Connecting People and Places

Curriculum Links

Australian Curriculum – Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS)
Year 1 Level Content Description:

• ACHASSK033: The natural, managed and constructed features of places, their location, how they change, and how they can be cared for.
• ACHASSK034: Activities in the local place and reasons for their location.
• General Capability Links:
  • Personal and Social Capability – recognising how people feel about and care for places.
  • Critical and Creative Thinking – connecting places with needs and functions.
  • Intercultural Understanding – acknowledging differing interactions and relationships with place.

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Lesson Title:

Connecting People and Places

Lesson 5 of 5 – Exploring People and Places

Lesson Duration:

45 minutes

Class Size:

20 students

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WALT (We Are Learning To):

• Understand how people interact with their environment.
• Explore how different places help meet the needs of people who live there.
• Collaborate to create a mural that shows what we’ve learned about people and places.

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Success Criteria:

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

✔ Describe ways people use and care for places
✔ Identify features of natural and built environments
✔ Collaborate in creating a class mural to demonstrate their understanding
✔ Reflect on the importance of different places in meeting people's needs

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Materials Needed:

• A3 paper for sketch plans (dyslexia-friendly cream or pastel coloured paper)
• Large roll of mural paper / butcher’s paper (for final mural)
• Bright coloured markers, watercolour paints, glue sticks, recycled collage materials
• Printed image cards of different Australian environments (bush, beach, city, desert, etc.)
• “People and Places” prompt cards (simple phrases with dyslexia-friendly font – Comic Sans or Century Gothic)
• Sticky notes for student reflection
• Bluetooth speaker for soft instrumental background music (optional, to support creative mood)

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Lesson Sequence

1. Welcome & Warm-Up (5 minutes)

Teacher Talk:

Gather students on the floor for a welcome discussion.

• Recap the previous lessons: “We’ve explored many different places – cities, farms, the beach, even the bush. Today, we’re going to think about how people and places work together.”
• “Can you remember something we learned about how we take care of places or how places take care of us?”

Quick-Pair Share:

• Students turn to a partner and complete this sentence verbally:
  “One place I know helps people by…”

Transition: Share a few responses with the class.

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2. Mini Lesson – 'We Rely On Place' (10 minutes)

Visual Think-Aloud:

• Show images of different Australian places (beach, outback, city, rainforest, coastal town).
• For each image, ask:
  ➤ “What do people do here?”
  ➤ “What makes this place special?”
  ➤ “How do people take care of this place?"

Teacher Models:

• Example: “This is a beach. People come here to swim and fish. The beach helps us feel relaxed and get food. To care for it, we put rubbish in bins and protect the water animals.”

Incorporate Sensory Language:
Ask students to imagine sights, sounds or smells of the place (to build empathy and personal connection).

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3. Group Discussion – Meeting Needs (5 minutes)

Circle Time on the Carpet:

• Pose the question:
  “What do people need from the places where they live or visit?”
  Chart responses: food, water, safety, fun, family, space, work, nature.

• Discuss how different places meet different needs.

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4. Creative Mural Planning (10 minutes)

Small Teams:

• Put students in mixed-ability teams of 4.
• Give each team:
  • One prompt card (e.g., “A place where people play", “A place we get food”, “A place where animals live with people”, etc.)
  • A3 sketch paper and pencils/markers.

Team Task:

• Each group plans and draws 1 scene that shows how people interact with that place.
• Use speech bubbles, simple labels or a caption (teacher or peer can scribe for students who need support).
• Encourage use of natural features (mountains, rivers) and human-made elements (buildings, fences, bridges).

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5. Whole-Class Mural Assembly (10 minutes)

Class Collaboration:

• Each team presents their drawing and explains their place and interaction.
• Assist students to place their piece on the mural paper (like a puzzle).
• As each piece is added, discuss connections – shows diversity of places but also shared needs.
• Add labels or arrows to connect ideas between places on the mural.

Enhancement:
Play soft instrumental music in the background to encourage calm focus.

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6. Reflection & Wrap-Up (5 minutes)

Post-it Reflection:

• Ask each student to write or draw one thing they learned about how people need places, or how places need people.
• Use sentence starters:
  • “I learned that people need _______ from places.”
  • “We look after places by _______.”

(Of course, support and scribing provided where needed.)

Stick notes around the mural as a “Gallery Walk” of learning.

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Differentiation Strategies

Diverse Need	Strategy
EAL/D learners	Use visuals, gestures, and sentence stems. Partner with buddy fluent in English.
Dyslexia	Use cream paper, dyslexia-friendly fonts, oral instead of written responses when needed.
Neurodiverse learners (e.g. ADHD or ASD)	Clear steps, visual schedule on board, allow flexible seating or standing during mural activity.
Low-literacy students	Provide pictorial prompt cards, allow demonstration of knowledge through drawing and verbal explanation.
Advanced learners	See extension activity below.

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Extension Activities (For Early Finishers or High Achievers)

🧠 Place Invention Challenge
Students design a completely new kind of place using boxes or shapes – it must meet a person’s need (e.g. a Happiness Island, a Recycling City). Add it to the mural with a label and presentation.

🎨 Local Place Case Study
Students write a 3-sentence information card about a real place near them (e.g. park, beach, zoo) discussing how people interact with it.

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Assessment (Formative)

• Observe participation in group discussions and brainstorming.
• Use mural contributions and post-it reflections to assess concept understanding.
• Check for vocabulary used correctly when connecting people and place: (e.g., need, care, use, natural, built).

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Teacher Reflection Questions (Post-Lesson)

• Did all students contribute meaningfully to the mural creation?
• Were students able to articulate how places meet needs?
• Did the mural show connections between natural and constructed environments?

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Display Opportunity

Pin the “People and Places” mural in a shared common area or classroom display. Add a simple printed gallery caption:
“We explored how places meet people’s needs and how we care for the places we love.”

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Prepared by AI Teaching Assistant & Aligned to the Australian Curriculum – HASS
Let’s continue building learning experiences that foster connection, creativity and community.