Staying alive

Staying alive addresses AC Science Understanding ACSSU002 Living things have basic needs, including food and water, through the context of caring for ourselves, and caring for pet animals.

Explore our new sequences for Foundation aligned to AC V9

Staying alive provides students with hands-on opportunities to:

• explore how our senses help animals, including humans, survive
• investigate how animals, including humans, need air, food and water
• consider how space and shelter provide protection and contribute to survival

Students apply their new learning by:

• investigating how much water the teacher, students and the class pet drink during a day, and using the data to compare the water needs of animals and humans

Linking science with literacy

In the Primary Connections approach, students are supported to create representations that draw on and strengthen their literacy development.
In Staying alive, students represent and explain their understanding about the basic needs of living things, by creating these representations:

• Annotated drawing
• Graph
• Ideas map
• Data table
• Sorting diagram
• Storyboard
• T-chart
• Word wall

This is a classic Primary Connections sequence aligned with the Australian Curriculum V8.4. It is only available as a downloadable package.

The Staying alive sequence package includes all the resources you need to teach this sequence, including:

• The Staying alive unit PDF
• Equipment list
• Australian Curriculum v8.4 alignment
• Student eResource sheets
• Assessment resources:
  • Assessment rubrics
  • Work samples
  • Student self-assessment
  • Achievement standard class checklist

Teacher tools

Our new all-online sequence Survive and thrive shares a curriculum content descriptor with this sequence. Survive and thrive is aligned to the Australian Curriculum V9 and contains embedded professional learning and supplementary teacher advice.