Learning Map
EnglishSpelling & Word Studyusually ages 7–11

Using a Dictionary to Check Spellings

Use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary; consult reference materials including beginning dictionaries to verify and correct spellings

How to tell they’ve got it

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

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Try this together

If your child isn't sure how to spell a word, can they look it up in a dictionary by using the first two or three letters to find it quickly?

Where this sits on the map

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

Builds on
Knowing all lettersages 4–6Dictionary use requires alphabetical order via letter recognition
Non-Fiction Text Featuresages 6–9Non-fiction structures include reference features like glossaries
Using a Dictionary to Check Spellingsthis skill · ages 7–11
Unlocks
Using a Thesaurus to Choose Wordsages 10–11Thesaurus use builds on dictionary skills

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

AC9E3LY10low confidenceYear 3 · Literacy

understand how to apply knowledge of common base words, prefixes, suffixes and generalisations for adding a suffix to a base word to read and comprehend new multimorphemic words

AC9E1LY13low confidenceYear 1 · Literacy

spell one- and two-syllable words with common letter patterns

AC9E3LY11low confidenceYear 3 · Literacy

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

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

EN3-SPELL-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 3
EN2-SPELL-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 2

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E6LY04medium confidenceEnglish · Level 6 · Literacy strand
VC2E4LY04medium confidenceEnglish · Level 4 · Literacy strand
VC2E4LY05medium confidenceEnglish · Level 4 · 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.

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All Spelling & Word Study skills →