Travel back to the time of the early village settlers as your class discover how towns and villages got their names and why certain areas were chosen as settlements. Then return to the present day and look at settlements and explore maps of surrounding areas. These Settlements KS2 Geography lessons are designed to give the children in your class a greater understanding of what settlements are, how settlements were formed and also to improve their map skills. Your class will discover how reading maps can tell them what a settlement is like. They will also get the opportunity to take on the role of town planner as they design their own settlement.

These 'Settlement' lessons for Year 3/4 include everything you need to make your primary Geography teaching a breeze, including lesson plans, slides, activity ideas, differentiated worksheets and much more. This scheme of work is also part of a Topic Bundle. Perfect if you are teaching 'Settlements' as a cross-curricular topic! We have loads more schemes of work focusing on developing Geography Skills and Fieldwork so if this Settlements unit isn't quite what you are looking for then make sure you browse our collection of ready-to-teach Geography lesson packs.

Needs of Early Settlers

This first lesson encourages your class to think back to a time when there were no ready-made towns for settlers to move into and lets them generate ideas for what early settlers would have needed to look for when choosing a settlement.

The lesson goes on to look at the place name origins of our towns and villages today before challenging the children to think about what early settlers would need to have nearby to their settlement.

The lesson concludes by inviting children to find settlements in their local area with the place name endings they have learnt about.

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How Settlements Change Over Time

The second lesson in this Settlements scheme gets the children answering the question what are settlements? They will explore the differences between hamlets, villages, towns and cities and learn how these settlements are defined.

Your class will use their geographical knowledge when looking at maps and exploring different settlements. They will view maps of different settlements and decide if the settlement is a hamlet, village, town or city.

Your class will use their geographical knowledge when looking at maps and exploring different settlements. They will view maps of different settlements and decide if the settlement is a hamlet, village, town or city.

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Mapping Symbols

The third lesson in this scheme introduces your class to Ordnance Survey maps and mapping symbols. Your class will use their general knowledge and detective skills to work out what different symbols and abbreviations mean.

Your class will be challenged to use their knowledge of mapping symbols to answer questions.

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Using Grid References

During this lesson, your class will be introduced to grid references and get the chance to use this knowledge to navigate around maps and answer questions.

They will use four-figure grid references and six-figure grid references to locate symbols and features in OS maps.

The lesson ends with your class's grid reference knowledge being put to the test by a fun game of Lightning.

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Plan a Settlement

Your class will apply their knowledge of maps and settlements as they plan a new settlement. They will think about what features they need in their settlement and where the features should go. The children will be encouraged to make planning decisions and explain their reasoning during the lesson while they develop their plans.

The lesson concludes by encouraging children to think of a name for their settlement. They will be encouraged to think about the origins of early place names to inspire the name of their new settlement.

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Create a Settlement Map

During this sixth and final lesson of this scheme, your class will recap what they know about settlements, before creating their settlement maps. They will use a range of OS map symbols and make up some of their own to ensure their maps are easy to read.

Your class will be encouraged to think creatively and logically as they plot their settlement plans onto maps. When their maps are finished they will have the opportunity to think critically about the settlement maps.

View Lesson 6