A scheme of work for Year 6 Geography on climate zones, analysing the Global Grid and world biomes.
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Climate zones are regions of the world with similar weather patterns, shaped mainly by their distance from the Equator.
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What’s Included
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• The Global Grid Sequence: A lesson plan for locating the Equator, Tropics, and Circles using atlases, to explain solar radiation.
• Climate Graph Templates: Tools for pupils to interpret and compare weather data from Manaus, London, and Athens.
• Arid and Semi-Arid Study: A guide to mapping global hot deserts and explaining the impact of high pressure and rain shadows.
• Polar and Tundra Investigation: A research activity on the Arctic and Antarctic, including diagrams of the Earth’s tilt.
• Mid-Unit Knowledge Retrieval: A retrieval task designed to check understanding and spot misconceptions partway through the unit.
• Summative Assessment (Task B): A final end-of-unit assessment with peer-marking success criteria.

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How to Use It
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1. Display the Global Grid session before writing, to explain how latitude affects how concentrated the sun’s energy is.
2. Use the Climate Graph Templates during the lesson so pupils can compare data from Manaus and London.
3. Deploy the Task A knowledge retrieval as a plenary, checking for mix-ups on latitude and pressure before moving on.

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Curriculum Coverage
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• KS2 National Curriculum — Geography (Year 6): Describe and understand key aspects of physical geography, including climate zones, biomes, and vegetation belts.
• KS2 National Curriculum — Geography (Year 6): Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, and the Tropics.

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Last updated: 1 July 2026
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File Includes
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PDF file included.