English – K–2 multi-age Year A – units
Twenty sample units for Early Stage 1 and Stage 1.
Syllabus
Syllabus outcomes and content descriptors from English K–10 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2021.
These units are cumulative and are designed to be taught in numerical order.
A suggested term-by-term approach, aligned with the department’s scope and sequence is outlined below, including the mentor textual concept(s) and unit description.
Unit 1 – Context
Students make connections between their personal experiences and texts. They explore how context shapes texts. Students create a range of simple descriptive texts that represent their own culture, setting and situations (or experiences).
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 1 – Context (DOCX 1.5 MB)
Unit 2 – Narrative
Students learn about narrative elements including character, setting and story structure. They use ‘story’ maps to support oral narrative and comprehension development, and as a planning tool for writing.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 2 – Narrative (DOCX 2 MB)
Unit 3 – Context; Perspective; Representation
Students explore texts that represent the natural world realistically, imaginatively or a combination of both.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 3 – Context; Perspective; Representation (DOCX 6.9 MB)
Unit 4 – Imagery, symbol and connotation; Character
Students explore the role of characters in texts and how they can be objects with human characteristics. They learn to describe characters using wordplay and figurative language, including idioms.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 4 – Imagery, symbol and connotation; Character (DOCX 1.2 MB)
Unit 5 – Perspective and argument; Imagery, symbol and connotation
Students identify persuasive techniques used in a range of humorous fiction picture books. They experiment with these techniques in their own texts to persuade a familiar audience.
Unit 6 – Context; Representation
Students explore the way objects, events and ideas are represented in narrative texts. They retell and sequence stories to support reading comprehension and text creation.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 6 – Context, representation (DOCX 765 KB)
Unit 7 – Context
Students explore how different aspects of our world are reflected and represented. They make text-to-self and text-to-world connections to support comprehension, as well as build mental models to support vocabulary activation. Students create a text reflecting their own context.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 7 – Context (DOCX 199 KB)
Unit 8 – Narrative
Students make predictions and inferences related to actions and attitudes and explore how the visual features in multimodal texts can add to meaning. With a focus on the sequencing ideas and the use of illustrations, students will create their own ‘secret’ narrative.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 8 – Narrative (DOCX 365 KB)
Unit 9 – Character, Narrative
Students learn how authors describe both the internal and external characteristics of characters. They make text-to-self connections with characters and their own lived experiences.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 9 – Character, Narrative (DOCX 665 KB)
Unit 10 – Imagery, symbol and connotation; Representation
Students learn how visual and written elements combine to bring deeper meaning to imaginative texts. This includes through symbolic representations and figurative language. They identify how language changes when factual information is presented, including in a range of digital texts.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 10 – Imagery, symbol and connotation; Representation (DOCX 2.7 MB)
Unit 11 – Perspective; Perspective and argument
Students will learn how both written language and images contribute to meaning and how authors can influence their audience. To expand their understanding of multimodal texts, students will collaboratively create texts using different modes and media.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 11 – Perspective; Perspective and argument (DOCX 1.7 MB)
Unit 12 – Narrative; Representation
Students will identify and appreciate how key messages in narratives evoke feelings. They will explore ways that characters and their personalities are represented in narrative texts. Students will express personal responses to the real and imagined worlds that are represented in texts.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 12 – Narrative; Representation (DOCX 2 MB)
Unit 13 – Context
Students will explore how the lived experiences of groups, including those with disability, are represented in a range of texts. They will then use their broadening understanding of how language and form change according to purpose, to create a text in a range of modes to meet the needs of a specialised audience.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 13 – Context (DOCX 868 KB)
Unit 14 – Narrative
Students will make connections to a character and visualise their experiences throughout a text. Early Stage 1 students will write a letter describing their work within Unit 14. Stage 1 students will write a letter describing their favourite treasure, ensuring correct paragraph structure is used throughout.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 14 – Narrative (DOCX 2.4 MB)
Unit 15 – Character
Students will identify how authors use animals as characters in stories. This includes using factual information to base descriptions of appearances and personality characteristics. As part of this unit, students will compare informative and literary texts with attention to language and form.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 15 – Character (DOCX 4.2 MB)
Unit 16 – Perspective; Perspective and argument
Students will engage with a range of texts to identify arguments and the way that structure and images can be used to reinforce a point of view. Throughout, students will explore a range of print and digital texts that describe and explain factual information. They will create a campaign to promote environmentally friendly habits amongst their peers
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 16 – Perspective; Perspective and argument (DOCX 1.8 MB)
Unit 17 – Narrative
Students will have the opportunity to review narrative text elements through engaging with a range of texts created by the popular author and illustrator, Oliver Jeffers.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 17 – Narrative (DOCX 365 KB)
Unit 18 – Context
Students will begin this unit with a narrative text to inspire ‘imagineering’. The unit also explores a range of texts which include factual descriptions and explanations and provides opportunities for students to follow multimodal procedures to create simple machines. Students will learn about the textual concept of ‘context’ through considering how language and form vary according to purpose, audience and mode.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 18 – Context (DOCX 1.8 MB)
Unit 19 – Representation
Students will learn how culture is represented in texts through colour, celebrations and ceremonies. They will compare and connect ideas between texts, as well as with their own experiences. Students will create a range of literary descriptions of objects and experiences that represent important cultural experiences or artefacts.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 19 – Representation (DOCX 2.7 MB)
Unit 20 – Imagery, symbol and connotation
Students will unravel the layers that exist within a range of picture books to explore how elements such as colour, line and imagery evoke emotion and help enhance storylines to bring deeper meaning to texts.
K–2 multi-age Year A Unit 20 – Imagery, symbol and connotation (DOCX 1.8 MB)