Journeys - Trade:

Where does all our stuff come from?

In this unit, the children will find out about the UK’s global trade links, investigating where everyday products come from and the journeys they take to our homes. This builds on work children may have done in KS1 looking at the geography of food. The children will also map the journeys taken by items, and research the pros and cons of buying local or imported goods.

Fieldwork

The children will go on a field visit to investigate the products available in the local area, and find out about which products are produced locally and which are imported. They will be posing their own enquiry questions and collecting the information to answer their questions.

How can I support learning at home?

You can reinforce and support pupils' learning in lots of ways:

• Challenge children to add an information caption giving some background information on a food product in your cupboard: Where does it originate from? How far has it travelled? Is it a seasonal product? Does it have a ‘Fair trade’ logo?
• Help children to understand that there are advantages and disadvantages to imported and locally produced products and discuss these
• Help children to understand that there are various outcomes for items of clothing that are no longer wanted and discuss these
• Discuss how cotton clothing is produced
• Research how different types of fruit grows in particular climatic conditions
• Share and discuss the following web pages: 
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/maths-ks2-using-maths-to-understand-food-journeys/zvy47nb 
• https://www.theschoolrun.com/homework-help/fair-trade