Earth and space (Y5)
Earth and space is the topic where children work out why the Sun appears to move across the sky, and discover it doesn’t. From the solar system and the phases of the Moon to day and night, here’s what the Year 5 curriculum expects and where to find lessons and resources to teach it.
What children learn about Earth and space in Year 5
What the national curriculum expects
Earth and space is taught in Year 5. Pupils should describe the movement of the Earth and other planets relative to the Sun in the solar system, describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth, describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies, and use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the Sun across the sky.
Key knowledge and concepts
Within this topic, children build knowledge across the solar system and how its movement shapes life on Earth:
The solar system
The Sun, the planets, and how they're arranged
The Earth, Sun and Moon
How the three move in relation to each other
Spherical bodies
Why the Sun, Earth and Moon are approximately spherical
Day and night
How the Earth's rotation explains day and night
The apparent movement of the Sun
Why the Sun seems to cross the sky, and what's really happening
Phases of the Moon
Why the Moon appears to change shape
Eclipses
What happens during a lunar and a solar eclipse
Significant scientists
The people who worked out how the solar system works
Where this topic sits within KS2
Earth and space is taught in Year 5, alongside Living things, Animals including humans, Properties and changes of materials, and Forces. It builds on the Year 1 work on seasonal changes and day length.
How to access this topic
Earth and space doesn’t sit on its own in the curriculum. The Cornerstones science curriculum is fully sequenced from EYFS through Year 1 to Year 6, so you can see what comes before, what follows and how the whole picture fits together. We’ve done the thinking, so your planning time goes into teaching, not sequencing.
Full curriculum
Subject curriculum
Quick Teach Individual lessons and resources for supplementing what you already teach.
Ready to bring the wider curriculum to life?
See how the full Cornerstones Science Curriculum sequences topics like this one across every year group.