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
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.
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Dolch Sight Words List – Complete Set
Practise word recognition with our set of 8 Dolch Sight Word Lists.
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Free Letter Tracing Worksheets - State Fonts
Use letter tracing worksheets to help your students develop their handwriting and fine motor skills.
- Free Plan
Making Inferences With Pictures Worksheet
Guide your students to use pictures to make inferences with this reading worksheet.
- 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.
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Hello From Around the World Bunting
Decorate your classroom with this set of bunting that displays different ways to say hello around the world.
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Flags of the World - Print and Cursive Alphabet Line
Display the alphabet in print or cursive with a unique Flags of the World Alphabet Line.
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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.
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The Inference Song Classroom Poster
Teach your students about the meaning of inferencing with a song!
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Hello Around The World Poster
This poster features 'hello' in ten different languages other than English.
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Preschool Polar Animal Lacing Cards
Help your students develop fine motor skills with a set of Preschool Polar Animals lacing cards.
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Animal Alphabet Display Posters
An A to Z of animals in 26 vibrant posters.
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Christmas Game - Upper and Lowercase Letter Recognition
Build letter recognition skills and add Christmas spirit to your literacy centres with a Letter Matching Christmas Game.
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Gingerbread Man Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for The Gingerbread Man.
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3 Billy Goats Gruff Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for 3 Billy Goats Gruff.
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Three Little Pigs Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for The Three Little Pigs.
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Little Red Riding Hood Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for Little Red Riding Hood.
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Jack and the Beanstalk Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for Jack and the Beanstalk.
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My Alphabet Book - Printable Alphabet Worksheets
An alphabet booklet to use in the classroom when learning letter recognition.
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Dot Painting ABC Worksheets
Build fine motor skills and letter recognition with a fun set of Alphabet Do-a-Dot printables.
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Foundation Magazine – What's Buzzing? (Bonus Issue)
A bonus issue of our beautifully designed, 16-page reading magazine specifically designed for Foundation students.
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Foundation Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 2)
Issue 2 of our beautifully designed, 16-page reading magazine specifically designed for Foundation students.
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Pumpkin Puzzles - Initial Sounds Matching Game
Pick up letter-sound correspondence with a pumpkin picture puzzle matching activity.
- Plus Plan
Foundation Magazine – What's Buzzing? (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 16-page reading magazine specifically designed for Foundation students.
- Plus Plan
Pumpkin Patch-Find the Rhyming Word Game
Bring some rhyming fun into classroom with an interactive rhyming word game for year 1.
- Plus Plan
Foundation Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 1)
A beautifully designed, 16-page reading magazine specifically designed for Foundation students.
- Plus Plan
What's My Pet? – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a comic from the Foundation magazine (Issue 2).
- Plus Plan
Sight Word Lists – Teacher Resource Binder
Use this collection of checklists, student pages and quick-check assessments when reviewing Dolch sight words spanning from pre-primer to year 3.
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Literacy Teaching Toolkit - Sight Word Assessments
Track Dolch sight word mastery with this set of printable assessments and data sheets to add to your literacy teaching toolkit.
- Plus Plan
Story Elements Cut and Paste Worksheets – The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Explore story characters, settings and main events with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets based on a well-known fable.
- Plus Plan
Story Elements Cut and Paste Worksheets – Jack and the Beanstalk
Explore story characters, settings and main events with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets based on a well-known fairy tale.
- Plus Plan
Story Elements Cut and Paste Worksheets – Little Red Riding Hood
Explore story characters, settings and main events with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets based on a well-known fairy tale.