Developed in partnership with Education Services Australia
The Australian Curriculum sets the goal for what all students should learn as they progress through their school life. Skills in the Foundation Year curriculum include:
- understanding that letters of the alphabet can be written as upper and lower case
- identifying letters as they appear in different forms
- making connections between the written letter and their most common sounds.
It’s easy to help your child practise these skills as part of everyday life – just use these simple ideas.
Spot the capitals
It can take time for your child to master the upper and lower case forms of letters and confidently link them to their most common sounds. To help your child, challenge them to a letter hunt: just choose a letter, and ask your child to find words that begin with that letter (both capitals and lower case).
- Your name begins with a capital ‘A’. Can you see some words that begin with a capital ‘A’? What about a lower case ‘a’?
You can play this game almost anywhere, with any kind of text – eg signs, labels, books, magazines and newspapers. Try making it a challenge:
- How many words beginning with ‘b’ can we spot on our bus ride?
Make sure to make a deliberate mistake sometimes, so your child can correct you and show off their knowledge!
For online reinforcement, Letter planet: s, c, b will give your child practice at:
- finding words that begin with s, c, or b
- ordering words to create sentences.