Australian Curriculum Standards (ACARA) — Grade K

Language variation and change

Learning that different languages exist; discussing the various languages encountered in the community and at school; acknowledging the home languages of students who speak another language, and valuing the ability to speak more than one language

Learning to ask relevant questions and to express requests and opinions in ways that suit different contexts

Recognising some of the ways we can use speech, gesture, writing and media to communicate feelings

Recognising some of the ways emotions and feelings can be conveyed and influenced by visual representations, for example in advertising and animations

Text structure and organisation

Sharing experiences of different texts and discussing some differences

Repeating parts of texts, for example characteristic refrains, predicting cumulative storylines, reciting poetic and rhyming phrases

Pointing to the letters and the punctuation in a text

Commenting on punctuation encountered in the everyday texts, for example Thats the letter that starts my name, The name of my family and my town has a capital letter

Learning about print: direction of print and return sweep, spaces between words

Learning that Standard Australian English in written texts is read from left to right and from top to bottom of the page and that direction of print may differ in other cultures, for example Japanese texts

Learning about front and back covers; title and author, layout and navigation of digital/screen texts

Expressing and developing ideas

Learning that word order in sentences is important for meaning (for example 'The boy sat on the dog', 'The dog sat on the boy')

Identifying and manipulating sounds (phonemes) in spoken words, for example c-a-n

Identifying onset and rime in one-syllable spoken words, for example d-og and b-ig

Blending phonemes to form one-syllable spoken words, for example s-u-n is orally expressed as sun and b-a-g is orally expressed as bag

Exploring spoken, written and multimodal texts and identifying elements, for example words and images

Talking about how a different story is told if we read only the words, or only the pictures; and the story that words and pictures make when combined

Exploring how the combination of print and images in texts creates meaning

Building vocabulary through multiple speaking and listening experiences

Discussing new vocabulary found in texts

Bringing vocabulary from personal experiences, relating this to new experiences and building a vocabulary for thinking and talking about school topics

Recognising and producing rhyming words when listening to rhyming stories or rhymes, for example funny and money

Identifying patterns of alliteration in spoken words, for example 'helpful Henry'

Identifying syllables in spoken words, for example clapping the rhythm of Mon-day, Ja-cob or Si-en-na

Using familiar and common letters in handwritten and digital communications

Identifying familiar and recurring letters and the use of upper and lower case in written texts in the classroom and the community, for example 'Tom went to the park.'

Recognising the most common sound made by each letter of the alphabet, including consonants and short vowel sounds, for example p-op

Breaking words into onset and rime, noticing words that share the same pattern, for example p-at, b-at

Breaking words into onset and rime to learn how to spell words that share the same pattern, for example p-at, bat, t-all and f-all

Building word families using onset and rime, for example h-ot, g-ot, n-ot, sh-ot

Knowing how to write some high-frequency words recognised in shared texts and texts being read independently, for example and, my, is, the and went

Learning that words are made up of meaningful parts, for example dogs has two meaningful parts dog and s meaning more than one

Literature and context

Recognising that there are storytellers in all cultures

Viewing stories by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander storytellers from online sources

Comparing experiences depicted in stories with students own

Engaging with texts that reflect the social and cultural groups to which students belong

Responding to literature

Alking about stories and authors, choosing favourites, discussing how students feel about what happens in stories

Engaging with the humour in some stories and repeating favourite lines, jokes and ideas

Returning to preferred texts and commenting on reasons for selection

Talking about stories and authors, choosing favourites, discussing how students feel about what happens in stories

Using art forms and beginning forms of writing to express personal responses to literature and film experiences

Talking about people, events and ideas in texts, enabling students to connect them to their own experiences and to express their own opinions about what is depicted

Examining literature

Identifying some features of culture related to characters and events in literary texts, for example dress, food and daily routines

Listening, responding to and joining in with rhymes, poems, chants and songs

Recognising cultural patterns of storytelling, for example Once upon a time, A long, long time ago

Using music and actions to enhance appreciation of rhymes, poems, chants and songs

Creating literature

Drawing, labelling and role playing representations of characters or events

Using digital technologies to retell events and recreate characters from favourite print and film texts

Performing memorable actions or behaviours of favourite or humorous characters in texts

Interacting with others

Listening to, remembering and following simple instructions

Listening for specific things, for example the main idea of a short statement, the details of a story, or to answer a given question

Participating in informal situations, for example play-based experiences which involve the imaginative use of spoken language

Participating in class, group and pair discussions about shared experiences including shared texts

Asking and answering questions to clarify understanding

Learning to ask questions and provide answers that are more than one or two words

Participating in speaking and listening situations, exchanging ideas with peers in pairs and small groups and engaging in class discussions, listening to others and contributing ideas

Showing understanding of appropriate listening behaviour, such as listening without interrupting, and looking at the speaker if culturally appropriate

Listening and responding to oral and multimodal texts including rhymes and poems, texts read aloud and various types of digital texts

Asking and answering questions using appropriate intonation

Sharing a personal experience, interest or discovery with peers in a semi-formal situation

Interpreting, analysing, evaluating

Identifying and selecting texts for information purposes and commenting on how the text might help with a task

Navigating a text correctly, starting at the right place and reading in the right direction, returning to the next line as needed, matching one spoken word to one written word

Reading aloud with attempts at fluency and intonation

Attempting to work out unknown words by combining contextual, semantic, grammatical and phonic knowledge

Predicting what might happen on the basis of experience of this kind of text; at the sentence level predicting the meaning on the basis of syntax and word meaning

Talking about the meanings in texts listened to, viewed and read

Making links between events in a text and students own experiences

Making an inference about a character's feelings

Drawing events in sequence, recognising that for some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories the sequence of events may be cyclical

Creating texts

Using image-making and beginning writing to represent characters and events in written, film and web-based texts

Using speaking, writing and drawing to represent and communicate personal responses to ideas and events experienced through texts

Using beginning concepts about print, soundletter and word knowledge and punctuation to create short texts

Adopting correct posture and pencil grip

Learning to produce simple handwriting movements

Following clear demonstrations of how to construct each letter (for example where to start; which direction to write)

Learning to construct lower case letters and to combine these into words

Learning to construct some upper case letters

Use direct and indirect comparisons to decide which is longer, heavier or holds more, and explain reasoning in everyday language (ACMMG006)

Comparing objects directly, by placing one object against another to determine which is longer or by pouring from one container into the other to see which one holds more

Using suitable language associated with measurement attributes, such as tall and taller, heavy and heavier, holds more and holds less

Compare and order duration of events using everyday language of time (ACMMG007)

Knowing and identifying the days of the week and linking specific days to familiar events

Sequencing familiar events in time order

Connect days of the week to familiar events and actions (ACMMG008)

Choosing events and actions that make connections with students everyday family routines

Sort, describe and name familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in the environment (ACMMG009)

Sorting and describing squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, spheres and cubes

Describe position and movement (ACMMG010)

Interpreting the everyday language of location and direction, such as between, near, next to, forward, toward

Following and giving simple directions to guide a friend around an obstacle path and vice versa

Establish understanding of the language and processes of counting by naming numbers in sequences, initially to and from 20, moving from any starting point (ACMNA001)

Reading stories from other cultures featuring counting in sequence to assist students to recognise ways of counting in local languages and across cultures

Identifying the number words in sequence, backwards and forwards, and reasoning with the number sequences, establishing the language on which subsequent counting experiences can be built

Developing fluency with forwards and backwards counting in meaningful contexts, including stories and rhymes

Understanding that numbers are said in a particular order and there are patterns in the way we say them

Connect number names, numerals and quantities, including zero, initially up to 10 and then beyond (ACMNA002)

Understanding that each object must be counted only once, that the arrangement of objects does not affect how many there are, and that the last number counted answers the how many question

Using scenarios to help students recognise that other cultures count in a variety of ways, such as the Wotjoballum number systems

Subitise small collections of objects (ACMNA003)

Using subitising as the basis for ordering and comparing collections of numbers

Compare, order and make correspondences between collections, initially to 20, and explain reasoning (ACMNA289)

Comparing and ordering items of like and unlike characteristics using the words more, less, same as and not the same as and giving reasons for these answers

Understanding and using terms such as first and second to indicate ordinal position in a sequence.

Using objects which are personally and culturally relevant to students

Represent practical situations to model addition and sharing (ACMNA004)

Using a range of practical strategies for adding small groups of numbers, such as visual displays or concrete materials

Sort and classify familiar objects and explain the basis for these classifications. Copy, continue, and create patterns with objects and drawings (ACMNA005)

Observing natural patterns in the world around us

Creating and describing patterns using materials, sounds, movements or drawings

Answer yes/no questions to collect information and make simple inferences

Representing responses to questions using simple displays, including grouping students according to their answers

Using data displays to answer simple questions such as how many students answered yes to having brown hair?