Year 1 - Geography
Our local area
Local area: where do we live?
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit investigates the area around school and home by identifying local features, exploring buildings, using simple maps, collecting data on how we travel to school, and describing familiar routes using basic geographical vocabulary.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to talk about the area where you live and find some familiar features on an aerial photograph or large-scale plan.
Key Notes
- Most local areas include geographical features such as houses, shops, places of worship and green spaces.
- Digital maps can switch from aerial to map view to help identify the familiar features of the local area.
- Locational language, maps, aerial images and fieldwork are used to identify and locate features in the local area.
Vocabulary To Learn
- local area: The local area is the space immediately around where you are.
- village: A village is a small group of houses where people live.
- town: A town is a settlement that is usually larger than a village but smaller than a city and generally has local government.
- city: A city is a settlement that is usually larger than a town and has local government.
- aerial photograph: An aerial photograph is a picture of an object or place that has been taken from above.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Cities and towns are words used to describe a settlement of the same size interchangeably.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this geography topic using two clear key points.
Most local areas include geographical features such as houses, shops, places of worship and green spaces. Digital maps can switch from aerial to map view to help identify the familiar features of the local area.
2. Define this geography term and use it in an example. 'local area'
The local area is the space immediately around where you are.
3. Correct this common geography misunderstanding.
Mistake: Cities and towns are words used to describe a settlement of the same size interchangeably. Correction: Towns are used to describe settlements with a population of thousands whereas cities are usually used to describe settlements of over 100 000 or millions.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 1 Geography guide library.