Year 1 HASS – Term 1 (WA Curriculum): Then and Now - Understanding Time and Change

What this unit covers

In Term 1, Year 1 HASS in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Then and Now - Understanding Time and Change”.

Students explore how time is represented and compare daily life across generations while developing questioning and research skills.

Lesson sequence (8 lessons)

The unit breaks down into the following lesson-by-lesson sequence — each title below is a teachable lesson, in order:

1. What do 'then' and 'now' mean? Exploring time words
2. My special days: Birthdays, celebrations and important dates
3. Asking questions about old and new things
4. Finding clues about the past in photos and objects
5. How my family plays: Comparing toys then and now
6. Communication yesterday and today: How we talk to each other
7. What was it like when Grandma was little?
8. Sharing our discoveries about life then and now

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content codes:

Skills codes:

Reading the codes: WA codes (the ones starting with WA) pack the year level, learning area, strand and content number into one string, while the national Australian Curriculum v9 uses a different anatomy that starts with AC9 — same content family, different labels. Our complete WA Curriculum guide decodes both, character by character.

Planning notes for Term 1

WA terms run roughly 9–11 weeks, and in 2026 Term 1 runs from Monday 2 February to Thursday 2 April — 9 weeks for WA public schools. With 8 lessons in this unit, that leaves breathing room for assessment, moderation and the weeks that disappear to carnivals, camps and public holidays — plan the assessable work to land two to three weeks before the end of term rather than in the final week.