English Spelling & Word Studyusually ages 4–7

Segmenting words into sounds

Segment spoken words into phonemes and spell CVC and simple phonetically regular words by writing a letter or letters for each sound

How to tell they’ve got it

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

Write CVC words from dictation (e.g. 'cat', 'bed', 'hot')
Segment words into individual sounds before choosing letters to write
Spell simple words phonetically drawing on sound-letter knowledge

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Try this together

Can your child listen to a simple word like "cat" or "ship" and write down the letters for each sound they hear?

Where this sits on the map

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

Builds on

Onsets & Rimesages 4–7Need segmenting skill for spelling

Phonics Vocabularyages 4–7Segmenting words into phonemes and spelling CVC words requires knowing 'phoneme', 'segment', and 'CVC' as defined terms

Single Letter Soundsages 4–6Need GPC knowledge to encode phonemes

Sitting and holding a pencilages 4–6Handwriting needed for spelling practice

Segmenting words into soundsthis skill · ages 4–7

Unlocks

Spelling Verb Endingsages 5–6Must spell root words before adding suffixes

Spelling from Dictationages 5–8Dictation requires spelling ability

The Prefix un-ages 5–6Must spell root words before adding prefixes

Alternative Spellings for Soundsages 6–9Must be able to encode CVC words before learning alternative spellings

Spelling Contracted Formsages 6–7Basic encoding ability needed to spell contracted forms

Suffixesages 6–7Must be able to encode base words before applying suffix rules

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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

AC9E1LY09high confidenceYear 1 · Literacy

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

AC9E1LY10medium confidenceYear 1 · Literacy

orally manipulate phonemes in spoken words by addition, deletion and substitution of initial, medial and final phonemes to generate new words (phonological awareness)

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

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

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

EN1-SPELL-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 1

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2EFLY05high confidenceEnglish · Foundation · Literacy strand

VC2E1LY03high confidenceEnglish · Level 1 · Literacy strand

VC2EFLY04medium 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

Phonics Vocabularyages 4–7 Spelling from Dictationages 5–8 Spelling Verb Endingsages 5–6 The Prefix un-ages 5–6

All Spelling & Word Study skills →