Year 5 · Discover

Your Extraordinary Backyard

Discovering WA's resource wealth for the first time

Students discover that WA is one of the most resource-rich regions on earth. The goal is genuine, evidence-based awe — and the first seeds of industry awareness planted early enough to matter.

The Year 5 units

Year 5 is where the ground first becomes interesting. Across three units, students discover what makes Western Australia one of the most resource-rich places on earth, make their first real economic decisions about scarcity and trade-offs, and meet the communities who live where the resources are. It matters because this is the age when beliefs about the world of work quietly begin to form — and genuine awe, planted early, outlasts any careers talk delivered in Year 10.

Every unit arrives classroom-ready — full lesson sequences, slides, student workbooks and assessment rubrics, aligned to the revised Western Australian Curriculum, mandated from 2026.

Unit 01

The Lucky Ground

"Why is WA so different from everywhere else on earth?"

Students map WA's geological story — why ancient cratons left this state holding iron, gold, lithium and gas in quantities almost nowhere else on earth has. WA's resource endowment is compared with places students know, building the first honest picture of what sits beneath their state.

Students produceAn annotated resource map of WA, plus a short written explainer for their family.
HASS Geography · Environmental characteristics of places
Unit 02

From Dirt to Dollars

"How does something in the ground become money — and why does that create hard choices?"

The program's first economics: how ore becomes income — and why choosing to use land, water and money one way means giving something else up. Students make small, real allocation decisions and feel what a trade-off is.

Students produceA decision journal recording their first documented trade-off reasoning.
Industry connectionWorker profile video: what my job turns rock into.
HASS Economics · Wants, resources and choices
Unit 03

Who Lives Out There?

"What is daily life actually like in WA's resource communities?"

A story-and-photo tour of life in WA's resource communities — school, sport, family, residential and FIFO patterns — replacing stereotypes with real detail at the age attitudes form.

Students produceA “day in the life” profile of a resource-town student their own age.
Industry connectionFacilitated classroom video Q&A with a partner employee.
HASS Geography · Environmental characteristics of places

For the teacher running it

Zero prep

One page of guidance per unit. Everything else is done.

Complete materials

Lesson sequences, decks, workbooks and rubrics included.

Curriculum current

Aligned to the revised WA Curriculum every school teaches from 2026.

Real industry access

Worker videos, site content and industry panels arranged through the program.

Ground Up WABack to home Year 6 · Weigh →Take, Restore, Decide