Author: jmcminn

Years 6
Spring

Where Would We be Without Water?
Geography — Rivers

In this unit the children will:
Learn about the physical aspects of rivers
Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping including Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to locate rivers and identify features
Use 8 points of the compass and 6 figure grid references
Use symbols and key on OS maps
Use different types of field work sampling; random and systematic, to observe, measure and record physical features
Record results and geographical information in a variety of ways, appropriate to audience, including writing at length

Key Vocabulary
Source - Where a river or stream start
Spring - A place where water moving underground finds an opening and emerges onto the land. This may only be a trickle or may be bigger
Tributary - A spring or river that flows into and joins a main river, it doesn’t flow directly into the sea
Stream - a small flow of water flowing within the beds and banks of a channel
River - a naturally flowing watercourse, usually fresh water flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river
River bank - the sides of the river channel
River bed - the bottom of the river channel
Waterfall - an area of a river or stream where the water flows over steep vertical drop, often landing in a plunge pool below
Lake - a large body of water that is usually surrounded by land, larger than ponds
Meander - a curve in a river
Flood plain - a broad flat area of land that is covered by water and sediment when the river floods
Erosion - the wearing away of the land by forces such as water
Sediment - solid material such as rocks and sand that is moved by the river and is deposited somewhere else
Mouth - The end of the river where it flows into another body of water ie a sea or ocean
Estuary - the area at the end of a river that is between the land and the ocean
Sea - a part of an ocean that is enclosed or partly enclosed by land, usually salty
Ocean - a vast body of salt water
Freshwater - water that has a low level of salt in it, stream and rivers usually contain freshwater
Saltwater - water that has a high level of salt in it, the seas and oceans contain salt water

Key Knowledge
Rivers are natural streams of water, they are formed by the movement of water from high ground to lower ground and then usually to the sea. The place where a river begins is it’s source. Rivers are constantly changing as they flow over land and have many different features
Water flows faster near the source of the river and the flow slows as the river grows wider and deeper
A fast flowing river will carry soil and rocks from its banks and bed down stream and will drop them when it becomes wider and slower. When rocks or earth are removed from the river banks or bed this is called erosion
When there is too much water in a river it floods over the land. Floods can cause a lot of damage but they also deposit nutrients onto the flooded land making the land good for farming on. The area around a river that foods is called the ‘floodplain’
Settlements have developed along the sides of many rivers often where there are bridges or safe places to cross. Many plants and animals live near or in rivers.
River Thames in London

https://www.rgs.org/schools/teaching-resources/rivers-(1)/journey-of-a-river/
Interesting Information
The longest river in the world is the Nile in Africa. It is 4,130 miles long.
The longest rivers in Britain are the Severn (220 miles long) and the Thames (215 miles long).
The river that carries the most water in the world is the Amazon in South America. The Amazon carries 210,000 cubic metres of water into the sea every second.