Year 1 Science – Term 1 (WA Curriculum): Exploring Plants and Animals Around Us

What this unit covers

In Term 1, Year 1 Science in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Exploring Plants and Animals Around Us”.

Students will investigate and identify the external features of plants and animals, understanding how these features serve specific purposes and can be used to group living things.

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. Discovering Plant Parts: Roots, Stems and Leaves
2. Finding Flowers and Fruits on Plants
3. Exploring Animal Eyes and How They Help
4. Investigating Animal Body Coverings
5. Comparing Animal Legs, Wings and Fins
6. Examining Animal Features: Antennae and Claws
7. Grouping Animals by Their Body Coverings
8. Sorting Plants and Animals by Their Features

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content 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.