Year 1
Lesson
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55 minutes

GDHR Topics

Learning objective

Students describe ways in which their body has changed as they have grown older and the identify key milestones from birth to the present.

Take home messages

  • Our bodies grow from the time we are babies (inside the uterus) until we are adults.
  • What our bodies can do changes throughout our whole lives.
  • Some things about us change as we get older and some things stay the same.

Materials

Before you get started

Before you get started

  • Protective interrupting - Teachers need to know and understand how to use this technique to prevent students form potentially disclosing sensitive information or abuse in front of other students.
  • Dealing with disclosures - Teachers must be aware of the school and legal procedures if a student discloses personal issues, particularly disclosures of sexual abuse.
  • It is important to consider life events/milestones in children's lives' that may be triggering or upsetting (e.g. children from refugee backgrounds, children who have lost close family members, children who are transgender who may/may not have affirmed their gender, children with disability).

Learning activities

Group agreement

5 mins

Teaching tip: A group agreement must be established before any Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) program begins to ensure a safe learning environment. Read: Essential tools: Establishing a group agreement for tips on how to create one and what to include.

  1. Revise or create the class group agreement.

Trigger warning: Let students know you will be talking about relationships, both healthy and unhealthy relationships. Reiterate you want everyone to have safe, healthy, positive relationships, and while we will be promoting healthy behaviours, we do need to discuss unhealthy behaviours. Remind students of their right to pass and to speak to teacher/other support if required. 

Book or video stimulus

10 min

  1. Choose one of the following to share with the whole class and discuss:

    Song - Growing up nursery rhyme (2min)

    Video - Portrait of Lotte 0-18 years (5min 28sec)

    Book reading - Someday (2min 29sec)

Discussion: things that change/stay the same

10 min

  1. Ask: 

    What changes did you notice happen to the child in the book/video?

              (they get older, grow up, height, can crawl, can walk, can ride a bike, hair changes)

    What things stay the same?

    (eye colour, skin colour, name)

Teaching tip: It is important to acknowledge that some things that stay the same for some people, don't stay the same for all people (e.g. name, hair colour, ability to walk/run, where they live, etc) and that some changes may not be a choice, welcomed or positive.  

Timeline

20 min

  1. Model how to complete the 4 squares on the timeline. Draw a picture showing a milestone/change for each of the following stages:
    1. Baby (e.g. sitting up, eating solid foods, etc)
    2. Toddler (e.g. walking, saying words, etc)
    3. Kindy (e.g. getting dressed by myself, riding a tricycle, etc) 
    4. Now (e.g. tie my own shoelaces, doing a jigsaw puzzle, writing my name, etc)
  2. Students complete their own timelines independently, or in small groups.

3-2-1 Reflection

10 min

  1. Have students share the milestones/changes that happened when they were a baby and compare.
  2. Then compare the milestones and changes for the other 3 squares.

  3. Ask: 

    What changes happened by themselves?

    (e.g. got taller, got teeth, hair grew, etc)

    What changes did you have to learn?

    (e.g. how to get dressed, how to brush my teeth, riding a tricycle, etc)

    Could you do these things the first time you tried? What happened?

    (No, had to try lots of times, made mistakes, got annoyed, needed help, etc)

  4. Say: 

     "As we grow and learn new things, they don't always happen as quickly as we like. Sometimes we get frustrated. This is ok and normal. But there are some ways to handle frustration that are OK and not OK."

  5. Ask: 

    What might happen if we get frustrated when we try new things?

    (We might yell, throw something, snap at a friend/family member, give up, not care, be OK about it and stop being frustrated). 

    Some of these things are not OK. What might be helpful to do when we are frustrated? 

    (Ask for help, try again, walk away for a while, take a breath, leave it until the next day, do something else for a while, ask a friend)

Health promoting schools

Partnerships

Family 

Environment

Physical

  • Put up the timelines in the classroom as a display and reminder of the lesson.

Have a question?

Email the GDHR Team at gdhr@health.wa.gov.au

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