English Phonics & Word Readingusually ages 6–8

Alternative Spellings for Known Sounds

Recognise alternative grapheme-phoneme correspondences for known phonemes (e.g., /dʒ/ as ge/dge/g, /s/ as c, /n/ as kn/gn, /r/ as wr, /ʒ/ as s), reading words with less common spellings for familiar sounds

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Read words with less common spellings for familiar sounds: 'badge', 'giraffe', 'city', 'knock', 'gnaw', 'write', 'treasure'
Identify that the same phoneme can be represented by different graphemes (e.g., /dʒ/ spelled g, ge, dge)
Select the correct alternative GPC to decode an unfamiliar word in context

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Try this together

Does your child know that the /j/ sound can be spelled different ways — like in 'jump', 'cage', and 'bridge' — and can they read words with these less common spellings?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Blending Sounds to Read Wordsages 4–7Alternative GPCs build on basic blending ability

Consonant Digraphsages 4–7Must know consonant digraphs before learning alternative consonant GPCs

Single Letter Soundsages 4–6Must know single letter sounds before learning alternatives

Vowel Digraphsages 4–7Must know common vowel digraphs before learning alternative representations

Alternative Spellings for Known Soundsthis skill · ages 6–8

Unlocks

Alternative Spellings for Soundsages 6–9Knowledge of alternative GPCs for reading supports choosing correct spellings

Reading with Expression and Accuracyages 6–10Wider GPC knowledge supports fluent reading

Syllables (age 6+)ages 6–9Helpful to know alternative GPCs when decoding longer words

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E3LY11high confidenceYear 3 · Literacy

use phoneme–grapheme (sound–letter) relationships and less common letter patterns to spell words

AC9E3LY09medium confidenceYear 3 · Literacy

understand how to apply knowledge of phoneme–grapheme (sound–letter) relationships, syllables, and blending and segmenting to fluently read and write multisyllabic words with more complex letter patterns

AC9E1LY09medium confidenceYear 1 · Literacy

segment words into separate phonemes (sounds) including consonant blends or clusters at the beginnings and ends of words (phonological awareness)

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

ENE-PHOKW-01high confidenceEnglish K-10 · Early Stage 1

ENE-SPELL-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Early Stage 1

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E3LY05high confidenceEnglish · Level 3 · Literacy strand

VC2EFLY06high confidenceEnglish · Foundation · Literacy strand

VC2EFLY05high confidenceEnglish · Foundation · Literacy strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Reading with Expression and Accuracyages 6–10 Syllables (age 6+)ages 6–9 Compound Wordsages 5–8 Decoding unfamiliar wordsages 7–9

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