These are the buttons for going to teacher resources.
Above right is the search button. You can get to this 'toolkit' screen from the search, too. Most useful when students have a specific word in mind.
This is the main textbook. It opens in a new tab or window. To close the book, close the tab or window. On a mobile you can swipe to turn pages and also pull corners. On the top right there is a button for searching within the book. You can also zoom in on a page and drag the page to where you want it. Some books have videos embedded.

If there is an 'explorer' book opposite with a similar title it is also a textbook, but with a 2 year reading level lower than the main book.
These creative topics books cover specific topics and reinforce the main book. Use them as further reading, or when more detail is needed for project work.

The books are colour banded using a system of reading ability levels as is standard across British schools. If there are coloured dots, they tell of reading level and also guide you as to how hard the subject matter is: the more dots the harder it is.
This is the interactive topic. It covers the same ground as the book, but with less text and it focuses on read-outs. Suited to whiteboards as well as individual use. Each text passage can be read out and stopped by mouseover or tap. There is a question with interactive answer. Especially helps those with reading challenges.
This is the video gallery. It contains all of the videos in the i-topic and more. You can use this if you wish to manage videos rather than have them as part of the i-topic.
This is an interactive audio-visual experience. It contains a wide variety of topics to help students approach a topic in a less formal way. They select items and hear them read out. Copyright restrictions apply: the material cannot be used in other websites.
These are additional resources, such as topic books.
  • Statutory programme of study.

• The books below cover the ground needed for each statutory requirement.

• If you need guidance on how to teach the topic, take the academy course by clicking the 'Lessons' icon. (Also suited to parent use.)

• Remember you can enhance this by using our safe search. For example, search bear, lion, beaver.
• Also remember each book has its own search, top right immediately above the page.
• For teacher guides and more visit the academy links.

Year 5 has the following 5 themes. Please select the one you want:

1. Life cycles

2. Human life cycle

3. Properties and changes of materials (Scroll down)

4. Earth and space

5. Forces>

2. Changing materials

• (a) Properties and changes of materials
. compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets

give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic


Notes and guidance (non-statutory)

Pupils should build a more systematic understanding of materials by exploring and comparing the properties of a broad range of materials, including relating these to what they learnt about magnetism in year 3 and about electricity in year 4. They should explore reversible changes, including, evaporating, filtering, sieving, melting and dissolving, recognising that melting and dissolving are different processes. Pupils should explore changes that are difficult to reverse, for example, burning, rusting and other reactions, for example, vinegar with bicarbonate of soda. They should find out about how chemists create new materials, for example, Spencer Silver, who invented the glue for sticky notes or Ruth Benerito, who invented wrinkle-free cotton.

Notes and guidance (non-statutory)

Note: Pupils are not required to make quantitative measurements about conductivity and insulation at this stage. It is sufficient for them to observe that some conductors will produce a brighter bulb in a circuit than others and that some materials will feel hotter than others when a heat source is placed against them. Safety guidelines should be followed when burning materials.
Pupils might work scientifically by: carrying out tests to answer questions, for example, ‘Which materials would be the most effective for making a warm jacket, for wrapping ice cream to stop it melting, or for making blackout curtains?’ They might compare materials in order to make a switch in a circuit. They could observe and compare the changes that take place, for example, when burning different materials or baking bread or cakes. They might research and discuss how chemical changes have an impact on our lives, for example, cooking, and discuss the creative use of new materials such as polymers, super-sticky and super-thin materials.




Text books and academy to use:


Simple, entire book.

More comprehensive

Simple, entire book.

More comprehensive


Additional reading books to use:



• (b) know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution


Text books and academy to use:


Whole book.

• (c) use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating
. demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes
. explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda.


Simple, whole book.

More comprehensive


Additional reading books to use:



Go to section 4: Space