Year 5 Overview
This half term we will be studying :
'The Continent of North America’
This is a thematic unit, based on the continent of North America, with a key focus on Geography and a little history. It begins with the location of countries and states, before we move on to learning about the discovery of America and the Native American people. We will also study weather and climate, as well as human and physical features.
Some activities and research opportunities to focus on:
- What would you ask the President of the USA?
- Why is New York one of the world’s most visited cities?
- Can you carry out your own research on one of the American states?
- Using the art of Andy Warhol, can you recreate his work using a famous American as your subject?
- Who were the original native Americans?
- What can you find out about the sports Americans play?
- What do you know about the climate of the USA?
- Can you create a short documentary, film clip, or information leaflet which explains why people should visit the USA?
This half term we will be reading
'Double Act' by Jacqueline Wilson
This book is about identical twins Ruby and Garnet Barker, who are coming to terms with changes in their family. Whilst both girls adore being a twin, they have very different personalities and want different things from life...
We end the year comparing different versions of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. We consider how David copes and adapts to different situations in his life - as we prepare for our final year at Our Lady's.
When you are learning about different continents it is useful to learn some key facts. See if you can learn the following five facts about North America:
1) The longest river is the Mississippi River which is 5,960 km long
2) The largest lake is Lake Superior which is the largest lake in the world. It is 82,100 square kilometres.
3) The biggest country is Canada which is close to 10 million square kilometres in size. The UK could fit inside it 40 times!
4) The highest point in North America is 6,194m above sea level on top of Mount McKinley in Alaska.
5) The main languages spoken in North America are English, French and Spanish.
North America is the third largest of the world’s continents, and extends for more than 8,000 km to within 800 km of the North Pole and the Equator. It covers an area of 9,355,000 square miles (24,230,000 square km).
Although Christopher Columbus is given lots of credit as having discovered America, there were plenty of people already living in North America prior to the Europeans having arrived. This included many Native American tribes in the United States and the Aztec civilization in what is now Mexico. In the 1600’s the Europeans quickly colonized and took over much of North America. The most populous country in North America, the United States, was formed in the late 1700’s.
| What | When | Due back and/or tested on |
| Spelling | Monday | Friday |
| Times Tables | Monday | Friday |
| Maths / English | Monday | Friday |
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Reading
Dimensions Challenge
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Friday
Beginning of every half term
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The following Friday
The end of every half term
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