Foundation Year
The English curriculum is built around the three interrelated strands of language, literature and literacy. Teaching and learning programs should balance and integrate all three strands. Together, the three strands focus on developing students' knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating. Learning in English builds on concepts, skills and processes developed in earlier years, and teachers will develop and strengthen these as needed.
In the Foundation year, students communicate with peers, teachers, known adults and students from other classes.
Students engage with a variety of texts for enjoyment. They listen to, read and view spoken, written and multimodal texts in which the primary purpose is to entertain, as well as some texts designed to inform. These include traditional oral texts, picture books, various types of stories, rhyming verse, poetry, non-fiction, film, multimodal texts and dramatic performances. They participate in shared reading, viewing and storytelling using a range of literary texts, and recognise the entertaining nature of literature.
The range of literary texts for Foundation to Year 10 comprises Australian literature, including the oral narrative traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, as well as the contemporary literature of these two cultural groups, and classic and contemporary world literature, including texts from and about Asia. Literary texts that support and extend Foundation students as beginner readers include decodable and predictable texts that range from caption books to books with one or more sentences per page. These texts involve straightforward sequences of events and everyday happenings with recognisable, realistic or imaginary characters. Informative texts present a small amount of new content about familiar topics of interest; a small range of language features, including simple and compound sentences; mostly familiar vocabulary, known, high-frequency words and single-syllable words that can be decoded phonically, and illustrations that strongly support the printed text.
Students create a range of imaginative, informative and persuasive texts including pictorial representations, short statements, performances, recounts and poetry.
(source: www.australiancurriculum.edu.au)
Achievement Standard
Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)
By the end of the Foundation year, students use predicting and questioning strategies to make meaning from texts. They recall one or two events from texts with familiar topics. They understand that there are different types of texts and that these can have similar characteristics. They identify connections between texts and their personal experience.
They read short, decodable and predictable texts with familiar vocabulary and supportive images, drawing on their developing knowledge of concepts of print, sounds and letters and decoding and self-monitoring strategies. They recognise the letters of the English alphabet, in upper and lower case and know and use the most common sounds represented by most letters. They read high-frequency words and blend sounds orally to read consonant-vowel-consonant words. They use appropriate interaction skills to listen and respond to others in a familiar environment. They listen for rhyme, letter patterns and sounds in words.
Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)
Students understand that their texts can reflect their own experiences. They identify and describe likes and dislikes about familiar texts, objects, characters and events.
In informal group and whole class settings, students communicate clearly. They retell events and experiences with peers and known adults. They identify and use rhyme, and orally blend and segment sounds in words. When writing, students use familiar words and phrases and images to convey ideas. Their writing shows evidence of letter and sound knowledge, beginning writing behaviours and experimentation with capital letters and full stops. They correctly form known upper- and lower-case letters.
(source: www.australiancurriculum.edu.au)
- Plus Plan
Holiday Recount Worksheet
A worksheet for younger students to use when writing a holiday recount.
- Plus Plan
Decodable Text Worksheets – Common Consonant Digraphs (Set 1)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
- Free Plan
Character or Not? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Explore the difference between characters and non-characters with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
- Free Plan
Writing the Alphabet Chart - Tracing
A chart to assist students when learning how to form letters.
- Plus Plan
Phonics Sound Wall Display
Build a classroom sound wall to match your phonics programs and literacy progressions with a printable sound wall display.
- Plus Plan
Glorious Grammar (Early Years) Volume 1 – Worksheet Book
A workbook packed with 50 grammar activities for younger years.
- Plus Plan
Character Traits, Feelings and Appearance - Posters
A set of 3 posters depicting words and phrases that can be used to describe a character's personality, feelings and appearance.
- Plus Plan
Letter Sound Worksheets - Initial, Medial, and Final Positions
Practise isolating initial, medial, and final letter sounds with a fun set of Letter Sound Worksheets for Year 1.
- Plus Plan
Decodable Text Worksheets – Common Consonant Digraphs (Set 2)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
- Plus Plan
Complete the Sentences – Worksheets for Beginning Writers
A set of 10 worksheets for students to practise completing simple sentences.
- Plus Plan
Level 2 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 2 decodable readers.
- Plus Plan
Phoneme Segmentation Worksheets - CVC Words
Use this worksheet pack to give students practice at segmenting words into phonemes.
- Plus Plan
Making Sentences – Cut and Paste Worksheets
A set of 10 cut and paste worksheets for making short sentences.
- Plus Plan
Level 1 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 1 decodable readers.
- Plus Plan
Story Elements Poster Set
Display these cute sloth-themed story elements posters when learning about narrative texts.
- Free Plan
Narrative Elements Graphic Organisers – Portrait
Encourage your students to write and draw about various story elements with this set of differentiated graphic organisers.
- Plus Plan
Free Letter Tracing Worksheets - State Fonts
Use letter tracing worksheets to help your students develop their handwriting and fine motor skills.
- Plus Plan
Build and Write a Sentence – Worksheets
A set of 10 worksheets to enable students to practise building and writing sentences.
- Plus Plan
Personal Recounts Worksheet - My Wonderful Weekend
A simple text and worksheet to use when exploring personal recounts.
- Plus Plan
Narrative Prompts Posters
A set of 20 posters to display as narrative story prompts for students.
- Plus Plan
Alphabet Handwriting Sheets - Individual
Handwriting sheets for each letter of the alphabet.
- Plus Plan
True or False? Active Listening Exercises
Improve listening skills in the classroom with an engaging True or False Active Listening Activity.
- Plus Plan
A to Z Handwriting Sheets with Upper and Lower Case Letters and Examples
A set of 26 A to Z handwriting sheets with upper and lower case letters and examples.
- Plus Plan
Decodable Sound Button Flashcards – Set 1
A set of over 100 decodable sound button flashcards.
- Plus Plan
Fiction vs Non-Fiction Posters
Teach students the difference between fiction and non-fiction with this set of two classroom posters perfect for early years classrooms.
- Plus Plan
Dolch Sight Words List – Complete Set
Practise word recognition with our set of 8 Dolch Sight Word Lists.
- Plus Plan
Digraph Handwriting - Worksheets
24 digraph worksheets that focus on handwriting and vocabulary activities.
- Free Plan
Speaking and Listening Activities Task Cards
A set of 13 cards with instructions for speaking and listening activities.
- Plus Plan
Fiction vs Non-Fiction Teaching Slides
Teach your students the difference between fiction and non-fiction books with this age-appropriate teaching presentation for early years literacy lessons.
- Plus Plan
CVC Word Building Activity
Practise building CVC words with this 25 slide interactive activity.
- Plus Plan
Fiction vs Non-Fiction Interactive Activity
Explore fiction and non-fiction examples with your students using this digital game for early years students.
- Free Plan
Fiction or Non-Fiction? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Use this fiction and non-fiction worksheet when teaching your students about the differences between fiction and non-fiction texts.