Stage 2 HSIE Unit 1 – Climate and the World Around Us – Lesson Slides

Teach all 16 lessons of Stage 2 HSIE Unit 1 with one classroom-ready PowerPoint — climate zones, mapping skills, landforms and rainfall, ready to project and teach.

This student-facing PowerPoint covers Stage 2 HSIE Unit 1, Climate and the World Around Us, with 446 slides across 16 lessons plus 4 optional consolidation activities. Every lesson is built to the same structure, so students always know where they are and what they are being asked to do.

Students begin at the equator and the poles, then explore the climate zones of the world and Australia. They learn to read choropleth, grid and relief maps, use compass directions and grid references, and interpret rainfall data — before connecting climate to the deserts, forests, mountains, rivers and volcanoes that shape our environments.

The 16 lessons cover

• Equator and poles
• Köppen Climate Classification
• Identifying climate zones on maps
• Climate zones in Australia
• Introducing choropleth maps
• Humidity and vegetation
• Introducing grid maps
• Introducing compass directions
• Introducing relief maps
• Deserts and forests
• Mountain ranges and rivers
• Volcanoes and ocean trenches
• Rainfall across Australia
• Displaying rainfall data
• Comparing seasonal rainfall
• Rainfall patterns and environments

Plus four consolidation activities: Climate Zone Collage, Design a Choropleth Map, Landforms Diorama and Where Is Kev the Kangaroo?

Each lesson includes

• Learning intentions and success criteria
• Key vocabulary word cards with student-friendly definitions
• Discussion questions ready to project
• Check-for-understanding routines with click-to-reveal answers
• Direct links to interactive maps, games and videos, including National Geographic MapMaker, Bureau of Meteorology maps and Google Earth
• Resource gallery slides showing every printable image on screen
• Movable matching pieces for whole-class modelling
• A closing reflection to wrap up the lesson

Perfect for

• Stage 2 HSIE geography in Years 3 and 4
• Climate zones, mapping skills and landforms units
• Whole-class explicit teaching on an interactive whiteboard
• Low-prep, ready-to-teach lessons
• Relief and casual teachers

Please note

Teachers will need access to the relevant Stage 2 HSIE Unit 1 lesson materials to gain the full benefit of this resource. This PowerPoint supports delivery of the unit and does not replace the teacher guidance, lesson notes or source materials provided with the original unit.

This is a student-facing slide deck. The printable student resources referred to in the lessons are not included.

The slides link to third-party maps, games and videos, which are checked at publishing but can change or be removed by their owners over time. An internet connection is needed for these links.

Fonts are embedded for PowerPoint. Opening the file in Google Slides will substitute the fonts and may reflow some text.

Adapted from "Unit 1 – HSIE, Stage 2" © State of New South Wales (Department of Education), used under CC BY 4.0, with changes made. Maps © Commonwealth of Australia (Bureau of Meteorology), CC BY 4.0. Syllabus content © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).

File details

• One combined full-unit PowerPoint with 446 slides, a clickable contents page and index buttons
• Editable .pptx with Poppins embedded
• Click-to-reveal answers on every question slide
• Stage 2, Years 3 and 4 — NSW HSIE K–6 Syllabus outcome HS2-GEO-01
• Instant digital download
• Internet connection needed for the map, game and video links

One download gives you the whole unit, taught the same way every lesson, with the maps, games and videos already in place.