
Year 5
Year 5 is an exciting and interesting year, packed with fantastic topics. In the Autumn terms, we take our first trip back in time to learn about the Ancient Greeks. We learn about their gods, the political systems and their great philosophers. Science topics are Forces and then Space, where we learn about the planets in our solar system. We link our science learning across the curriculum, writing non-chronological reports in English, doing futuristic pictures in Art and making space inspired night light models in Design and Technology, controlled by Crumble kits in ICT. Our Geography takes us on a trip to the Alps, to find out about the climate, mountains and why people visit the Alps as tourists. We write tourist brochures about the Alps in this topic.
In the Spring terms, we take a trip back to Tudor Britain, to find out what life was really like. We learn about Henry VIII and his many wives, before looking at the reign of Elizabeth I. We consider different historical sources including letters, documents, artefacts and paintings, deciding what we can learn about that period of history from these sources. In Art, we use our sketchbooks to develop and create fantastic self-portraits. Our writing is based on ‘Rumaysa’ by Radiya Hafiza’, which is an interesting twist on the Rapunzel fairytale. We write a diary entry before moving onto characterising speech in narrative. Our Geography looks at the Oceans, to find out why they matter. In science our topic on Materials involves investigating the many properties of materials, from magnetism to electrical and heat conductivity.
The Summer terms take us to look at Deserts, studying the climate, time zones and what a desert biome is like. We will use this information to discuss what living in a desert environment might be like. Our Reading and English work will take us into the world of Lyra in Phillip Pullman’s Northern Lights. In our writing we will write instructions for spells for the helpful witches who guide and protect Lyra on her journey. Our science takes us back to Materials with investigations on reversible and irreversible changes. We will also look at Plants and Mammals, finding out about their lifecycles and how they reproduce. Our final journey back in time takes us to the Ancient Maya civilisation. We will look at housing, religious beliefs and learn about the dangerous game of Pok-A-Tok.