Topic: Major vegetation types

Target group

5th‑grade student of elementary school

Core curriculum

General requirements

I. Geographical knowledge.

6. Identifying interdependencies between elements of the natural and socio‑economic environment as well as relationships and dependencies in the geographical environment on a local, regional and global scale.

Specific requirements

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.

Student:

1. indicates on the map the location of known types of landscapes.

General aim of education

You will learn about the main plant formations of the Earth.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• examples of plant formations on Earth;

• major plant formations on the world map;

• exchange plant floors of the Tatra Mountains.

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;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

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

• The teacher initiates a conversation introducing the topic.

  • What do you know about ...?

  • Have you ever met ...?

Implementation phase

1 . The first stage of the lesson is an information lecture on the plant zones of the globe. The teacher presents the widget „Characteristics of vegetable zones of the globe” from the lesson „Main plant formations” in the e‑textbook. He discusses the plant zones listed in it and indicates the location of each of them on the world map attached to the lesson. Because the information in the widget is not immediately visible, the teacher can ask questions before discussing the next zones:

• What climate prevails in this zone?

• What are the plants and animals found here?

The teacher complements and corrects students' information.

2 . Then the teacher presents a photo gallery that illustrates examples of plants and animals found in particular plant zones and asks that the students, as part of checking what they already know, indicate which zones are presented.

3 . The next stage is the independent work of students. The teacher briefly discusses the interactive diagram showing the vegetation floors in the Tatras, and then instructs the students to follow the command 2 from the lesson and the interactive exercise 1 consisting in ordering the illustrations depicting the particular vegetation floors of the Tatra Mountains. The teacher monitors students' work on an ongoing basis and, if necessary, guides them to the proper course of reasoning.

4 . The teacher initiates a discussion on the legitimacy of replacing natural vegetation by plantations created for the needs of people and the negative consequences of such activities.

Summary

• The last stage of the lesson is its summary. Students ask the teacher questions, ask for explanations and complete the notes.

Homework

• 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

Major vegetation types

The factors affecting the occurrence of different types of vegetation on Earth are: climate, availability of water, terrain and soil type. This is why vegetation varies depending on the climate zone, climate type and even on the conditions prevalent in a specific area. In each vegetation region, you can find characteristic forms of vegetation as well as their distinct local subtypes.

Descriptions of vegetation regions of the world

Vegetation regions of the Earth are shown on the map below.

The climat of the environment is sometimes called vertical zonation due to the arrangement of floors in order resembling the arrangement of landscape zones (climatic and soil‑plant). Apart from desert and polar areas, where there is almost no vegetation in the mountains, in other zones, for example in the temperate zone, similarities can be found between the lower regula and the deciduous and mixed forest zone, between the upper regla floor and the taiga zone, between the mountain pine and halls and the tundra, and between the crags and the outskirts of the ice desert.

• The lighting zones of the Earth and the associated climate zones influenced the formation of plant zones.

• Geographical factors cause that there are also astrephic plant formations.

• Variability of climatic, water and terrain conditions together with altitude means that plant floors can be distinguished in the mountains.