South America - The Amazon

What is life like in the Amazon?

In this unit, children find out about the Amazon region of South America, considering what it is like to live in the region as well as how it is being damaged and how it can be protected. Children model South America with clay and label the nine countries using maps, atlases and globes alongside highlighting the proportion of South America that spans the Amazon. Indigenous people, lifestyles, wildlife and habitats are all taken into consideration as children form their own opinion of what life is like in the Amazon. 

How can I support learning at home?

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

• Encourage children to pose their own questions about the Amazon and help to provide the resources for them to research the answers. For example, provide a visit to the library to lend a selection of books and/or use suggested internet web pages as a source of information.
• Ask the children to write their research findings on a leaf and add it to an outside tree to share with others who may come across it. Challenge children further by asking them to write information relating to human geography on one colour leaf and physical geography on another.
• Discuss and explain some of the ways in which the Amazon rainforest is valuable
• Correctly use some of the key vocabulary (see South America: The Amazon knowledge organiser)
• Provide children with understanding on how they can play a role in preserving the environment
• Name at least one animal that lives in the Amazon and describe how it has adapted to its habitat.