The lesson plan, then the notes for every slide. Print on A4 and take the second sheet to the board.

The Whole Bite Club · Year 5 and Year 6 · Lesson 1 · Before the visit

Your permanent set

Runs before the visit. Year 5 and 6 students are at the end of the mixed dentition: the second molars are arriving or about to, and the mouth they finish primary school with is close to the mouth they will have at forty. The lesson makes that concrete with the eruption ages and a count, then opens the distinction the rest of the unit runs on, that teeth are damaged in two different ways.

Learning intention

In this lesson, we will work out how much of our adult set is already in, and find out that teeth are damaged in two different ways.

Success criteria

I will know I am successful when I can:

I can use the eruption ages to work out how many of my 32 adult teeth are already in place.
I can explain the difference between decay and erosion in one sentence each.
I can explain why a newly arrived molar needs the most care.
I can complete a 32-tooth chart and write a paragraph on what would have to be true for these teeth to last another seventy years.

Guiding questions

Two teeth are worn away. One had bacteria involved and one did not. Does it matter which?
How many of your adult teeth are already in, and how would you check?
What would actually have to be true for a tooth to last another seventy years?

Vocabulary

permanent dentition · erupt · decay · erosion · fissure · prevalence

Australian Curriculum

AC9HP6P10

Support

Give the eruption table already sorted by age and the chart pre-drawn with the four second molars marked. Paragraph replaced by three sentence stems.

Challenge

Calculate the class mean number of adult teeth in place, compare it with what the eruption table predicts for the cohort's age, and account for the difference.

EAL/D

Pre-teach five of the six terms with images; leave prevalence for the slide where it is used and define it in the same sentence.
Provide the paragraph as a scaffold with four connective prompts. Allow the chart to be labelled in the home language and then in English.

Disability

Chart at A3 with thicker outlines.
The tooth count can be done from a diagram rather than in the mouth; nothing goes in any child's mouth. The paragraph may be recorded as audio.

Exit ticket

Which teeth arrive at the very back at about twelve, and what makes them the easiest place to get a cavity?
A drink has no sugar in it at all. Can it still damage a tooth? Say why or why not.

Assessment for learning

The paragraph is a diagnostic that shows what each student already believes, which lessons 3 and 4 then confirm or correct. Return it at the end of the unit beside the campaign piece.

Rubric line

Explains why the adult set needs different care from the baby set.

Working towards

states that adult teeth do not grow back

At standard

states that, and explains that a newly arrived molar is less mineralised and has grooves a brush cannot reach

Above

does that and uses the eruption ages to say which of their own teeth are most at risk this year

Inclusion notes

No student's tooth count is collected by name or displayed.
Orthodontic treatment, missing teeth and teeth already restored are all common in this cohort; say once that a chart with fewer teeth, or with a brace on it, is a normal chart.
Braces are normalised, never aspirational, and never connected to appearance.

Resources

Years 3 – 6 Supporting Resource Pack
Printed Seventy more years sheet with the 32-tooth chart and the eruption table, A4 and A3
The eruption table as a separate large-print card for the support version
Hand mirrors, optional; the count can be done from a diagram
Audio recording device or app, so the paragraph can be spoken

Worksheets to print

Seventy more years · /downloads/5-6/seventy-more-years.pdf
Lesson 1: Your permanent set (PowerPoint) · /downloads/decks/5-6/01-your-permanent-set-slides.pptx

Your permanent set · handout for the whiteboard

Teacher notes, slide by slide

The number beside each note is the slide it belongs to, counting from the first.

1.TitleYour permanent set
Today we work out how much of the adult set is already in, and find out that teeth are damaged in two different ways.
2.Success criteriaYou will know you can do it when:
The fourth is the assessed product and it is a diagnostic, not a test.
3.QuestionTwo teeth are worn away. One had bacteria involved and one did not. Does it matter which?
Take positions before any teaching and record them. The answer arrives in lessons 3 and 4, not today.
4.PictureThe last of the change
The twelve-year-old on the right is where this class is heading.
5.SlideThe last of the change
Say "around", never "should have by". Variation is wide and normal, and this is the age children compare.
6.Slide20 became 32
The last line is the one that carries the unit.
7.PictureThe newest teeth are the most vulnerable
The surface is still soft. The specks going in are what hardens it.
8.SlideThe newest teeth are the most vulnerable
Post-eruptive maturation, and it is real evidence rather than a teaching device. Never say weak or unfinished.
9.PictureTwo ways to lose enamel
One has a germ in it and one has none. Ask which is which.
10.SlideTwo ways to lose enamel
Do not resolve this today. Lessons 3 and 4 are built on it.
11.Data tableAustralian children with decay
The national figures come from a survey more than a decade old, with its successor in the field. The Queensland row carries its fall on the slide, not only in this note. Never show a figure without its years.
12.GameWhere are my teeth?
Existing game, reused as a fast position warm-up. Thirty seconds, then into the chart.
13.SlideCount your own
Pairs compare and account for the difference. There is no right number for an age.
14.WorksheetSeventy more years
The paragraph is a diagnostic. Do not mark it right or wrong; read it for what students already believe.
15.Exit ticketWhich teeth arrive at the very back at about twelve, and what makes them the easiest place to get a cavity?
The two questions from Lesson.exitTicket. The application question is the erosion idea, asked before lesson 4 proves it.
16.RecapWhat we found out
Next lesson the Oral Health Home team are here, and you will interview them.

Where this comes from

Teeth development in children · Better Health Channel · Opened 5 September 2026. That children grow two sets of teeth, roughly when each adult tooth arrives, and that baby teeth hold the space the adult teeth need. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/teeth-development-in-children
Dental erosion · Better Health Channel · Opened 5 September 2026. That acid alone wears enamel away with no germs involved, which is why a sugar-free soft drink is still hard on teeth, and the advice to wait about half an hour after something acidic before brushing. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/dental-erosion
When to See an Orthodontist · Orthodontics Australia · Opened 5 September 2026. That an orthodontic assessment is recommended between about seven and ten, and that an assessment is not treatment, so braces can be talked about as ordinary rather than as something gone wrong. Most of the page sits inside expandable sections. https://orthodonticsaustralia.org.au/when-to-see-an-orthodontist/
The primary and mixed dentition, post-eruptive enamel maturation and dental caries: a review · Richard J M Lynch, International Dental Journal, December 2013, read on PubMed · Opened 5 September 2026. That both sets of teeth are in the mouth together until about twelve, that baby teeth guide the adult ones into place, and that new enamel keeps hardening after a tooth arrives. The publisher's own page refuses automated clients, so this is the PubMed record for the same article. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24283279/ · doi:10.1111/idj.12076
Oral health and dental care in Australia: Healthy teeth · Australian Institute of Health and Welfare · Opened 5 September 2026. The two national proportions the Years 5-6 band puts beside the Queensland row, so students can see a survey year as well as a number: children aged 5 to 10 with decay in their baby teeth, and children aged 6 to 14 with decay in their adult teeth. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dental-oral-health/oral-health-and-dental-care-in-australia/contents/healthy-teeth