Developing locational knowledge is such an important aspect of teaching geography. It's important to give children reference points on a world map, opportunities to revisit the locations studied previously and the chance to explore where places are in relation to one another.
A set of maps have been designed in order to give children the opportunity to become really secure in their own locational knowledge. They are like locational knowledge organisers, allowing children to record any knowledge that is relevant to the places within the units they are studying.
KS1
This set of maps designed for KS1 gives children in each year group the chance to revisit prior learning about locational knowledge from their previous years at primary school. At the start of each school year, they are given the relevant map and add new locations studied as they move through the year.
In Year 1, the children can use the map more as a point of reference. The countries are colour coded and named in the key, and the children can match these up during their studies.
In Year 2, the map is colour coded in line with the key, but children have to use their knowledge and other mapping tools to help identify which of the countries studied are which, naming them in the key.
The maps for KS1 are set out with the names of the seven continents and five oceans clearly so that the children can use them as a tool to refer to when needed.
KS2
This set of maps designed for KS2 gives children in each year group the chance to revisit prior learning about locational knowledge from their previous years at primary school. At the start of each school year, they are given the relevant map and add new locations studied as they move through the year.
In KS2, the onus is on the children a little more to use and develop their locational knowledge. It's suggested that at the start of the year, the maps are used as a retrieval tool, whereby the children label the continents and oceans of the world. Although this could be done at any point the teacher deems appropriate.
Prior locations studied are present on each year group map for the children to refer back to, and they should add new locations studied by highlighting them with colours and then adding them to the key. Significant lines such as the Equator, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and the Arctic and Antarctic Circles can be added, along with any other details that may be useful for the children.
There are some alternative versions where significant lines are included on the maps
Personalisation for your school
In their current form, these maps have been developed to work alongside the suggested geography overview of the Learning Challenge Curriculum. If you would like to find out more about how they can be personalised for your school's curriculum, please get in touch and we can develop a set of maps that are more bespoke to your curriculum.
Watch our video explaining how to use the maps
