Year 5

text

Meet the Staff

Class Teacher: Ms Yeasmin

Teaching Assistant: Beenu Shukla

Year 5 Term 2 curriculum overview

Life on the home front

This term, Year 5 will investigate how the Second World War changed everyday life in Britain. Reading, historical sources and practical activities will help us explore different experiences and ask thoughtful questions. Alongside this, we will develop multiplication, division and fraction skills, and investigate the properties and changes of materials.

English: reading and discussion

Our curriculum map names The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as this term’s text. Guided reading will develop children’s ability to infer a character’s thoughts, notice how a viewpoint shapes a story and explain an interpretation using evidence. We will explore unfamiliar vocabulary in context, summarise key developments and discuss how an author influences a reader’s response.

The novel is fiction and contains historical inaccuracies. Carefully selected factual material will help children distinguish the imagined narrative from historical evidence. Discussions of prejudice, exclusion and difficult choices will be handled sensitively, with opportunities to ask questions and revisit misunderstandings. We will encourage respectful responses and recognise that readers may respond differently to the same passage.

Writing: an informal letter

Children will write an informal letter linked to our reading or home-front learning, considering the relationship between the writer and recipient. They will organise ideas into clear paragraphs, include an appropriate greeting and ending, and choose a personal voice. Details about an experience, a question or a feeling will help the letter communicate a clear purpose.

We will compare informal and more formal language, explaining why a familiar expression may suit a letter to a friend. Oral rehearsal and shared planning will help children sequence their ideas, maintain a consistent viewpoint and make connections between paragraphs.

Writing: a non-chronological report

Our report writing will organise information by topic rather than as a sequence of events. Children will research a focused question, make notes in their own words and group related facts beneath useful subheadings. An introduction, precise vocabulary and clear explanations will help a reader understand the subject without needing prior knowledge.

We will check information against reliable sources and distinguish facts from opinions. Children will consider whether a caption, labelled illustration or glossary would make the report clearer, and will avoid presenting an imagined detail from a story as historical evidence.

Language, editing and presentation

Children will improve sentence clarity, link ideas across paragraphs and choose vocabulary that suits the audience. We will check tense, punctuation and spelling, using dictionaries and classroom resources. Reading a draft aloud and responding to feedback will help children identify repetition and make purposeful improvements.

Key vocabulary: viewpoint, inference, evidence, audience, informal, subheading, non-chronological, source.

At home: Ask your child which detail supports an idea, or how they would explain a new word to someone who has not read the text.

Mathematics and science

Mathematics: multiplication and division

Children will use times-table knowledge to identify factors, multiples and related division facts. We will explore prime and composite numbers, square numbers and cube numbers, explaining what makes each different. Arrays, diagrams and number relationships will help children justify a claim rather than rely only on a remembered rule.

We will develop efficient mental and written methods, building from multiplication and division by one digit towards more demanding calculations as the sequence progresses. Place-value understanding will explain each step, including multiplying or dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000. Children will estimate and use the inverse operation to check whether an answer is reasonable.

Problems will require us to interpret remainders in context. For example, 37 children in groups of no more than six need seven groups, even though the division gives six remainder one. Children will explain why the situation determines how the remainder is used.

Mathematics: fractions

We will represent fractions with bars and number lines, keeping the whole consistent when comparing amounts. Children will identify equivalent fractions, compare and order them, and connect improper fractions with mixed numbers. We will add and subtract fractions with related denominators and explore multiplying a fraction by a whole number. For example, three groups of one quarter make three quarters.

Key vocabulary: factor, multiple, prime, composite, remainder, numerator, denominator, equivalent, mixed number.

At home: Use a recipe or paper strip to compare fractions. Ask why two quarters and one half represent the same amount, then invite your child to show another example.

Science: properties and changes of materials

Children will compare materials by properties such as hardness, transparency, solubility, conductivity and response to magnets. They will use observations and fair tests to explain why a material suits a particular purpose, such as keeping something warm or allowing light through. We will identify what to change, measure and keep the same.

We will distinguish dissolving from melting and investigate how mixtures can be separated. Children will choose between sieving, filtering and evaporation according to the materials involved. For example, filtering can separate sand from water, while dissolved salt requires a different approach to recover it.

We will compare reversible changes with changes that produce new materials, including familiar examples from cooking. Children will record predictions and results, explain conclusions with evidence and consider whether a test should be repeated. Our practical work will develop accurate observation and careful use of scientific vocabulary.

Key vocabulary: property, soluble, solution, dissolve, filter, evaporate, reversible, irreversible.

History, designing and making

History: the Second World War home front

We will place the Second World War on a timeline and investigate what “the home front” meant for people in Britain. Children will explore how evacuation, air raids, the blackout and rationing affected families, schools and communities. They will consider why these measures were introduced and how people adapted to changing circumstances.

Our enquiry will recognise that experiences varied. We will compare accounts of evacuation, consider the challenges of separation and investigate contributions made by people in different civilian roles. Children will explain a cause and its consequences, using specific evidence rather than assuming one person’s experience represents everybody’s.

Photographs, posters, letters and objects will help us investigate the past. We will ask who created a source, when it was made and what it was intended to do. Comparing a public information poster with a personal account will help children discuss purpose, persuasion and the questions a source leaves unanswered.

Key vocabulary: home front, civilian, evacuation, rationing, blackout, propaganda, primary source.

Design and technology: model gas masks

Children will investigate the appearance and purpose of wartime gas masks before designing a classroom model using modern craft materials. They will sketch and label their ideas, consider the shape and joining methods, and establish clear criteria for success. The finished model should communicate recognisable features and hold its shape securely.

We will practise measuring, cutting, shaping and joining, testing small parts before assembling a complete design. Children will explain why they selected a material and how they strengthened a weak join. Evaluation will compare the finished model with the original plan and identify an improvement. These are historical display models, not protective equipment.

Key vocabulary: design criteria, template, component, join, reinforce, prototype, evaluate.

Food preparation: carrot cakes

The curriculum map also includes making carrot cakes. We will connect this activity with our study of food supplies and wartime resourcefulness, then follow a recipe, measure ingredients accurately and work through a sequence of preparation steps. Children will practise food hygiene and explain the purpose of different utensils and techniques.

Observing ingredients before and after baking will connect cooking with our science learning about changes in materials. Children will evaluate the finished cake’s texture and appearance and consider how accurately following a process affects the result.

Bringing learning to life

A Second World War day, including cooking and drama, and a Charlton House visit are listed in the curriculum map. Arrangements will be shared once confirmed. These experiences will support questions about everyday life on the home front and help children connect classroom learning with places, objects and activities.

Beliefs, creativity and wellbeing

Religious education: Who was Jesus?

We will explore Christian beliefs about Jesus as both human and divine. Children will examine selected Gospel accounts and consider how Christians understand Jesus’ actions, relationships and teachings. We will distinguish between describing a belief and expressing a personal view, ask respectful questions and recognise that Christians may interpret and emphasise aspects of their faith differently.

Key vocabulary: Christianity, Gospel, human, divine, incarnation, belief.

Computing: interactive presentations

Children will create presentations in which an audience can make choices about what to explore next. We will plan a clear structure, add links or buttons between sections, and combine concise information with relevant images. Testing with a partner will help us check that navigation works, instructions are clear and the content is easy to read. Children will improve their work in response to feedback.

Key vocabulary: interactive, navigation, hyperlink, audience, layout, test.

PSHE: managing my feelings

We will identify a wider range of feelings and notice the situations or physical clues that may accompany them. Children will practise strategies such as pausing, naming a feeling, taking a calm breath and asking for support. Through discussion, we will explore how feelings can influence choices, recognise that people respond differently and consider how to repair a relationship after a difficult moment.

Key vocabulary: emotion, trigger, response, strategy, support, self-regulation.

Physical education: dance

Children will develop movement phrases that communicate an idea, using changes in level, direction, speed and energy. We will explore moving together and following a partner’s movement after a short delay. Rehearsal will develop coordination, controlled transitions and awareness of others. Children will explain how a specific change improves the clarity or impact of a sequence.

Music: Christmas songs

We will rehearse Christmas songs with accurate pitch, clear words and a steady pulse. Children will respond to musical cues, control breathing across phrases and consider how changes in volume and expression affect a performance. Listening to the group will help us coordinate entries and endings and identify an aspect to improve.

Spanish: body parts, faces and La Navidad

Children will learn words for body parts and facial features, using faces inspired by Picasso to practise naming and describing what they see. We will listen, match spoken words to images and build short spoken responses. Our La Navidad learning will introduce Christmas vocabulary and greetings, while recognising that celebrations vary between families and places.

Key vocabulary: la cabeza (head), los ojos (eyes), la nariz (nose), la boca (mouth), Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas).

At home: Invite your child to teach you a Spanish word, explain a useful calming strategy or share a question from their history learning. Conversations in your home language also support understanding.

IXL Login: Click here to sign in

Class Newsletters

Term 1

Term 2

Term 3

Term 4

Term 5