Term pack

Year 6 Geography

Name: ________________________

Skills in this pack

Directions and the compass
Reading a map
Map scale and distance
Mountains, plateaus and plains
The water cycle
A river from source to sea

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Year 6 Geography · 1 of 6

Directions and the compass

Use the four main directions and the four that lie between them to say where one place is from another, and read the direction arrow on a map.

1.You are walking east. You turn to your right. Which direction are you walking now?
- a) North
- b) East
- c) South
- d) West
2.Tap the north-west point of this compass rose.
Write the number of the part.
3.Match each direction to the direction opposite it.
- North
- East
- North-east
- North-west
- South-east
- West
- South
- South-west
4.Put the four main directions in the order you meet them going clockwise, starting at north.
- East
- West
- South
- North
5.Which direction is opposite north?
6.A road on a map runs straight from the top edge of the page to the bottom edge. The map's arrow shows north at the top. Which two directions does that road run between?
- a) North and south
- b) East and west
- c) North and east
- d) South and west
7.The sun rises in the east. You stand outside in the early morning facing the rising sun. Which direction is behind you?
- a) South
- b) East
- c) West
- d) North
8.On most maps, which direction is at the top of the page?

Directions and the compass · Year 6 Geography · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Year 6 Geography · 2 of 6

Reading a map

Find the four things nearly every map carries — its title, its direction arrow, its key and its scale — and use the key to say what a symbol or a colour on the map stands for.

1.Why does a map use small marks instead of drawing everything as it really looks?
- a) Because a map is always drawn by a machine
- b) There is nothing like enough room on the paper to draw every real thing
- c) Drawing things properly is against the rules of map making
- d) Because most people cannot recognise a drawing of a building
2.Which part of a map lists what each mark and colour on it stands for?
3.Put these steps in the order you would use them to work out how far apart two towns really are, using a map.
- Measure the length between them on the paper
- Write down the real distance on the ground
- Find the two towns on the map
- Read what the scale says that length stands for
4.This map's key gives blue for water, green for low flat land, and brown for high land. Sort each thing on the map by the colour it would be drawn in.
Groups: Blue · Green · Brown
- A river
- A lake
- A mountain range
- The sea
- A high snow-covered peak
- A plain
- Flat farmland beside a village
5.What is a map?
- a) A photograph taken from the side of a hill
- b) A model of the whole earth, round like the earth itself
- c) A drawing of a place as it would look from above
- d) A list of the places in a country
6.A physical map shows the natural land — where the mountains, plains and rivers are. A political map shows what people have drawn on it — borders, regions and cities. Which map would show each of these?
Groups: A physical map · A political map
- The administrative centre of each region
- The name of every region
- Where the mountains rise
- The border between two regions
- The course of a river
- Where the plains lie
7.Which of a map's four helpers do you need if you want to know how far apart two places really are?
8.A map has no direction arrow drawn on it anywhere. What can you no longer be sure of?
- a) How far apart the places on it are
- b) What each of its marks stands for
- c) Which way up the map is meant to be read
- d) Which place it is a map of

Reading a map · Year 6 Geography · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Year 6 Geography · 3 of 6

Map scale and distance

Use a map's scale to turn a length measured on the map into the real distance on the ground, and turn a real distance back into a length on the map.

1.On this map, 2 cm stands for 10 km. Sort each length measured on the map by the real distance it stands for.
Groups: Less than 50 km on the ground · More than 50 km on the ground
- 8 cm
- 14 cm
- 12 cm
- 16 cm
- 4 cm
- 6 cm
2.Every one of these lengths was measured on the same map, where 2 cm stands for 8 km. Match each one to the real distance it stands for, in kilometres.
- 2 cm
- 3 cm
- 5 cm
- 10 cm
- 40
- 12
- 20
- 8
3.Two maps of the same town are printed on the same size of paper. On the first, 2 cm stands for 4 km. On the second, 2 cm stands for 20 km. Which one can show more detail?
- a) The first, because the same length of paper covers less ground
- b) The second, because the same length of paper covers more ground
- c) It cannot be worked out without measuring both maps
- d) Neither — the paper is the same size, so they show the same amount
4.On a map, 2 cm stands for 10 km. Two villages are 6 cm apart on the map. How far apart are they on the ground, in kilometres?
5.On a map, 4 cm stands for 12 km. A straight road measures 8 cm on the map. How long is the road on the ground, in kilometres?
6.On a map, 5 cm stands for 20 km. Two wells are 3 cm apart on the map. How far apart are they on the ground, in kilometres?
7.Why can no map of a town be drawn at the same size as the town itself?
- a) The scale would then be at the bottom of the page
- b) A map is only allowed to show natural land
- c) Nobody has ever measured a whole town
- d) The paper would have to be as big as the town
8.On a map, 2 cm stands for 6 km. A road is 18 km long on the ground. How long is that road on the map, in centimetres?

Map scale and distance · Year 6 Geography · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Year 6 Geography · 4 of 6

Mountains, plateaus and plains

Tell a mountain, a plateau and a plain apart by the shape and height of the land, and say why people live and farm where they do.

1.Raised land with a flat top and steep sides, standing above the country around it, is called a ______.
2.Tap the plateau in this drawing of the land.
Write the number of the part.
3.Sort each kind of land by whether it is high land or low land.
Groups: High land · Low land
- A mountain
- Flat farmland beside a river
- A peak
- A plain
- A plateau
- A valley floor
4.The low land lying between two mountains is called a ______.
5.Which of these is the best description of a plain?
- a) A wide stretch of flat, low, level land
- b) The low land lying between two mountains
- c) Land that rises much higher than everything around it
- d) Raised land with a flat top and steep sides
6.Match each word to what it means.
- A peak
- A range
- A valley
- A hill
- Land that rises above the ground around it, but lower and rounder than a mountain
- The narrow top of a mountain
- A line of mountains standing in a row
- The low land lying between two mountains
7.Land that rises above the country around it, but is lower and more rounded than a mountain and far easier to climb, is called a ______.
8.What happens to the air as you climb higher up a mountain?
- a) It gets warmer first and then colder again
- b) It gets warmer
- c) It stays exactly as it was at the bottom
- d) It gets colder

Mountains, plateaus and plains · Year 6 Geography · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Year 6 Geography · 5 of 6

The water cycle

Name the four stages of the water cycle, put them in order, and explain where rain comes from and why the earth never runs out of water.

1.Rain, snow and hail all fall from clouds to the ground. What is the one word that covers all three?
2.Match each stage of the water cycle to what happens in it.
- Evaporation
- Condensation
- Precipitation
- Collection
- Vapour cools and turns back into tiny droplets
- Water falls from a cloud as rain, snow or hail
- Water gathers in seas and lakes, or soaks into the ground
- Liquid water turns into vapour and rises
3.Tap the place in this picture where condensation is happening.
Write the number of the part.
4.Does the earth's water get used up as the cycle turns?
- a) No, because the sun adds fresh water to the sea each day
- b) Yes, all of it is used up and new water is made in the clouds
- c) Yes, a little is lost every time it rains
- d) No — the same water goes round the cycle over and over
5.Sort each of these under the stage of the water cycle it belongs to.
Groups: Evaporation · Condensation · Precipitation · Collection
- Water gathers in lakes and runs down rivers to the sea
- Tiny droplets gather until a cloud can be seen
- The sun warms the sea, and water turns into vapour
- Wet clothes on a line dry in the sun
- Snow falls on a mountain top
- Droplets join together, grow heavy and fall as rain
- Rising vapour cools high up and turns back into tiny droplets
- Water soaks down into the ground and stays there
6.High in the sky, water vapour cools and turns back into tiny droplets. What is that stage called?
7.Water in a lake is warmed by the sun, turns into vapour and rises into the air. What is that stage called?
8.Why do clouds form high in the sky rather than just above the ground?
- a) The air is colder up there, so rising vapour cools and turns back into droplets
- b) Water vapour is too heavy to stay near the ground
- c) The sun burns away any cloud that forms lower down
- d) Clouds are pushed up there by the wind after they have formed

The water cycle · Year 6 Geography · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Year 6 Geography · 6 of 6

A river from source to sea

Follow a river from its source to its mouth and name the parts of the journey — tributary, confluence, valley, delta and basin — and say what the river does to the land along the way.

1.The place where a river ends, and its water empties into the sea, is called its ______.
2.The place where a river begins is called its ______.
3.All the land whose rain and streams drain into one river is called that river's ______.
4.Tap the confluence — the place where the tributary joins the main river.
Write the number of the part.
5.Why does a river drop the mud and sand it has been carrying once it reaches low, flat land near the sea?
- a) The mud dissolves as soon as it nears salt water
- b) The sea pushes the mud back up the river
- c) The river is shallower there, so it holds less of everything
- d) It slows down there, and slow water cannot carry as much
6.Near its source a river wears away the rock it runs over and carries the pieces along with it. What is that wearing away called?
- a) Evaporation
- b) Erosion
- c) Condensation
- d) Deposition
7.A smaller river or stream that flows into a bigger one is called a ______.
8.Put these parts of a river's journey in order, starting where the river begins and ending where it stops.
- A narrow, steep, fast stretch cutting a valley
- A wide, slow stretch across low flat land
- The mouth, where the river empties into the sea
- A spring high in the hills, where the river begins

A river from source to sea · Year 6 Geography · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Answer keys — Year 6 Geography

In the same order as the worksheets.