Year 1 Mathematics · AC9M1M03
Time can be described using years, months, weeks, days and hours. Events can be ordered by when they happen and how long they take
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Time can be described using years, months, weeks, days and hours. Events can be ordered by when they happen and how long they take.
Learning routine: Name unit → Order events → Describe duration → Explain sequence
The unit should fit the event.
Use before, after, next, yesterday, today and tomorrow to explain order.
Explain your thinking: Say what each part of the model represents, then explain why the answer or conclusion follows.
birthday → year/month school day → hours weekend → days term → weeks
morning afternoon night
Calendar talk Find a month, week and day on a classroom calendar. Model: week = 7 days
Order my day Put daily events in sequence. Model: wake → school → dinner
These curriculum examples extend the central model into varied contexts. They are learning contexts, not extra definitions to memorise.
naming, listing and using familiar units of time, such as hours, days, weeks, years
Try and explain: Which is a suitable unit for the time from one birthday to the next: hours or years?
Years. One birthday to the next is about one year; hours suit much shorter durations.
comparing the number of days in the months of the year and explaining how the months cycle from one year to the next
Try and explain: A calendar shows April has 30 days and May has 31. Are all months the same length? What follows December?
No. These two months already have different lengths. January follows December as the calendar cycle begins a new year.
sequencing familiar events including the representation of time with pictorial timelines
Try and explain: Place these events on a daily timeline: breakfast, bedtime, lunch. Explain the order.
Breakfast, lunch, bedtime. A timeline shows when events occur and their sequence, rather than arranging them by how enjoyable they are.
discussing events and activities and deciding whether they would take closer to an hour, a day, a week, a month or a year; for example, it takes a day for the sun to rise and fall and rise again, but it takes less than an hour for me to walk to school
Try and explain: A short film lasts about one hour and a school holiday lasts two weeks. Which duration is longer?
Two weeks is longer. Compare the units as well as the numbers; one hour is only part of a day.
investigating durations of time represented in First Nations Australians’ seasonal calendars
Cultural safety: Use a community-approved source, name the specific Nation or community where the source does, and avoid presenting diverse First Nations knowledges as one generic tradition. Follow local cultural and intellectual property protocols before inviting community participation.
Describe how long events last and place them in a sensible sequence.
Would you describe a school lesson in hours or years?
Watch for this mistake: The number alone does not tell the duration. Two hours and two months are very different lengths of time.
Today is Tuesday. A game is two days later. On which day is it?
Move forward one day at a time.
Thursday: Wednesday is one day later and Thursday is two days later.
Put one day, one year and one week in order from shortest to longest.
Think about which units fit inside the others.
One day, one week, one year.
Key idea: Time can be described using years, months, weeks, days and hours. Events can be ordered by when they happen and how long they take.
Return to the concept model if an answer is uncertain. Use the model to explain, not just to guess.
Use the Practice Sheet for written or hands-on work, Practice for supported feedback, and Test when the student is ready to demonstrate independent mastery.
Time can be described using years, months, weeks, days and hours. Events can be ordered by when they happen and how long they take.
Learning routine: Name unit → Order events → Describe duration → Explain sequence
AC9M1M03: describe the duration and sequence of events using years, months, weeks, days and hours
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