Grade 5 Social Sciences (CAPS): History and Geography, term by term

Course guides › Grade 5 › Social Sciences

Social Sciences in Grade 5 has two halves: Geography and History. In Geography learners read maps of Africa, explore South Africa’s landforms, weather, climate and vegetation, and learn about minerals and mining. In History they study hunter-gatherers and herders, the first farmers in southern Africa, ancient Egypt, and a heritage trail through the provinces.

CAPS gives each half its own topic every term. This guide lists both, with key ideas and examples. Our Grade 5 Geography and History content is being built in this order, with Matthew as the guide.

Course status: coming soon. We are still building the Grade 5 Social Sciences (CAPS) course, so it can’t be bought yet. This guide explains what the CAPS curriculum covers this year, so you can use it now. The planned price is R100 per subject per year.

See all Grade 5 subjects on the course cards

What’s covered, term by term

Term 1

  • Geography – Map skills (focus: Africa): globe, continents and compass directions; Africa’s countries, oceans and capitals; physical maps with mountains, lakes, rivers and deserts; grid references
  • History – Hunter-gatherers and herders in southern Africa: how we find out about the past; San hunter-gatherers; San rock art and the Linton Panel; Khoikhoi herders

Term 2

  • Geography – Physical features of South Africa: coastal plain, escarpment and plateau; Highveld, Lowveld, Karoo and Kalahari; mountains and rivers; how dams and roads change the land
  • History – The first farmers in southern Africa: settlement, homesteads and villages; crops and cattle; the role of the chief; metal working and pottery, including the Lydenburg Heads

Term 3

  • Geography – Weather, climate and vegetation of South Africa: elements of weather and how to measure them; weather maps; summer, winter and all-year rainfall; natural vegetation and the savannah
  • History – An ancient African society: Egypt: the Nile; social structure; beliefs and pharaohs; pyramids and hieroglyphics; Tutankhamun’s tomb

Term 4

  • Geography – Minerals and mining in South Africa: minerals and coal; where mines are; ways of mining; effects on the environment and on miners’ health and safety
  • History – A heritage trail through the provinces: provinces and capitals; tangible and intangible heritage; heritage sites from the Cradle of Humankind to Mapungubwe and Kaditshwene

Key ideas, with worked examples

Grid references

A grid reference gives the letter of the column first and then the number of the row.

Worked example. If Cairo sits in the square in column C and row 2, its grid reference is C2.

Weather and climate

Weather is what the air is like today; climate is the usual weather of a place over many years.

Worked example. “It is raining in Durban today” is weather. “Durban has hot, humid summers with lots of rain” is climate.

Using sources in History

Historians find out about the past from objects, rock art, stories and written records, and ask who made the source, when and why.

Worked example. San rock paintings of eland tell us the eland was important in San beliefs, but not what every San person thought.

Open-pit and deep-level mining

Open-pit mining digs from the surface; deep-level (shaft) mining tunnels far underground.

Worked example. Coal near the surface is often mined open-pit; gold on the Witwatersrand is mined kilometres deep.

Common mistakes (and how to fix them)

  • Mixing up the order of a grid reference (row before column).
  • Confusing weather and climate.
  • Treating one source as the whole truth instead of asking who made it and why.
  • Mixing up provinces and capitals, for example Pietermaritzburg (KwaZulu-Natal) and Polokwane (Limpopo).
  • Leaving out the key and scale when drawing a map.

Tips for parents

  • Little and often. Fifteen minutes on most school days works better than a long session once a week.
  • Use a road map or Google Maps together to find towns, rivers and routes.
  • Watch the TV weather report and talk about the symbols and the map.
  • Visit a local heritage site, museum or monument, and ask grandparents about family heritage.
  • Make a timeline on a strip of paper for the History topics.

Frequently asked questions

Why are History and Geography in one subject?

CAPS combines them as Social Sciences in Grades 4 to 9, but each half has its own topics and its own marks every term.

How much will the Grade 5 Social Sciences course cost?

R100 per subject per year once it opens. Like our live courses, it will be one course for the whole year with Terms 1 to 4 inside it, so there’s nothing extra to pay per term.

When will the course be ready?

We’re building it now. The Grade 5 Social Sciences card on our home page shows “Coming soon” until the course is ready, and then it changes to “Open course”.

Will it work on a phone, and will it use a lot of data?

Yes, it will work on a phone. Like our live Maths courses, it will open in a phone’s web browser or in the free Coursebox app for Android and iPhone. Lessons are pictures and short text with quizzes and no videos, so it uses little data.

Is the course in English or Afrikaans?

The Grade 5 course will be in English.

Get ready for Grade 5 Social Sciences

The Grade 5 Social Sciences (CAPS) course is coming soon at R100 per subject per year. Bookmark this guide and use the term lists above to follow what your child is doing at school. While you wait, our Grade 5 Mathematics course is available through Coursebox.

Back to the Grade 5 course cards · All Grade 5 guides

Sources and review

This guide is based on the DBE’s CAPS Social Sciences Grades 4–6 document and our Grade 5 Geography and History topic plans. Last reviewed: 31 October 2026. AI Buddies is an independent project and is not endorsed by the Department of Basic Education.