Month 1: Our Place Through Time

Level: Australian Curriculum v9, Year 2/HASS Grade 2, Sunshine Coast context. Four weeks, three lessons per week, with each lesson approximately 45–60 minutes.

Big question: What was this place like before us, and what do we want to keep?

Curriculum alignment: This sequence integrates Australian Curriculum v9 learning in HASS History and Geography, English, Science inquiry, The Arts, and Music. Students investigate changes over time, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander connections to Country, local places and maps, observations and patterns, oral and written storytelling, visual art, singing and respectful cultural participation.

Materials for the month

• The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
• Words and a recording or teacher model of Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree by Marion Sinclair
• Large paper or cardboard, sticky notes, pencils, crayons, markers, paint, brushes and water containers
• Class weather-and-seasons diary: clipboard or notebook, ruler, thermometer if available, and simple weather symbols
• Large roll of paper for the timeline mural
• Printed or displayed old photographs from the State Library of Queensland online collection and current photographs taken by the class
• Map of Australia and a local Sunshine Coast map
• Compass or direction cards labelled north, south, east and west
• Camera, tablet or phone for photographs, if permitted
• Family interview sheet
• Books or information supplied by a local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community member

Preparation and cultural safety

• Confirm the school’s exact location and the Traditional Owners of that Country using the AIATSIS map and local community or council sources. Sunshine Coast places may involve Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi and/or Jinibara Country; do not assume one group applies to every location.
• Ask a local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander educator or Elder whether they would like to visit or speak with the class about Country. Follow their guidance about names, language, stories, songs, images and protocols.
• Only teach a Welcome song or greeting in a local Aboriginal language if it has been taught or approved by a community member. Do not ask students to imitate language or cultural practices without permission.
• Use “Country” with a capital C when referring to the living cultural connection between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, land, waters, skies, plants, animals, people and ancestors.
• Before the heritage walk, check permissions, access, weather, road safety and whether photography is appropriate at the site.

Week 1: A place can change

Lesson 1: Hook—What can a house notice?

Hook: Show a picture of a house, tree or familiar local place. Ask, “If this place could speak, what would it remember?” Record children’s ideas under People, Nature and Changes.

1. Read and notice: Read The Little House. Pause at the changing seasons and the building of roads, trains and tall buildings. Ask, “What changed? What stayed the same? How did the house feel?”
2. Show it: Model a three-part retell: At first… Then… Finally… Include the house’s rural setting, the changes around it and its return to a quieter place.
3. Do it together: Give students three or four event cards: country setting, road and houses, city buildings, house moved to a peaceful place. Put them in order and explain the sequence.
4. Independent task: Students draw four panels showing the house’s story and write one sentence under each panel.
5. Recap: Each student completes the sentence, “A place changes when…”

Check: Listen for a correctly ordered retell containing at least one change and one thing that stayed the same.

Lesson 2: Our Country and our local place

1. Hook: Ask, “Who has cared for this place for a very long time?” Explain that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have enduring connections to Country.
2. Show it: Locate Australia, Queensland, the Sunshine Coast and the school’s approximate location on a map. Model respectful language: “We are learning on or near the Country of…”
3. Do it together: Use the AIATSIS map and local guidance to identify the Traditional Owners. Discuss that maps simplify boundaries and that Country is more than a line on a map.
4. Community learning: If an educator or Elder visits, invite them to explain what Country means to them and how people care for it. Students listen, draw or record approved key words. Do not require personal questions or recordings.
5. Independent task: Students complete: “A respectful way to care for our place is…” and illustrate their answer.

Check: Students explain one respectful way to talk about or care for Country.

Lesson 3: Starting the weather diary

1. Hook: Ask, “Is today’s weather the same as yesterday’s? How could we prove it?”
2. Show it: Model this table on the board:

3. Do it together: Observe the sky, ground, wind and temperature. Agree on precise words such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, still, breezy, hot, warm, cool.
4. Independent task: Each student records today’s observation. Begin a daily class entry, or assign one student as the weather recorder each day.
5. Recap: Ask, “What is the difference between an observation and a guess?”

Check: Students record at least three observations without confusing them with predictions.

Week 2: Maps, directions and evidence

Lesson 4: Building a past–present–future timeline

1. Hook: Place three labels on the floor: past, present and future. Students stand beside the label that matches an event you name, such as “last year,” “today” or “next weekend.”
2. Show it: Model a timeline with three events: “The school or street was first built,” “Our school or street today,” and “A possible future.” Explain that a timeline shows order, not exact distance in time.
3. Do it together: Examine available old photographs and identify clues such as clothing, cars, buildings, roads, signs, trees and technology. Sort photographs into likely past and present.
4. Independent task: Students draw one past, present and future panel for the school or street. They label each panel.
5. Recap: Ask, “What clue helped you decide that a photograph was from the past?”

Check: Students place three events in chronological order and name one piece of evidence.

Lesson 5: Making a class map

1. Hook: Ask, “How could you help a visitor find the oval from the school gate?”
2. Show it: Draw a simple bird’s-eye map. Add a title, a north arrow, symbols and a legend. Model the legend: square = building, oval = oval, green circle = tree, blue line = water.
3. Do it together: Walk around the school grounds, if appropriate, and identify important features. Discuss what should and should not be included for the map’s purpose.
4. Independent task: Students make a small map from the gate to one selected place. They include a title, legend, north arrow and at least three features.
5. Direction practice: Give instructions such as, “Walk north to the tree, then turn east toward the oval.” Students trace the route with a finger.

Check: A partner follows each map’s route and identifies whether the legend makes sense.

Lesson 6: Comparing old and new photographs

1. Hook: Display an old local photograph beside a recent view. Ask, “What do you notice before you decide what it means?”
2. Show it: Model a comparison sentence: “Both photographs show ____. The older photograph has ____, but the newer photograph has ____.”
3. Do it together: Make a class comparison chart with the headings same, changed and not sure.
4. Independent task: Students write three comparison sentences and circle the evidence in each photograph.
5. Recap: Discuss why it is important to say “I think” or “I can see” when evidence is incomplete.

Check: Each student identifies two similarities, two differences and one uncertainty.

Week 3: Weather, seasons and creative responses

Lesson 7: Finding patterns in the weather diary

1. Hook: Ask, “What patterns might we find if we record the weather for many days?”
2. Show it: Model counting weather symbols from the diary. For example: sunny 4 days, cloudy 2 days, rainy 1 day. Make a simple column graph using blocks or squares.
3. Do it together: Count the class’s recorded weather. Discuss which type occurred most and least often.
4. Independent task: Students make a seven-day weather graph and complete: “The most common weather was ____. I know because ____. One thing we cannot tell yet is ____.”
5. Recap: Explain that a short diary can show a pattern but does not describe every day or every season.

Check: Students accurately read the graph and support one statement with data.

Lesson 8: One view, many seasons

1. Hook: Look through a window or at the oval, a tree or another familiar view. Ask, “How could this same place look different without moving?”
2. Show it: Demonstrate four small panels of the same view. Change the sky, light, plants, ground and people while keeping the main shapes in the same positions.
3. Do it together: Make a shared list of possible seasonal or time changes: wet ground, bright sun, different shadows, new leaves, fallen leaves, extra shade or changed buildings.
4. Independent task: Students paint or draw the same view in four panels: another season, another season, many years ago and the future. They label each panel.
5. Recap: Students compare one feature that stayed the same and one that changed.

Check: The four panels show a recognisable shared view with labelled changes.

Lesson 9: Singing across time

1. Hook: Ask, “How can a song help people remember a place?”
2. Show it: Sing Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree once. Discuss the kookaburra, gum tree and Australian setting without claiming that the song represents every person’s experience of Country.
3. Do it together: Practise the melody and words. Divide the class into two groups. Group 1 begins; Group 2 begins at the next line, creating a two-part round.
4. Independent or group task: Confident singers practise a three-part round with the teacher leading each entry. Other students may sing the melody, hum, keep a steady beat or listen.
5. Cultural note: Practise any local Aboriginal-language greeting or Welcome song only when taught and approved by a community member.
6. Recap: Ask students to name one way to participate respectfully in a song shared by a community.

Check: Students maintain their part or explain a respectful role they can take in the performance.

Week 4: Retelling, interviewing and sharing

Lesson 10: Writing Our Little House

1. Hook: Stand outside the school building or show a photograph. Ask, “If this building had a voice, what would it remember?”
2. Show it: Model a short paragraph from the building’s point of view: “I was small and new. Children arrived through my doors. Over the years, my rooms changed, but I still welcomed people.” Explain first person words such as I, me and my.
3. Do it together: Create a timeline of three to five events students know or can reasonably imagine. Separate facts from imaginative details.
4. Independent task: Students write Our Little House from the school building’s point of view. Require a beginning, at least two changes, one thing that stayed the same and an ending about what the building hopes to keep.
5. Recap: Partners read their writing and identify the past, present and future parts.

Check: The writing uses a clear point of view and includes ordered changes over time.

Lesson 11: Heritage walk and local interview

1. Hook: Show the class a photograph or object connected to a local landmark, park or old building. Ask, “What questions could help us learn more?”
2. Before the walk: Practise staying with the group, observing without damaging anything, asking permission before photographing and using respectful language.
3. During the walk: Students sketch or note three details, one question and one way the place is cared for. Use direction words such as north, south, beside, behind, near and between.
4. Interview option: Students ask a grandparent, older relative or long-time local: “When did you first know this place?”, “What has changed?”, “What has stayed the same?” and “What should people care for?”
5. Afterwards: Students share one observation and one piece of remembered information, clearly saying whether it came from what they saw or what someone told them.

Check: Students distinguish between a direct observation and information from an interview.

Lesson 12: Then-and-now matching and class showcase

1. Hook: Show an old local photograph and ask, “Can we stand in almost the same place and take the picture again?”
2. Show it: Model matching viewpoint, direction, visible landmarks and framing. Explain that the new photograph does not need to be identical to be useful evidence.
3. Do it together: Match old and new photographs. Students point out one unchanged feature and one changed feature in each pair.
4. Independent or group task: Students complete a caption: “Then: ____. Now: ____. We know because ____.” Add the pair to the class book, Our Place: Then and Now.
5. Assemble the showcase: Arrange the past–present–future timeline mural, maps, weather graphs, four-panel artwork, writing, interview notes and photo matches. Add the big question as the title.
6. Performance: Sing Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree as a two- or three-part round. Invite families to view the mural and class book.

Check: Each student explains one change, one continuity and one action that could help care for the place.

Family interview sheet

Person interviewed: ____________________   Date: ____________________

1. What do you remember about this school, street or local place?
2. What has changed since you were young?
3. What has stayed the same?
4. Was there a special tree, building, park, shop or meeting place?
5. What would you like children to care for in the future?

One thing I learned: ____________________________________________________

Evidence type: ☐ I saw it ☐ Someone told me ☐ I found it in a photograph or map

End-of-month learning check

Ask each student to answer orally or in writing:

1. What is one way our local place has changed?
2. What is one thing that has stayed the same?
3. What does a map legend tell us?
4. What pattern did we notice in our weather diary?
5. How can we show respect for Country and for people sharing knowledge?
6. What do you want people to keep about our place, and why?

Teacher observation checklist

• ☐ Orders events from past to present and future.
• ☐ Uses evidence from photographs, interviews or observations.
• ☐ Identifies a local Traditional Owner group using respectful, supported information.
• ☐ Creates a map with a title, legend and direction information.
• ☐ Records observations in a table and identifies a pattern in data.
• ☐ Retells a story in sequence and writes from a chosen point of view.
• ☐ Participates safely and respectfully in singing, art, walking and discussion.
• ☐ Suggests a realistic way to care for a local place.

Support and extension

Support: Use picture cards, sentence starters, oral recording, shared writing, a partially completed map legend and a smaller number of timeline events. Let students contribute through drawing, speaking, singing, movement or pointing before writing.

Extension: Students research one additional local change, calculate the number of sunny or rainy days in the diary, add a scale or route to the map, or write a future letter from the school building explaining what should be protected and why.