Our needs

Our needs is a HSIE unit of work for early stage 1 students about the way their needs are
met at home and at school and some of their roles and responsibilities.
HSIE Syllabus references:

EN
CU

SS
CC

SSES1 Resource systems and Roles, rights and responsibilities

Identifies ways in which their own needs and the needs of others are met, individually and
cooperatively.
Students will learn about:
the structure of students families
personal and class needs and how they are met
the roles of people who are at school
products that students use and where they come from
roles, rights and responsibilities in the classroom and at home
classroom rules and routines.

Teaching and learning

Evidence of achievement

Families meet needs and wants

Read a range of books about different types of families, e.g.
Lets eat Julie Vivas, Noisy Nora Rosemary Wells, Zoltan
the magnificant Bob Graham, Oscars half birthday Bob
Graham.
Choose one book and discuss family structure in the book
and the roles each person has within a family.
Students draw, name and label family members, including
extended family members such as grandparents, aunts,
uncles and cousins (others as culturally appropriate).
Students share their drawings with a partner.
Identify our basic needs and list these on the board. (Food,
shelter, clothes, physical activity, love and friendships.)
Describe situations where families meet these basic needs.
Add other needs and wants to the list. Look at the list as a
class and identify:
- what do we need to survive?
- what would make our life more interesting and
comfortable?
Explain the difference between needs and wants.
Wants are those things we do not need to survive, but make
life more interesting and comfortable; needs are food, shelter,
clothing etc.
Develop a word bank of household tasks undertaken by
different family members.
Cut and paste magazine pictures that represent different
tasks undertaken by family members.

SSES1
Identifies ways in which their
own needs and the needs of
others are met, individually
and cooperatively.
identifies and describes
different family members
and their roles in own
family
gathers information about
their own needs
discriminates between
needs and wants
identifies the tasks family
members undertake to
meet needs and wants of
family members.

Who?
Mum

My family
What do they do?
Drives me to swimming
club

Students can be given a copy of the table above. They must

write the name of a person who does a job at home and then
describe the job with a combination of drawings and
written/oral description.
Meeting our needs and wants at school
Discuss the differences between the classroom and home.
List and explain e.g. more people in the class than a family;
the need to share resources; do what the teacher says,
learn that certain things happen at a particular time;
classroom rules and routines.
Discuss how we might behave differently at home and at
school and why e.g. we each have our own special chair
because there are more people in the classroom, at home
we might be able to sit where we like.
Explain how it is important to be considerate of others, and
the benefits to everyone.
Ask: what do you need to help you learn in the classroom?
Identify materials and resources students use with examples
of items needed for the classroom to work efficiently.

SSES1 Identifies ways in

which their own needs and
the needs of others are met,
individually and cooperatively
discusses the differences
between home and school
identifies the need to
behave in a cooperative
manner at school
identifies and locates
classroom resources
displays appropriate care
of classroom resources.

Teaching and learning

Identify the basic needs you can see in the classroom or

alternatively use a stimulus picture.
Introduce the term wants as items that are not essential but
make the classroom more interesting.
Select a number of items in the classroom and categorise
collaboratively as a need or a want; students suggest
reasons for category.
Identify the source and cost of these materials to support
the need to care for classroom resources.
Role play some behaviours showing appropriate care and
organisation of classroom resources. Highlight safety issues
and model appropriately.
Arrange a roster of classroom monitors or helpers.

Evidence of achievement

Teaching and learning

Evidence of achievement

Meeting our needs

Use a suitable text about caring for self, others and the
environment, or use toys and other props to undertake some
guided play to model caring for each other and the
environment, encourage students to think outside gender
specific roles.
Ask questions to identify different roles and responsibilities,
including some what if situations, e.g. What if Mum is sick?
What if Dad didnt work? What if both Dad and Mum work,
then who would do ?
Ask students to identify how they help at home, e.g. feed
the dog, water the plants, put their clothes away, put
rubbish in the bin.
Students identify other ways of being responsible at home
and at school.

SSES1 Identifies ways in

which their own needs and
the needs of others are met,
individually and cooperatively
participates in guided play
that considers the roles
and responsibilities of
people in the community.

Products and services

Read texts such as Mr McGee and the apple tree by
Pamela Allen or Mr Browns magnificent apple tree by
Yvonne Winer. Read the text for enjoyment. Reread the text
and jointly construct a flow chart or sequence of events e.g.
in Apples journey from tree to the shop.
Collect and display some images of products and services
such as food items, water, electricity, clothing, cars, doctor,
houses, newspapers. Consider:
- where they come from
- where we buy them
- do they come from animals?
- do they come from plants?
- are they made in a factory (manufactured)?
Discuss why we need these things.
Consider what life would be like if basic needs are not met.
Identify who provides these needs for us.
The person and the product
Assessment: Create a chart of products and services and
the name of the person who provides the service or the
product. Provide students with the vocabulary. Students cut
and paste or draw pictures to accompany the words.
Product or
service
meat

newspaper
water
looks after me
when I am sick
who else do we
know

Who provides the

product or the
service
butcher
baker
florist

Teaching and learning

Evidence of achievement

Assessment strategy
The teacher:
analyses student work sample
questions student for understanding
Assessment criteria
The student:
identifies a variety goods and services available in the local
community accessed by their family
describes where they find different goods and services
accessed by their family
matches goods or services with the correct supplier.
School helpers
Explain that the class is going on a walk around the school
to look at the facilities the school provides and the people
who work in the school and their roles.
Take the digital camera. Facilities could include: canteen,
library, sports equipment (sports storeroom), computers in a
computer room or library, oval, library, sick bay, office,
photocopy room, uniform shop.
Photograph the different school facilities.
Discuss who in the school or school community, is
responsible for looking after particular facilities e.g. who
cleans the school, looks after the grounds. If possible take a
photo of these people.
Ask some of the people who work in the school, those who
the students may not be as familiar with, to visit the class
and talk to students about what they do and why. Consider
if their position is paid or voluntary.
Jointly construct a matrix using the digital images taken on
the class walk.
Name Where do
you find
them?

Who do
they
help?

How do
they
help?

SSES1 Identifies ways in

which their own needs and
the needs of others are met,
individually and cooperatively
identifies and discusses
the different facilities of
the school
recognises different
workers and their roles and
responsibilities at school
acknowledges the support
they receive from different
people at school.