Grade Six Social Studies

Hello Boys and Girls, This week we will move from the extremely cold climate of the Polar Zone to the moderate climate of the Temperate Zone.

Climate of the Temperate Zone What is a Temperate Climate? Let us find out. A temperate climate can be described as warm or hot summer, warm wet spring, cool colourful fall (autumn) and cold snowy winter. These four different seasons are found in the Temperate Zone. Look at the illustration of the four seasons. What have you learnt about the seasons from it? Now write at least two sentences describing each season. What does the word temperate mean? We use temperate to describe a climate which is moderate. This tells us that temperate climate at no time is extremely hot or extremely cold. Nor does a temperate climate region get lots of rain or snow in a year. Where on the earth can we find the Temperate Climate Zones? You can see from the map below that there are two zones or regions on earth with temperate climates. They are between the cold Polar Regions and the hot Tropics. Let us see which areas on earth the Temperate Climate Zones are covering. From the map we can see the Tropical Climate Zone covering the greater part of the continent of North America (United States of America and Canada), the entire continent of Europe, much of the northern part of the Asian continent, the southernmost parts of the continents of South America, Africa and Australia, and the island of New Zealand. Now, let us name some countries we can find in the Temperate Climate Zones.

Countries in the North Temperate include: Canada United States of America France England Sweden Russia Japan Afghanistan ________ __________ ________ __________

Countries in the South Temperate Zone Australia New Zealand Uruguay Chile Argentina Falkland Islands Namibia Lesotho __________ __________ __________ __________

Please complete the lists of countries with temperate climate. We learnt that countries in the Temperate Zones have seasons of summer, winter, spring and autumn (fall). Each season lasts for about three months and brings with it changes in temperature, weather and the length of daylight. People’s lives must be affected by the changing seasons. What do you think? Let us find out how the changing seasons affects the lifestyles of people. The people living in the areas that have temperate climate must adapt or change the way they live to suit the changing seasons. The clothes they wear, the kinds of food they grow, and eat, the houses they live in, and even the vacations they take and their leisure activities are influenced by the seasons. In the cold winter months, what do people in places like United States of America and Canada wear? Yes, they wear heavy clothing made of materials such as wool and fur, while in the warm months of summer they wear clothes made mostly of lightweight materials, such as cotton and linen. Most homes in temperate countries are sturdy and well-insulated to keep out both heat and cold. Electric heaters or fireplaces are used at wintertime for warmth and at summertime air-conditioning or fans are used to keep cool.

Things for you to do: 1. Make a list of food crops which grow best in the Temperate Climate zones.

2.

Collect and paste on a sheet of cardboard or in a scrap book labels of products you have in your kitchen which have come from countries which have temperate climate.

3. Find out the most common leisure activities of people of the temperate climate regions during the warm summer and during the cold winter seasons.

Goodbye boys and girls. Have a good week!