How can you tell they’ve got it: Geography & Local Weather?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Describe typical weather in at least three different climate types; Explain that places near the equator tend to be hotter; Name at least one factor that affects a place's weather besides latitude. Or just try it together: If your child compared weather in a tropical rainforest, a desert, and the Arctic, could they describe how different each is and explain why — like distance from the equator?

Science Weather & Climate Ages 7–9

Geography & Local Weather

Your child knows places have very different weather. The tropics are hot and wet, deserts are dry, the poles are freezing. Distance from the Equator is a big reason why.

In curriculum terms

Know that different places around the world have very different typical weather — tropical places are hot and wet all year, deserts are very dry, polar regions are freezing cold — and that geography (distance from the equator, altitude, nearness to the sea) affects local weather

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Describe typical weather in at least three different climate types
Explain that places near the equator tend to be hotter
Name at least one factor that affects a place's weather besides latitude

🖨 Print this page to keep the checklist — it prints beautifully.

Try this together

If your child compared weather in a tropical rainforest, a desert, and the Arctic, could they describe how different each is and explain why — like distance from the equator?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Seasons & Weather Patternsages 5–7Understanding global weather differences requires knowing seasons

Types of Weatherages 5–7Comparing world weather requires weather vocabulary

Geography & Local Weatherthis skill · ages 7–9

Unlocks

Weather vs Climateages 7–9Climate concept requires knowing that different places have different typical weather

Climate Zonesages 9–11Climate zones formalize the concept of different weather around the world

Tropical Rainforest Climateages 7–9Understanding world weather patterns helps understand tropical climate (Weather 7-9 -> Rainforests 7-9)

Polar Climate Zoneages 9–11World weather patterns help understand polar climate zone (Weather 7-9 -> Polar 9-11)

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 2 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

This skill sits outside the F–6 Australian Curriculum — no candidate code matched (v0.1).

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S4U08medium confidenceScience · Levels 3 and 4 · Science Understanding strand

VC2S2U07low confidenceScience · Foundation to Level 2 · Science Understanding strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Cloud Typesages 7–9 The Water Cycleages 7–9 Thunder & Lightningages 7–9 Using Weather Instrumentsages 7–9

All Weather & Climate skills →