth. They could also make a poster about the Amazon rainforest, focusing on why it needs protecting. Pupils could use the resource as a starting point for discussion about the weather in the rainforest and how this links in to the water cycle. They could use the discussion to help them write a report or group project about the climate in rainforests. Ask children to copy the diagram showing the different layers of the rainforest onto a large piece of paper and colour it in. They could use the information provided to label their diagrams.

N.B. The following information for mapping the resource documents to the school curriculum is specifically tailored to the English National Curriculum and Scottish Curriculum for Excellence. We are currently working to bring specifically tailored curriculum resource links for our other territories; including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. If you have any queries about our upcoming curriculum resource links, please email: schools@ngkids.co.uk

This Geography primary resource assists with teaching the following Key Stage 1 Geography objectives from the National Curriculum:

Pupils should be taught to:

identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles

use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to: key physical features, including: beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather

National Curriculum Key Stage 2 Geography objective:

Pupils should be taught to:

identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn

understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region within North or South America

Pupils should be taught to: describe and understand key aspects of:

physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle

human geography: types of settlement and land use, economic activity and trade links, the distribution of natural resources. Use maps and globes to locate countries and describe features

This Geography primary resource assists with teaching the following Social Studies First level objective from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence:

By exploring climate zones around the world, I can compare and describe how climate affects living things.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Second level Social Studies objective:

By comparing my local area with a contrasting area outwith Britain, I can investigate the main features of weather and climate, discussing the impact on living things.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Third level Social Studies objective:

Having investigated processes which form and shape landscapes, I can explain their impact on selected landscapes in Scotland, Europe and beyond.

I can investigate the relationship between climate and weather to be able to understand the causes of weather patterns within a selected climate zone.

I can investigate the climate, physical features and living things of a natural environment different from my own and explain their interrelationship.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Fourth level Social Studies objective:

I can explain how the interaction of physical systems shaped and continue to shape the Earth’s surface by assessing their impact on contrasting landscape types.