Year 1
Becoming a reader, writer and mathematician
How we teach in the Early Years band — and why
The developing mind (Piaget)
Late preoperational moving toward concrete operational thought. Learning is anchored in play, story, movement and concrete materials; symbols (letters, numerals) are always tied to things children can see, touch and act out.
Learning together (Vygotsky)
Learning is social and language-rich. A parent/carer works alongside the child as the 'more knowledgeable other'; lessons script that shared talk. Scaffolds are heavy and visible: modelled sentences, counting materials, picture prompts.
Our design commitments
- Short bursts (10–20 minutes) with movement between them
- Play-based and story-based entry points into every concept
- Systematic synthetic phonics and concrete-materials numeracy
- Parent/carer is a co-player and co-reader, with side-notes telling them exactly what to say and notice
Units open now
Sound Teams and Super Sentences: Reading Takes Off
In Prep, children collected single letter-sounds and squashed them into their first words. Now the code gets its first delicious plot twist: sometimes TWO letters team up to make ONE sound — sh, ch and th. Children learn to spot the teams, blend longer words with sound clusters like 'frog' and 'jump', and meet 'heart words' — common words like 'the' and 'said' with one tricky part you learn by heart while sounding out the rest. Piece by piece those skills click together until, mid-unit, the child reads whole decodable sentences on their own — a genuine milestone — and then writes sentences of their own, complete with capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. The unit closes with fluency: reading like a storyteller instead of a robot, and retelling loved stories with relish. Lessons run 25 to 30 minutes, played at the kitchen table, on the floor and out the back door, and every lesson opens by remembering the one before. The helper reads the instructions; the child, more and more, reads the words.
🧭 Why it matters: Helper, read this bit to your child: Last year you cracked the first part of the reading code — you can squash sounds into words. But have you noticed the code has secrets left? Why does 'ship' start with a sound that isn't 'sss' OR a huffy 'h'? Why can't you sound out 'the'? This unit hands you the next set of keys. The plan is for you to read whole sentences with nobody's help — birthday cards, signs at the shops, the menu at the fish and chip shop — and to write sentences of your own that other people can read back. That's a kind of magic: your ideas, travelling out of your head and into someone else's, on nothing but paper. And a note for you, the helper: this unit is where decoding turns into real reading. Your job is shifting — a little less reading TO your child, a little more listening while they read to you. Twenty-five patient minutes at a time is exactly enough.
Big ideas
- Sometimes two letters team up to make one sound — good readers spot the team and say one sound, not two
- Longer words are just more sounds in a row: touch every letter, say every sound, squash — the same trick always works
- Some words have a tricky part you learn by heart, but you still sound out every part you can — no word is ever a guess
- A sentence is a complete idea wearing its uniform: a capital letter at the front, spaces between words, a full stop at the end
- Reading again and again is how reading gets smooth — and smooth reading sounds like a storyteller, not a robot
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9E1LA06 · AC9E1LE02 · AC9E1LE05 · AC9E1LY04 · AC9E1LY06 · AC9E1LY09 · AC9E1LY11 · AC9E1LY14
Start this unit →The Long Way Round: Vowel Teams, Clusters and Longer Words
Unit 1 handed over the first sound teams — sh, ch and th — and the first sentences a child read for themselves. This unit hands over the rest of the vowels. Children meet the teams that stretch a vowel sound (ai, ee, igh, oa), then the teams that round and curl it (ar, or, ur, oo, ow, oi), and learn the difference a single extra letter makes: 'ran' and 'rain' are not the same word. Then the opposite lesson, and the harder one — letters standing side by side are NOT always a team. In 'stamp' the s and the t each keep their own sound, and losing one of them is the most common slip in Year 1 reading and spelling. From there the words get longer rather than harder: a word with two beats is read one beat at a time, because every beat has a vowel sound in it, and 'raincoat', 'popcorn' and 'moonlight' turn out to be made of teams already known. The unit finishes on the thing all of it was for — a whole little book, read aloud in chunks that go together instead of one word at a time, retold in order, and one sentence written about it wearing its capital and its full stop. Lessons run 25 to 30 minutes, at the table and out the back door, and every lesson opens by remembering the one before. The helper reads the instructions; the child reads the words.
🧭 Why it matters: Helper, read this bit to your child: You can already squash sounds, spot a sound team and read a whole sentence. So here is what the code has been hiding from you. Say 'ran'. Now say 'rain'. Different words! But look — (write them) — the only difference is one small letter in the middle. That letter is not spare. It has joined a team, and the team has stretched the vowel right out. This unit hands you every one of those teams, and then something even better: what to do with a word that is too LONG to read in one go. Not a harder word — a longer one, and long words come apart into beats. By the end there is a little book waiting, six sentences, every word one you can work out. The plan is that you read it to somebody who loves you, in your own storyteller voice, and then tell them what happened in it. And a note for you, the helper: this unit is where the reading a child does starts to be reading rather than practice. Your job is mostly to wait — longer than feels comfortable — and to keep every sound pure. Twenty-five patient minutes at a time is exactly enough.
Big ideas
- Some vowel sounds are spelled with a team of letters — and a team is still ONE sound, so it gets one touch
- The team changes the word: 'ran' and 'rain' are different words because two letters are doing the vowel's job
- Letters standing side by side are not always a team — in 'stamp' the s and the t each keep their own sound, and every one of them has to be said
- Every beat of a word has a vowel sound in it, so a long word is not harder — it is two short words in a row
- Readers read in chunks that go together, not one word at a time, because the chunks are where the meaning lives
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9E1LY04 · AC9E1LY06 · AC9E1LY09 · AC9E1LY10 · AC9E1LY11 · AC9E1LY12 · AC9E1LY13 · AC9E1LE05
Start this unit →Number Story Detectives: Counting to 120 and the Stories Numbers Tell
A note for the grown-up: you'll read most of this aloud, and your child will do the maths with their hands. Together you'll count genuinely big collections (past 100!) by bundling tens, build a number line across the loungeroom floor, discover that every number hides two parts inside it, meet the famous 'friends of ten', and act out addition and subtraction as little stories — toys hopping on a bus, biscuits mysteriously vanishing, towers being compared. Six-and-seven-year-olds still learn number through objects first, so every abstract idea arrives only after it's been built and drawn. Keep sessions to 25–30 minutes and let the child do the touching, moving and deciding.
🧭 Why it matters: For the grown-up to read aloud: Number stories are happening all around you, every single day. When you save your gold coins for something special, that's a joining story. When you eat three of your ten strawberries, that's a taking-away story (with a delicious ending). When you and your cousin compare footy cards, that's a comparing story. This unit makes you a Number Story Detective: you'll be able to count collections too big for most kids, work out what's missing, and solve the stories life throws at you — like exactly how many more sleeps until your birthday.
Big ideas
- Big collections are counted fastest by grouping into tens — ten, twenty, thirty — then counting the leftovers
- Every number has a home on the number line, and its neighbours tell you a lot about it
- Numbers hide parts inside them: a whole can be broken into parts and put back together, and the parts don't change the whole
- Addition and subtraction are stories — joining, separating and comparing — and the same part-part-whole picture solves them all
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9M1N01 · AC9M1N02 · AC9M1N03 · AC9M1N04 · AC9M1N05 · AC9M1A01
Start this unit →Tens, Ones and Halves: Reading Numbers and Measuring Things
A note for the grown-up: you'll read most of this aloud, and your child will do the maths with their hands. It follows on from Number Story Detectives, and it starts with the question that quietly decides how the next three years of maths go — what is each digit actually doing? Your child will build two-digit numbers out of cups and loose pieces, write them, read them, and settle the great 26-versus-62 argument for good. From there they learn to count in twos, fives and tens instead of plodding through in ones, discover that 'half' only counts when the two parts are the same, and finish by measuring the house with paperclips, pouring water between containers, and meeting the two hands of a clock. Everything uses things already in your kitchen. Keep sessions to 25-30 minutes and let the child do the touching, pouring, laying-out and deciding.
🧭 Why it matters: For the grown-up to read aloud: This is the unit where numbers stop being a chant and start being useful. Once you know what each digit is doing, you can read the number on a letterbox, a bus, a page or a price tag and know how big it actually is. Counting in twos gets the socks paired before anyone loses patience; counting in fives gets the money counted. Knowing what a half really is settles more arguments at our table than any other piece of maths — because now you can prove it's fair instead of insisting. And by the end you'll be able to measure something with paperclips, work out which cup holds more without spilling a drop, and look at a clock and say how long until the thing you're waiting for.
Big ideas
- A digit is worth different amounts in different spots — the same two digits make 26 and 62, and those are not remotely the same pile
- Counting in twos, fives and tens gets you to the same answer as counting in ones, only faster and with fewer chances to slip
- A half is one of TWO EQUAL parts — two pieces alone is not enough, they have to be the same
- To measure with something, you lay it end to end with no gaps and no overlaps, and every one has to be the same size
- Numbers describe time too: the short hand says which hour we are in, and the long hand says how far through it we are
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9M1N01 · AC9M1N02 · AC9M1N03 · AC9M1N06 · AC9M1A01 · AC9M1M01 · AC9M1M02 · AC9M1M03
Start this unit →Light, Sound and the Places Things Live
Four hands-on lessons where your child does the investigating and you do the reading aloud. They'll hunt down real light sources (and catch out the sneaky ones that only borrow light, like the moon), test everyday materials to see which ones stop light and which let it through, make shadows grow and shrink on purpose, feel sound wobbling in their own throat, discover that sound spreads out in every direction at once, and then go looking for who lives where — and what each place gives its creatures. Everything runs on gear you already own: a torch, a rubber band, a saucepan lid, a shoebox, some chalk. Expect 25–30 minutes a lesson, a lot of 'come and look at THIS', and a child who starts explaining shadows to strangers.
🧭 Why it matters: Once you can read light and sound, the world starts talking to you. You'll know why your shadow is a giant at breakfast and a dwarf at lunch, why the blockout blind actually works, why a guitar goes quiet when you grab the strings, and why a gecko is on the wall near the light at night — because that's where the moths are. Scientists use exactly these ideas to design safer roads, quieter classrooms and better wildlife parks. You're starting with your backyard, which happens to be full of animals that solved these problems long before we did.
Big ideas
- Some things make their own light; other things only bounce light back to us
- A shadow is made where something blocks the light — it is not stuck to the object
- Everyday materials behave differently with light: some block it, some let it through, some do a bit of both
- Sound is made by something wobbling (vibrating), and it spreads out in every direction
- Every living thing needs food, water, shelter and air — a habitat is a place that gives them
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9S1U01 · AC9S1U02 · AC9S1U03 · AC9S1H01 · AC9S1I01 · AC9S1I02 · AC9S1I04 · AC9S1I06
Start this unit →Then and Now: How My Family and Places Change
In this unit your child becomes a time detective. Together you'll discover that Mum, Dad, Nana and Pop were once kids too — with different toys, different schools, different chores and (gasp!) no tablets — and that some things about family life have changed a lot while others haven't changed a bit. Your child will run real family interviews, sort 'then' from 'now', walk their own place looking for changes big and small (a season turning, a new fence, a building going up), and keep building on a big truth from Prep: the land you live on has First Nations custodians who have cared for it for a very, very long time and still do. It all comes together in a Museum of Then and Now that your child sets up and hosts at home. Every lesson is read aloud by you; your child does the asking, sorting, drawing and walking, because six-and-seven-year-olds learn about time with their hands, feet and best questions.
🧭 Why it matters: Your child lives among walking, talking time machines: every grown-up they love carries a childhood inside them, full of billycarts and blackboards and phones attached to walls. This unit teaches your child to unlock those stories with real questions — and to notice that their own street is changing right now, one season and one building at a time. The interviews your child records this unit become family treasure. And a child who understands 'things change, and some things stay the same' has the first big idea of history — and a calmer way to meet the changes in their own life, too.
Big ideas
- Everyone who is big now was little once — and their childhood was really different from mine in some ways, and really similar in others
- Things change over time (toys, schools, technology, buildings) but some important things stay the same (play, love, learning, birthdays)
- Asking people who were there is a powerful way to find out about the past — a family interview is a real historical source
- My place changes too — with the seasons, and as people build and grow things — and it is cared for by many people, including the First Nations custodians who have cared for this land for a very long time and still do
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9HS1K01 · AC9HS1K02 · AC9HS1K03 · AC9HS1K04 · AC9HS1S01 · AC9HS1S02 · AC9HS1S03 · AC9HS1S06
Start this unit →Ready, Set, Go! Skills, Fuel and Being a Great Playmate
Four lessons where the screen talks for about two minutes and the body works for the other twenty-five. Your child will get a proper hop (one foot, soft knee, no wobble), crack the step-hop secret of skipping, gallop with either foot leading, kick with the inside of the boot instead of the toe, strike a ball off a tee and actually watch it, and catch with soft ready hands. Then the fuel: everyday foods and sometimes foods sorted without a single word about anyone's body, water as the champion drink, sleep as the secret weapon, and a sun-safe routine built for a Queensland summer. Lesson 4 is the one parents remember — taking turns, saying the words that make a missed catch feel okay, and drawing the safety hand of trusted grown-ups your child can go to, with the words to ask for help and permission to keep asking until someone listens. Equipment: rolled-up socks, a ball of some kind, chalk, and a space to move. Expect 25–30 minutes a lesson and a child who wants to teach the whole thing to the dog.
🧭 Why it matters: Every game you will ever be invited into — backyard cricket, Auskick, tag at the park, a birthday party obstacle race — runs on the skills in this unit. Kids who can hop, gallop, kick and catch get to say yes to more things, and saying yes to more things is how you find the sport or the dance or the game you love. But there is a second half, and it matters just as much: nobody wants to play with the person who never passes and never lets anyone else have a go. The kid everybody wants on their team is the one who takes turns and says nice try when you drop it. And underneath all of it sits the quiet stuff — a drink of water, a hat before you go out, a good sleep, and knowing exactly which grown-ups you can run to when something is not right. Learn that at six and you have it for life.
Big ideas
- Movement skills are learned, not born — every skill has a secret, and practice makes the secret automatic
- My body moves through space: I can control how fast, how high, how soft, and how close to other people
- Everyday foods are the fuel my body runs on most of the time; sometimes foods are for sometimes — no food is naughty
- Water, sleep, a hat and shade are the quiet things that let me play hard and feel good
- Games stay fun when everyone gets a turn, everyone gets encouraged, and everyone gets included
- There are grown-ups whose job is to help me, and asking for help is a strong thing to do — I can keep asking until someone listens
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9HP2M01 · AC9HP2M02 · AC9HP2M03 · AC9HP2M04 · AC9HP2M05 · AC9HP2P02 · AC9HP2P05 · AC9HP2P06
Start this unit →Make It, Sound It, Be It: Exploring Materials, Sounds and Roles
In this unit your child becomes three kinds of artist, one lesson at a time. First a VISUAL artist — hunting textures with crayon rubbings, printing with corks and leaves and potato halves, and mixing brand-new colours with their own two hands. Then a MUSICIAN — discovering that loud/soft and fast/slow are choices a musician makes, and composing a real soundscape of their own place using kitchen-drawer instruments. Then an ACTOR and PUPPETEER — walking like wombats and grumpy giants, building a puppet from a sock or a spoon, and giving it a voice. It all comes together in a Family Arts Festival: an exhibition, a concert and a puppet show, hosted at home for the child's favourite audience. Along the way your child meets real Australian artists — printmakers, painters, composers and performers, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists whose art carries knowledge of their own Country — and learns the two moves every artist makes: I can MAKE art, and I can NOTICE the choices other artists make. Every lesson is read aloud by you; your child does the making, because six-and-seven-year-olds meet the arts with their hands, ears, feet and best pretending.
🧭 Why it matters: Your child already draws, hums, bangs on pots and pretends to be a dragon at least once a day. This unit takes that play seriously — because it IS serious: it's how every artist on Earth began. A child who learns that art is made of choices (this colour, that sound, this walk) gains two things at once: the confidence to make things and the eyes and ears to enjoy the made things all around them — murals and songs and shows and stories, everywhere, for the rest of their life. And the rubbings, soundscapes and puppets from this unit become family treasure: the first works in a lifetime of making.
Big ideas
- Artists make CHOICES — which material, which colour, loud or soft, fast or slow, how a character moves — and I can make choices too
- Art can be made from almost anything: crayons and corks, pots and spoons, socks and my own body and voice
- When I look at or listen to someone else's art, I can notice the choices they made and say what I see, hear and feel
- Artists in Australia — including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, whose art often carries knowledge of their own Country — make art about the places they know and love; I can make art about MY place, in MY own way
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9AVA2E01 · AC9AVA2D01 · AC9AVA2C01 · AC9AVA2P01 · AC9AMU2E01 · AC9AMU2D01 · AC9AMU2C01 · AC9AMU2P01 · AC9ADR2E01 · AC9ADR2D01 · AC9ADR2C01 · AC9ADR2P01
Start this unit →Robot Recipes and Brilliant Designs: Steps, Sequences and Simple Designs
A note for the grown-up: you'll read most of this aloud, and — fair warning — you'll spend a decent chunk of it pretending to be a robot. In this unit your child discovers that computers and robots do EXACTLY what their steps say, nothing more and nothing less: they'll write step-by-step 'robot recipes', test them on you (the gloriously literal Cranky 3000), and learn that finding a mistake is detective fun, not failure. Then they'll command a walking robot around the house with forward-and-turn sequences, discover the repeat trick that shrinks long instructions, turn a pile of backyard treasures into a pictograph that can answer questions all by itself, and finish by designing and making a real thing for a real person in your family — asking first, drawing, making, testing and improving like a proper designer. No screens needed anywhere: six-and-seven-year-olds build computational thinking best with their hands, feet and funny bones. Keep sessions to 25–30 minutes and let the child do the deciding, commanding and making.
🧭 Why it matters: For the grown-up to read aloud: Every machine you've ever met is secretly following steps that a person wrote — the washing machine, the traffic lights, the games on a tablet, even the robot vacuum bumping into the couch. And every THING you use — your school bag, your drink bottle, the playground slide — was designed by a person who thought hard about what someone needed. This unit puts you on the other side of all of it: you'll be the one WRITING the steps and the one DESIGNING the thing. By the end you'll boss a robot around with perfect instructions, make a picture that can answer questions, and build a real invention for someone in your family — asked-about, drawn, made, tested and improved, just like real designers do it.
Big ideas
- Robots and computers follow steps exactly — 'close enough' steps make funny, wrong things happen, so precise steps matter
- Instructions have an order, and repeated parts can be said once with a repeat — 'do it 3 times' — instead of over and over
- A drawing can carry real information: sorting a collection and drawing one picture per thing lets the picture answer questions
- Designers make things FOR someone: ask what the user needs first, draw it, make it, test it with them, and improve it
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9TDI2P02 · AC9TDI2K02 · AC9TDE2K01 · AC9TDE2P01 · AC9TDE2P02 · AC9TDE2P03
Start this unit →Full year scope
English
Decoding and fluency, sentence writing, loved stories
Mathematics
Numbers to 120, addition and subtraction stories, time and shape
Science
Light, sound, habitats and everyday materials
Humanities and Social Sciences
How families and places change over time
Health and Physical Education
Fundamental movement skills and healthy choices
The Arts
Exploring materials, sounds and roles
Technologies
Steps, sequences and simple designs