Geogra3: Three easy geography activities for Y6 open evening

In this week’s Geogra3 blog I’m sharing three easy ways to engage Y6 students and their parents when they come to visit the Geography department on open evenings.  Each one is super simple with very little preparation required.

1. Earthquake survival pack

This was my firm favourite this year as it’s a great conversation starter.  Simply lay out a variety of items and ask students which 10 they would choose to include in an earthquake survival pack.  We also laid out a couple of images of earthquake damage to help their thought processes and then we could prompt the students (as well as parents!) to explain their reasons behind each choice.

We included the following items but you can add so much more variety should you wish to:

• Pack of tissues
• Plasters
• Torches
• Batteries
• Wind-up radio
• DVD of Ice Age 2  
• Playing cards
• Wordsearch book
• Tins of soup and beans (some without a pull ring)
• Chocolate bars
• Bottle of water
• Paper plates, plastic spoons and cups
• Noodles
• Walkie talkies
• Coffee beans

Super simple to set up but a great way to avoid any awkwardness!

2. Make a globe

I’ve come across a variety of DIY globes before but I think the cube one is the most straightforward and quick to do.  We asked a few Y8 students to make some prior to the event for us during tutor time and then we printed a bundle so that Y6 could either make one there or take one home to do.  You just need to provide some glue and scissors and you’re away!  Head to this webpage (3dgeogrpahy.co.uk) to find a variety of templates - scroll down to find the cube one we used.

3. Matching tasks

We laid out a large world map and printed a bunch of flags (tutor2U has a ready-made free set of 32 flags that you can access here).  Y6 were encouraged to work out what country the flag was first (we wrote the answers on the back to check!) and then match with the country on the map.  We had enlisted some Y8 students to help during the evening and this was one of the stations that they particularly enjoyed helping with.  We also had a table with some strange place names and they had to work out where in the world they were located, as well as a series of landmark photos that they had to match to their name and height. 

Bonus idea - we often like to have something on the big screen to add a bit of vibrancy and low level sound.  Last year we played the live volcanic eruption in the Canary islands and this year we played a dvd about the Galapagos islands.  Any of the David Attenborough series like Frozen planet or Green planet would work just as well, but its useful to get something that will play without adverts.

And don’t forget to showcase some examples of student’s work, along with fieldwork equipment and textbooks (check for graffiti first!).  Next year we intend to have a large upright display board so I’ll post that once we’ve put that together.

That’s it for this week.  If you’ve enjoyed reading you might like to sign up to my Geogra3 newsletter to get 3 useful Geography things landing in your inbox every week.  Just click this link to subscribe today.

And remember, keep being curious - there’s a whole world out there!

I love nothing more than supporting Geography teachers as we are a pretty awesome bunch.  

So here are five ways that I might be able to help you….

• The FREE question and answer booklet - 15+ Q and A worksheets linked to documentaries 
• The GTB Vault - Classroom-ready powerpoints and worksheets so you never need to feel guilty about showing a video in class again! New pick up and go lesson resources added every month.
• The Geography Teacher Box bookstore - boost your subject knowledge while supporting local independent bookshops
• Tote-ally Geography - A newly created store with tote bags designed specifically for geography teachers.
• Connect with other like-minded Geography teachers and share resources (suitable for teachers of students aged 11-18) - The GTB Facebook Group