Investigating Rivers

Use this Investigating Rivers KS2 planning pack to help your Year 5 and Year 6 children navigate towards an understanding of rivers, their uses, features and effect on the environment. Your class will get the chance to study the water cycle, find out how rivers are formed, explore the journey of a river from source to mouth, investigate why rivers are important and what they are used for, river pollution and its effects, as well as choosing a river around the world to investigate in depth.

Our Investigating Rivers KS2 planning pack contains a set of six detailed lesson plans, a slideshow presentation for each lesson, differentiated activity ideas, and a range of printable worksheets and resources – all ready to download and teach meaning you don't have to spend hours of your own time planning.

A Knowledge Organiser is available to support the learning in this scheme. It is included in the Complete Series download or can be purchased individually.

The Water Cycle

The Water Cycle KS2 Geography planning for Year 5 and Year 6 includes detailed information about how the water cycle works. Water cycle diagrams show each step in the process. Each step includes definitions of evaporation, transpiration and condensation, and is clearly explained in the included slides and worksheets. There's a choice of differentiated activities, too – where children can find out more facts about the water cycle, or show what they have learned by making a water cycle poster.

River Features

With this River Features Geography lesson plan pack, your KS2 pupils can learn all about how rivers are formed.

They'll find out all about the start of a river – the source – as well as other different parts of a river such as tribuataries and the river delta. The included slides and differentiated resources are ideal for teachers looking to address the National Curriculum objectives for Geography in Key Stage 2, as they include clear explanations about river erosion and deposition, too.

There's a choice of activities included, where children can find out more about the features of a river, and demonstrate what they've learned by using geographical vocabulary to describe river features.

Uses of Rivers

In this Uses of Rivers KS2 Geography lesson plan pack, children will learn all about the importance of rivers, how humans use rivers, and why they are important habitats for river animals. The included slides and differentiated resources include information and activities all about human activity around rivers, including how rivers are used for transport, production of energy, farming and leisure.

River Pollution Causes and Effects

What causes river pollution? This thought-provoking Geography lesson plan pack for KS2 includes information about causes and effects of river pollution, and opportunities for children to voice their ideas for how river pollution could be reduced. There is also the chance for your class to go on a field trip to visit a local river. They will be able to investigate the river for themselves and record their ideas and findings about their local river's pollution.

The River Nile

With this KS2 Geography lesson pack, teach your class fascinating river Nile facts and figures. With the included resources, discover many more intriguing Nile river facts for children, such as its location, source and length. Give your class time to decide on questions they would like to ask about the Nile and how they would go about answering the questions. Your class will learn some interesting facts about the Nile and what it offers Africa.

Famous Rivers

Challenge pupils to choose one of the major, famous rivers of the world to study in this rivers Geography enquiry lesson plan pack for Year 5 and Year 6. It includes river facts cards and a choice of differentiated activities. Use the slides to demonstrate how to how to generate a main question as the focus for a geographical enquiry before giving children the time and resources to conduct their own enquiry into one of the major rivers of the world. Children will consider the best way of presenting the information they have found out.