Your child's literacy development milestones

• 2 to 3 years: Says 3-word sentences e.g. I do it. Mummy help me.
• 3 to 4 years: Has large vocabulary and uses more complex sentence structures.
• Can use plurals, may over generalise e.g. sheeps, childs.
• Can use past tense, may incorrectly apply -ed to irregular verbs e.g. runned, comed.
• Children may talk to themselves during play or articulate actions as they undertake activities e.g. I’m brushing my hair. I’m drawing a good picture.
• 5 years: Has 2500–5000 word vocabulary.
• Some children have difficulty pronouncing l, r, th and sh.
• Talks a lot, actively constructs language to communicate. May make up words if they don’t have one for a particular situation. Often makes amusing comments as they try to work out the sounds of words and their use in different contexts.

e.g. 4-year-old girl: I’m not being boisterous, I’m being girlstrous!

e.g. 3-year-old: I love you, Mummy.
Mum: I love you, too.
3-year-old: I love you, three.

• Has expressive vocabulary.
• Says around 2600 words.
• Understands about 20,000 words.
• Speaks in well-formed and complex sentences.
• Uses all parts of speech, i.e. questions, statements, declarations.
• Can follow one and two step instructions e.g. Take your shoes off and then put them away.

• Asks to have stories read to them.
• Has a favourite book, enjoys having it read and re-read.
• Pretends to read, turning pages and using pictures to tell the story from memory or making up new stories using the pictures.
• Recognises and tries to read print in their environment. May notice the letter that begins their name in their environment.
• Knows some numbers and letters and recognises them in different fonts in the environment and in books.

• Listens attentively to stories.
• Joins in reading aloud, recites from memory.
• Begins to be able to predict words in a text based on rhyme.
• Knows how books ‘work’, understands concepts such as cover, front, back, title, words, pages.
• Understands how pages are turned and the direction print is read i.e. top to bottom, left to right.
• Behaves like a reader. ‘Reads’ familiar books.
• Recognises and names the letters of the alphabet.
• Understands the connection between letters and sounds.
• Begins to understand punctuation.

• Uses symbols (lines, circles or other shapes) to represent words.
• Knows the difference between drawing and writing.
• Understands print has a message.
• May label own drawings with letter-like symbols or letters copied from the environment.
• Experiments with letter shapes.
• Can trace letters and shapes.
• Begins to use real, though random, letters to represent words.
• Begins to understand the concept of different fonts, that the same letter can be written in several ways: e.g. A, a and

  a

• Writes own name.
• May confuse upper and lower case letters and use them inconsistently.

• Knows conventions of print, begins to start writing from top to bottom and left to right, leaves spaces between words.
• Begins to write some letters of the alphabet and well-known words.
• Writes own name.
• Begins to have more consistency with upper and lower case letters.
• Creates strings of repeated letters as they refine the way the letter is made.
• Begins to use the sounds of words to spell them when writing.
• Begins to use the initial sound to represent a word when writing.
• May use the letter name for a sound e.g. ‘cAK’ for ‘cake’.
• Can type on a keyboard, copying handwritten words or words from books.

• Reads books on concepts that are familiar to them or with simple story lines.
• Begins to read fluently through practice.
• Can predict some aspects of the story to come.
• Uses letter–sound correspondence, word parts, and context to help identify new words.
• Recognises known and high-frequency words in printed text.
• Uses picture clues to help with meaning-making while reading.
• Monitors own reading and self-corrects. Notices when they don’t understand the text.
• Can discuss what they read, recalling the story line and some details.

• Reads books on topics that increasingly go beyond their experiences including a range of fiction and non-fiction.
• Reads with greater fluency and expression.
• Follows punctuation when reading aloud e.g. rising voice to indicate a question.
• Uses word identification strategies with greater ease and speed.
• Can make predictions about the story based on knowledge of stories generally.
• Self-corrects using strategies more efficiently. Identifies many words by sight.
• Rereads the text when does not understand.
• Discusses characters and events in stories.
• Reads non-fiction material for answers to specific questions or for specific purposes.
• Comprehends stories at a literal level. Beginning to infer more subtle meanings in books.

• Reads with further increased fluency and expression.
• Reads longer and more complex books independently.
• Uses word identification strategies appropriately and automatically when encountering unknown words.
• Uses a range of strategies when drawing meaning from the text.
• Needs less or no support from the pictures in books to gain meaning.
• Summarises major points from fiction and non-fiction texts.
• Makes connections between their own experiences, knowledge of books or the world and books read.
• Interprets texts for meaning and relationships.
• Increasing ability to infer meanings from books.

• Creates own text for others to read.
• Writing reads like spoken language written down.
• Uses both invented and regular spelling.
• Uses word banks to assist with spelling.
• Usually the initial sound and sometimes the final sound is used to represent a word e.g. pla = playing.
• Accurately spells words with 3 to 4 letters.
• Can blend or segment sounds in a one syllable word e.g. c-a-t.
• Can hear and count number of syllables in a word.
• Spacing between words becomes more consistent.
• Uses full stops and capitalisation.
• Experiments with other punctuation such as exclamation marks and question marks.
• Begins to choose different forms or genres of writing for different purposes.
• Begins to type words and sentences in word processing programs.

• Writes a variety of text types or genres.
• Begins to use formal language instead of oral language, writing is beginning to sound more written-like.
• Writing sentences of increasing length and complexity.
• Uses developing knowledge of grammar to effect in writing e.g. uses adjectives to add description, tall green tree.
• Correctly spells studied spelling words.
• Begins to apply learnt spelling patterns to unfamiliar words.
• Can hear multiple syllables in words and use them to assist with spelling.
• Spells many high-frequency words correctly.
• Begins to use writing process to produce final work (draft, edit, revise).
• Attends to the mechanics of writing.

• Correctly spells studied spelling words. Begins to include more sophisticated vocabulary and book language in writing.
• Can include technical vocabulary when appropriate e.g. marsupial, mammal in an informative text about Australian animals.
• Produces different forms of writing. Chooses a structure that suits a particular purpose.
• Uses the writing process to produce work and share with peers.
• Presents own work to other students and offers suggestions to other students.
• Begins to use paragraphs to write longer texts.