Topic: Tundra

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
IV. Landscapes of the world: humid equatorial forest and temperate forest, savannah and steppe, hot and ice desert, taiga and tundra, Mediterranean, high altitude Himalayas; zonation and climatological vegetation in the world. Pupil:
3 ) presents the main features and compares the known landscapes of the world and recognizes them in descriptions, films and illustrations;

General aim of education

Students characterize the conditions prevailing in the tundra.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• describe the climatic conditions in which the tundra arises;

• demonstrate the relationship between the climate and the tundra landscape;

• indicate the areas on which the tundra occurs on the world map;

• tell how the inhabitants of the tundra adapt to the climate there.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• 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;

• large sheets of paper with a continental outline, glue, scissors, crayons.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Before the lesson, the teacher asks pupils to search for small photos of tundra‑like landscapes in colorful magazines..

Introduction

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

• The teacher plays the abstract recording for all students. Participants listen carefully and give feedback on the difficulty of the text being heard using the traffic light method. Students are provided with green, yellow and red cards. While listening to the recording, they display the appropriate color for self‑assessment and to inform the teacher:
  green - I'm fine, I understand everything;
  yellow - I have some doubts;
  red - I do not understand anything, please help.
  The teacher responds depending on the needs of the students, deciding to repeat the recording, listen to the recording while following the text or translate the text.

Realization

• The teacher uses the text of the abstract for individual work or in pairs, according to the following steps: 1) a sketchy review of the text, 2) asking questions, 3) accurate reading, 4) a summary of individual parts of the text, 5) repeating the content or reading the entire text.

• Students are selected into groups. Each team on sheets of paper with a continental outline marks the areas where the tundra is present and makes a collage of tundra landscapes.

• The students consolidate the acquired information, discussing it with their nearest neighbors („tell your neighbor” method).

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

• Students carry out the interactive exercises checking the level of knowledge learned during the lesson. The teacher initiates a discussion during which the correct solutions for all the exercises performed by the students are discussed.

Summary

• The teacher asks students to finish the sentence: Tundra differs from taiga in that....

• At the end of the lesson the teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer? If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.

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

Tundra

The landscape zone called tundra stretches north of the taiga belt. The climate of tundra is even more severe than that of taiga. Most tundra areas are situated north of the Arctic Circle, which means that for a few days or even for many weeks, a phenomenon of the polar night occurs there, during which the Sun does not appear above the horizon even for a moment. Winters are very frosty and long. In summer, the midnight sun occurs the phenomenon of the polar day, but even then the sun is low above the horizon and provides little warmth. Summers are short (lasting about 6 – 8 weeks), cloudy and cold – the air temperature does not exceed 15 ° C. The wind blows all year round at a speed of 30 m/s or more.

The climatic conditions are too harsh even for cold‑resistant coniferous trees. So far to the north, there are trees which shed their leaves, but they are completely different from our trees. The highest layer of plants consists of dwarf birch and willow trees, whose height does not exceed 30 cm. Their branches grow horizontally and can be several meters long. This enables them to withstand the wind. In winter, they are covered by a layer of snow, which protects them from frost. In all tundra regions, one can find mosses, lichens and very few flowering plants. In areas closer to the poles, these are the only plants growing there. All tundra regions are covered by permafrost: the soil is frozen from the surface to the depth of up to hundreds of meters. During the short summer, which lasts 2–3 months, only the top layer of the soil melts to a depth of no more than 1 meter. Dwarf trees, prostrate shrubs and flowering plants bloom in order to produce fruit and disperse their seeds before winter. The areas covered with tundra lie so close to the pole that in the winter you can see the unusual phenomenon of polar lights (aurora). Auroras are produced when electrically charged particles from the Sun reach the Earth’s atmosphere.

Tundras are inhabited by very few people. Apart from herding, any agricultural activity is impossible here – the soils are too poor, the temperatures are too low and the wind – too strong. The local population makes a living from activities such as fishing and hunting other sea animals (including seals and whales), as well as animals on land.

The tundras in North America were initially inhabited by the Inuit (also called Eskimos). The northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the European part of Russia are inhabited by Sami people. Apart from hunting and fishing, they mainly raise raindeer. There are also many other small nations inhabiting the vast areas of the Siberian tundra, e.g. Chukchi people, who engage in similar activities.

In tundra areas, there are numerous raw materials, e.g. deposits of precious stones in Siberia or oil in Alaska. Employees of industrial plants there include Russians, Norwegians, Americans, Canadians and people of other nationalities. Some inhabitants of tundra regions live there permanently while others only come for a certain period of time.

• In the tundra you can observe the phenomenon of the polar day and of the polar night.

• Summers in the tundra are short, cold and cloudy, while winters are long, windy and frosty.

• The tundra vegetation mainly consists of mosses, lichens and very few herbaceous plants, as well as dwarf trees.

• Traditionally, tundra inhabitants engage in fishing, hunt for sea mammals and raise reindeer.