Knowledge of Letters and Sounds
- Recognize and name all letters
- Recognize sounds of all letters, digraphs, and blends
- Use knowledge of sounds and letters to write phonetically
Phonemic Awareness
- Separate sounds by saying each one aloud (for example, /c/-/a/-/t/)
- Blend separately spoken phonemes to make a meaningful word
- Use onsets and rimes to create new words that include blends and digraphs
Reading Words
- Know regular letter-sound correspondences and use to recognize or decode regularly spelled one- and two-syllable words
- Recognize 150 high-frequency words in reading
Accuracy and Fluency
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- Read level 12 books not seen before, but that have been previewed*, with 95 percent or better accuracy of word recognition (*previewing means telling the student the title of the book and what it is about, as well as introducing any difficult or unfamiliar vocabulary that is important to the story)
- Independently read aloud from level 12 books (see above) that have been previewed, using intonation, pauses, and emphasis that signal the structure of the sentences and the meaning of the text
- Use the cues of punctuation (including commas, periods, question marks) as a guide in getting meaning and fluently reading aloud
Self Monitoring Expectations
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- Notice whether the words sound right given the spelling
- Notice whether the words make sense in context
- Notice when sentences don’t make sense
Self-Correcting Strategies
- Compare pronounced sounds to printed letters
- Gather context clues from surrounding sentences or pictures
- Reread and/or read to the end of the sentence and then reread
- After using self-correcting strategies, go back to check the solution for letter representation and for meaning
Comprehension
- Retell the story
- Summarize
- Describe in their own words new information gained from the text
- Answer comprehension questions
Listening Comprehension
- Extend the story
- Make predictions about what might happen next and why
- Talk about the motives of characters
- Describe causes and effects of specific events
- Discuss story elements [character(s), setting, problem, attempts to solve the problem, solution]
- Use background knowledge to make connections about the text
Independent and Assisted Reading
- Read books daily, independently or with assistance
- Read at least 25 books per year, independently or with assistance: documented in reading logs, reading journals, or Accelerated Reader Program reports
- Participate in discussions of their reading with another student, a group, or an adult
- Read some favorite books many times, gaining deeper comprehension
- Read their own writing and sometimes the writing of classmates
- Read functional messages encountered in the classroom (for example: labels, signs, instructions)
Being Read To
- Hear a variety of texts read aloud daily
- Listen to, discuss, or respond daily to at least one book or chapter that is longer and more difficult than what can be read independently or with assistance
Discussing Books
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- Demonstrate comprehension during book discussions
- Compare two books by the same author
- Talk about several books on the same theme
- Begin to refer to parts of the text when presenting or defending a claim
- Begin to explain their interpretation based on personal experiences
- Politely disagree with each other when appropriate
- Ask questions for elaboration and/or justification
Vocabulary
- Notice and show an interest in understanding unfamiliar words in texts
- Make sense of new words from their use
- Talk about the meaning of new words encountered in independent and assisted reading
- Know how to talk about what words mean in terms of functions (for example, “A shoe is a thing you wear on your foot.”) and features (for example, “Shoes have laces.”)
- Learn new words every day
- Write daily
- Generate topics and content for writing
- Reread their work often with the expectation that others will be able to read it
- Solicit and provide responses to writing
- Begin to revise, edit, and proofread as appropriate
- Apply a sense of what constitutes good writing
- Polish at least ten pieces of work throughout the year
- Gather, collect, and share information about a topic using the Big6™ research model
- Maintain a focus
- Exclude extraneous information
- Demonstrate a growing desire and ability to communicate with readers using details, pictures, and diagrams as appropriate
- Re-enact and retell stories, songs, poems, plays, and other literary works
- Produce simple evaluative expressions about the text
- Make simple comparisons of the story to events or people in their own lives
- Compare two books by the same author
- Discuss several books on the same theme
- Make explicit reference to parts of the text
- Present a plausible interpretation of a book
- Have a plan in their writing or telling which contains correctly sequenced events that the writer reacts to, comments on, evaluates, sums up, or ties together
- Incorporate drawings or other visuals, gestures, and intonations as appropriate
- Apply an author’s craft, such as using dialogue, transitions, concrete details, or providing a sense of closure
- Begin to recount events and details
- Use the writing process
- Give instructions
- Describe in sequence the steps to do or make something
- Claim, mark, or identify objects and places
- Enter thoughts, observations and events in a journal: expressive writing
- Create a story: imaginative writing
- Produce a report: informative writing
Style and Syntax
- Vary sentence openers instead of relying on the same sentence
- Use a wide range of syntactic patterns typical of spoken language
- Take on the language of authors
- Sometimes mimic sentence structures from various genres they are reading
- Use individual voice in their writing
Vocabulary and Word Choice
- Produce writing that uses the full range of words in their speaking vocabulary
- Select a more precise word when prompted
- Use newly learned words they like from their reading, the books they hear read, word walls, and conversation
Spelling
- Produce writing that contains correctly spelled high frequency writing words
- Write phonetic text that usually can be read by the child and others
- Draw on a range of resources to spell unfamiliar words, including strategies like segmenting, sounding out, and matching to familiar words and word parts
- Automatically spell some familiar words and word endings correctly
Conventions
- Use punctuation, capitalization, and other conventions
- Begin to use end punctuation correctly
- Demonstrate interest and awareness in other forms of punctuation
- Begin to capitalize name, first word of a sentence, pronoun I, and people’s names
Reference Materials
- Use word book, picture dictionary, word wall, thesaurus, Spell-Check
- Talk about their ideas, learning experiences, new topics, and feelings
- Listen to others and comment or politely disagree as appropriate
- Give and receive feedback by asking questions or making comments
- Confirm understanding by paraphrasing an adult’s direction or suggestions
- Talk to themselves out loud to make plans, guide behavior, or monitor thinking
- Imitate the language of adults
- Use a variety of self-correcting strategies
- Solicit others’ contributions in conversation to provide clarification
- Compare two works by the same author or several books on the same theme
- Extend the story: make predictions, talk about the motives of characters, describe causes and effects, retell or summarize, describe new information in their own words, and refer explicitly to parts of the text when presenting or defending a claim
- Explain why their interpretation of a story is valid
- Engage in extended conversations
- Independently give a detailed narrative account of an experience in which the actual sequence of events is clear
- Engage the listener’s attention before going into the full account
- Orient the listener to the setting using concrete details, transition words, and time words
- Define characters in discussion
- Include quotations
- Build the sequence of events to a climax and resolution, marking the end of the story
- Describe information and evaluate or reflect on it
- Seek or provide information by observing; going to the library; or asking teachers, parents, or peers
- Listen to information and exhibit comprehension, asking questions when needed
- Request clarification or provide explanations when necessary
- Focus on multiple characteristics when providing descriptions
- Use evaluative terms
- Share information (without extraneous details) on a topic which is supported by a visual aid such as show and tell
- Use actions, writing, or drawing to augment language
- Listen to, comprehend, and carry out directions with two or three simple steps, asking for clarification when needed
- Give directions that include several sequenced steps, explaining and elaborating when necessary
- Evaluate a performance with a simple response or with a critique based on agreed-upon criteria
- Give a brief performance
- Know and be able to describe rules for school interactions such as using “inside” voices, not pushing in line, taking turns, raising hand to speak
- Learn rules for polite interactions such as saying “Excuse me” or “I’m sorry”
- Hold self and others accountable to the rules by using verbal reminders such as “Only one person on the slide at a time”
- Speak one at a time, look at and listen to the speaker, yield and/or signal for a chance to speak, and adjust volume to the setting
- Produce rhyming words and recognize pairs of rhyming words
- Play with alliteration, tongue twisters, and onomatopoeia (for example, “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”)
- Use double meanings or multiple meanings of words for riddles and jokes
- Vary sentence openers and use a wide range of syntactic patterns
- Build vocabulary by connecting newly acquired words to relevant categories
- Alter word choice based on audience
- Recognize multiple meanings of words
- Increase vocabulary of verbs, adjectives, and adverbs to gain fluency and exercise options in word choice
- Add details and explanations to clarify meaning