Australian Curriculum Years 4 to 9: New Units
Australian Curriculum Years 4 to 9: twenty new units
Twenty closed units now cover maths, science, English and wellbeing topics for Years 4 to 9. Each has a separate teacher guide with answers and a project at the end. This page matches every unit to a year level and shows how to fit them into four terms.
See the recommended unitsIn short: The units were written for US grades, so for Australia you add one: Grade 3 is roughly Year 4 and Grade 8 is roughly Year 9. They are written with the Australian Curriculum v9.0 in mind, and teachers in NSW or Victoria can check them against their state syllabus or curriculum. No alignment or approval by ACARA, NESA or any other body is claimed.
Reading the year levels
Grade plus one gives the Australian year level
A Grade 5 unit sits at roughly Year 6 and a Grade 7 unit at roughly Year 8. This is a rough guide, and some units cover a range such as Grades 3 to 5 or Grades 6 to 8. The lesson list in each unit description is the better test of fit, so read it against your own program.
Most lessons share a pattern of an explanation page, a practice page and a case card. Each unit then ends with vocabulary pages, a learning check and a project. Students meet the same layout every time, which saves you explaining a new format at the start of each unit.
Years 4 to 6
Science, maths and wellbeing in the upper primary years
For Year 4, Life Cycles and Inherited Traits has eight lessons on life-cycle patterns, butterfly development, flowering plants, inherited similarities and variation. Year 5 can use Energy and Waves, which covers energy, speed, collisions and wave patterns, and Earth's Changing Surface, which covers rock layers, weathering, erosion and natural hazards.
Year 6 has the maths block of Decimals and Fractions and Volume and the Coordinate Plane, which cover decimals, fractions, volume and graphing, and the science unit Matter and Ecosystems, which runs from particle models to food webs. The wellbeing side is covered by Executive Function Skills, with fifteen lessons on planning and monitoring work, and Digital Citizenship and AI, with eight lessons on privacy, passwords, kindness and checking claims.
Money Basics gives eight lessons on needs and wants, saving and simple budgets with fictional budgets, and 200 Science Words adds 200 terms with sentence frames for EAL/D learners, which makes it a useful companion to a science topic.
Years 7 to 9
English and maths in the secondary years
In Year 7, Treasure Island covers the six parts of the novel with map and inference work, and Statistics and Data moves from statistical questions to box plots. Poetry: Read, Think, Create suits Years 7 to 9 with twelve short public-domain poems and six skill lessons.
Year 8 English can use The Call of the Wild, a nine-lesson study with naturalism as a lens, and Argument and Research, which teaches claims, credibility, data and counterclaims through three original text sets. For Year 9 maths, Geometric Transformations covers translations, reflections, rotations, dilations, congruence and similarity in eight lessons. Neither novel is reproduced, and each study links to a free primary text.
US content
Four units built around the United States
Four units are about US content: US Regions and State Geography, The American Revolution, The US Constitution and Three Branches and Native Nations Today. They suit a class studying the United States or a teacher who wants an inquiry model with sources. They are the least direct fit for most Australian programs, and you may prefer the other sixteen.
The Grades 3 to 8 bundles page lists the bundles, including the US Social Studies Bundle, with the saving on each.
Planning
Fitting the units into four terms
Each unit is a closed block, so it can sit in a term plan without rewriting a whole program. An eight-lesson unit suits a half-term of weekly lessons plus the learning check, and longer units can run across a term. The materials give no timings, so the table below is a suggestion.
Teachers in NSW can compare the lesson lists with the NESA syllabuses, and teachers in Victoria with the Victorian Curriculum F–10. Where something needs to change, the editable DOCX editions let you adjust wording, and the TeachLessons Guarantee covers a larger adaptation.
Plan
Year level and term plan
Year = US grade plus one. The terms below are suggestions, with one lesson per session, and you can move units to match your own program.
| Year level | Unit | Lessons | Suggested term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 4 | Life Cycles and Inherited Traits | 8 | Term 1 or 2 |
| Years 4 to 6 | Digital Citizenship and AI | 8 | Term 1 |
| Years 4 to 6 | Money Basics | 8 | Term 4 |
| Years 4 to 6 | 200 Science Words | 8 | Alongside science |
| Year 5 | Energy and Waves | 8 | Term 2 |
| Year 5 | Earth's Changing Surface | 8 | Term 3 |
| Years 5 to 6 | Executive Function Skills | 15 | Term 1, with revisits |
| Year 6 | Decimals and Fractions | 12 | Term 1 to 2 |
| Year 6 | Volume and the Coordinate Plane | 8 | Term 3 |
| Year 6 | Matter and Ecosystems | 8 | Term 3 or 4 |
| Year 7 | Treasure Island | 8 | Term 2 |
| Year 7 | Statistics and Data | 8 | Term 3 |
| Years 7 to 9 | Poetry: Read, Think, Create | 6 skill lessons plus 12 poems | Term 4 |
| Year 8 | The Call of the Wild | 9 | Term 2 |
| Year 8 | Argument and Research | 8 | Term 3 |
| Year 9 | Geometric Transformations | 8 | Term 2 or 3 |
Resources
Six recommended units and bundles
These six give wide coverage across Years 4 to 9: two bundles first, then four units.
Math Bundle | Decimals and Fractions, Volume, Statistics & Transformations | 4 Units | Grades 5–8
Elementary Science Bundle | Energy and Waves, Matter and Ecosystems, Life Cycles & Earth's Changing Surface | 4 Units | Grades 3–5
Money Basics | 8 Lessons, Budgets & Classroom Economy | Grades 3–5
Earth's Changing Surface | 8 Lessons, Case Cards & a Project | Grade 4
Argument and Research | 8 Lessons, 3 Text Sets & Citation | Grade 7
Geometric Transformations | 8 Lessons, Coordinate Lab & Proof | Grade 8
What you get
What you can do this week
- Choose the unit for your next term and read its lesson list against your program
- Use a case card from any lesson as an exit slip and read it for the reasoning
- Print the vocabulary pages and put the key terms on a class wall
- Edit the DOCX text editions to match your classroom wording
- Use the 17-slide presentation to open or close a lesson
- Keep the teacher guide beside you for answers, case guidance and assessment feedback
Every resource is built around the curriculum you teach – and if something doesn't fit your standards, the TeachLessons Guarantee applies: we adapt it for you.
Tell us within 30 days of purchase and you get an adapted, editable version within 10 business days, at no extra cost.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Which year levels do these units suit?
Add one to the US grade. Grade 3 units suit about Year 4, Grade 5 units about Year 6 and Grade 8 about Year 9. Units labelled Grades 3 to 5 or Grades 6 to 8 cover a range.
Are the units written for the Australian Curriculum?
They are written with the Australian Curriculum v9.0 in mind, but they were created for US grades and no alignment is claimed. Check the lesson list against your own program, your NESA syllabus or the Victorian Curriculum.
Is the spelling Australian?
The student pages use American spelling. The editable DOCX editions let you change it, and the TeachLessons Guarantee covers an adapted version.
Are answers included?
Yes. Every unit has a separate teacher guide with answers and case guidance, and the novel studies add chapter keys.
Is TeachLessons connected to ACARA, NESA or a state department?
No. TeachLessons is independent and is not endorsed by any department, ministry, state or exam board.
Can I buy a bundle instead of single units?
Yes. The Math Bundle and the Elementary Science Bundle each hold four units and cost less than the four singles. The overview page shows every saving.
Plan 2027 with one bundle
The Math Bundle includes four units for Years 6 to 9 and costs $69.99 against $99.96 for the four separately.
See the maths bundle