Topic: Lake districts

Supplementary material for use in lessons in the group of natural sciences (nature, biology, chemistry, geography, physics), additional classes, science clubs. It can serve as a resource for expanding knowledge, preparing students for science competitions.

Target group

5th‑grade students of elementary school (geography).

Core Curriculum

Grade V (geography)
II. Landscapes of Poland: alpine (Tatra Mountains), uplands (Kraków‑Częstochowa Upland), lowlands (Masovian Lowland), lake (Masurian Lake District), seaside (Slovincian Coast), metropolitan (Warsaw), urban‑industrial (Silesian Upland), agricultural (Lublin Upland). Pupil:

1. indicates the geographical location of Poland on the map;

2. presents the main features of Polish landscapes and shows their diversity;

3. recognizes Polish landscapes in descriptions as well as films and illustrations;

General aim of education

The students are characterized by a seaside landscape

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• indicate the location of lake districts on the map;

• characterize the climate of lake districts;

• indicate the tourism importance of the lake districts.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• outline of the map of Poland from the previous lesson, markers, glue, tape, scissors, cards.;

• the outline of the lake districts.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Before the lesson, the teacher asks students to look in colorful magazines, the Internet and their own collections of lake districts..

Introduction

• The teacher explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

Realization

• The teacher displays the students' ranking of the players (group and teacher symbols) after subsequent competitions concerning the geographical areas.

• Each group receives the work of other teams from the previous lesson. The groups recognize and record what the pictures / illustrations of the indicated geographical region show. The card marked with the symbol selected earlier is given to the teacher who will compare it with the authors' answers.

• The students describe the location of lake districts.

• The teacher asks students to read the abstract themselves, paying particular attention to the illustrations.

• Teams receive their projects. Students mark the lake districts areas and make a collage of photos. On a separate sheet they add a description of the pictures.

• Participants familiarize themselves with the content presented in the interactive illustration. Then the teacher discusses the issues with the students.

Summary

• The teacher asks students to carry out the recommended interactive exercise themselves.

Homework

• Develop a lap book containing issues learned during the lesson and bring your work to the next class.

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Lake districts

Thousands of years ago, a part of the area of today’s Poland became covered with a thick layer of ice after the climate had cooled. The glacier scoured the surface of the Earth and when it retreated it left a very varied terrain. The landforms created by glaciers include, among other things, moraine hills, numerous lakes and erratic boulders. Areas characterized by a hilly terrain and the presence of the above‑described forms are called lake districts.

Lake districts have common features such as:

• numerous lakes of various shapes and depths;

• a hilly and very varied terrain and relatively low elevations, typical for lowlands, usually not exceeding 200 m above sea level;

• the presence of large boulders, the so‑called erratic boulders;

• numerous peat bog left by overgrown lakes.

In Poland, we currently distinguish three main lake areas. The Pomeranian Lake District is situated south of the coastal belt. It comprises about 5 thousand lakes, mostly small in size. The Masurian Lake District is situated to the east of the Pomeranian Lake District. There are about 3 thousand lakes there. Most of them are large. The Wielkopolski Lake District is situated to the south of the Pomeranian Lake District. It has the smallest number of lakes and they are small in size.

The typical vegetation of the lake districts includes beech and mixed forests in the west, with increasing prevalence of pine forests further east. The forests of the Pomeranian Lake District (Drawski Primeval Forest and Tuchola Forest) and of the Masurian Lake District (Pisz Forest) have a particularly high natural value.
The lake districts provide favourable conditions for most species of mammals that live in Poland and for hundreds of species of birds, numerous lizards and snakes, frogs and toads, whereas lakes provide a habitat for quite many fish species. For this reason, there are many nature reserves here. The substrate in the lake districts is sandy or loamy, and the soils are not very fertile, but you can also find arable fields here, as well as meadows and pastures.

The summer in the lake districts is cooler than, for example, in the shoreland. In the eastern part of the Masurian Lake District, the winters are frosty, whereas the summers are short but sunny. In other lake districts, winters are not so frosty.

Human activity in the lake districts is limited due to the hilly terrain and poor soils. Only the Wielkopolski Lake District provides more favourable conditions for agricultural production. The industry has developed mainly in large towns. The wood industry plays quite a significant role here – many species of trees, most of all spruce, pine and beech trees, are harvested in the forests of the lake districts. They are used for producing furniture, house‑building components, paper and many other products. The types of rock that are present in the lake districts include sand and clay, which are extracted there, too.

The lake districts are significant as a tourist destination. The varied nature, clean air, forests, lakes and well‑preserved nature attract many tourists. To reduce human impact on the environment, hiking and cycling routes have been established. Canoeing trips are organized on many rivers and canals. The largest number of such leisure activities are offered in the Masurian Lake District.

• In Poland, we distinguish three large lake districts: Pomeranian Lakeland, Wielkopolski Lake District and Masurian Lake District.

• The natural environment of the lake districts is very rich and varied.

• In the lake districts, a significant sector of the economy is tourism, which flourishes there.