Find out about one of the oldest national parks in the USA with this great 'Yosemite National Park' Geography scheme of work for Year 5 and Year 6. Packed full of fascinating facts and fun activities, your class will learn everything there is to know about Yosemite from its location in the world and within the USA itself to its geographical features and famous tourist hotspots.

With lesson plans, informative and engaging slides and a variety of printable resources to support their learning, this KS2 Geography scheme of work provides everything you need to teach your class about this fascinating and diverse area of North America.

You may also like our North America Geography scheme of work for upper KS2, exploring the countries, features and culture of this fascinating and diverse continent. 

Welcome to Yosemite

The first lesson in this series starts by identifying what Yosemite National Park is and locating it on a world map. Your class will learn to locate Yosemite by continent, country and state before finding out a little about what Yosemite is like.

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Formation

This lesson explores some of the physical geographical features of Yosemite and how they were formed. Looking back over millions of years, they will find out the formation of the Sierra Nevada mountains and Yosemite Valley, as well as how some of the most famous features of Yosemite, such as Half Dome and El Capitan, were formed. They will also discover how the landscape is changing today thanks to glaciers, erosion and other factors.

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Water Features

Your class will find out about the water system at Yosemite Park, following the path of water from the highest peaks in the glaciers to its eventual journey into the Pacific Ocean. This lesson teaches your class some of the key vocabulary relating to the journey of a river, as well as challenging them to think about the effects of features such as the O'Shaughnessy Dam and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. There is also the opportunity for them to explore the water cycle.

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Biomes and Vegetation Zones

The fourth lesson in this series helps your class to identify and understand the various biomes and vegetation zones within Yosemite and how they are similar and different. They will look at the climates within different vegetation zones and think about what effect the various climates have on the landscape.

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Comparing National Parks

Bringing your pupils closer to home, this lesson gives them the opportunity to compare Yosemite National Park to a national park within the UK. Your class will identify where each of the UK's national parks are before thinking of different questions they could explore to help them compare a park in the UK with Yosemite. There is then the chance to carry out some research of their own as they find out the answers to their questions.

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Holiday Time

The final lesson in this series gives your class the chance to consolidate everything they have learnt about Yosemite by planning their own visit to the park. Using what they have found out, they will think about when the best time of year would be to visit, what activities they would like to do, what animals they would like to spot, which features they would like to visit, and much more. They can express their learning in a variety of ways from a trip itinerary to a Yosemite guidebook.

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