Literacy: By Entry to Kindergarten

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

PRINT AND ALPHABET KNOWLEDGE

COMPREHENSION AND TEXT STRUCTURE

WRITING

Child demonstrates awareness that spoken language is composed of smaller segments of sound.

Child demonstrates an understanding of how print is used (functions of print) and the rules that govern how print works (conventions of print).

Child identifies letters of the alphabet and produces correct sounds associated with letters.

Child demonstrates an understanding of narrative structure through storytelling/re-telling.

Child asks and answers questions about a book that was read aloud.

Child writes for a variety of purposes using increasingly sophisticated marks. 

Provides one or more words that rhyme with a given word, such as “What rhymes with log?” 

Produces the beginning sound in a spoken word, such as “Dog begins with /d/.”

With adult support, provides a word that fits with a group of words that have the same beginning sound, such as “Sock, Sara, and song all start with the /s/ sound. What else starts with the /s/ sound?”

Understands that print is organized differently for different purposes, such as a note, list, or storybook.

Understands that written words are made up of a group of individual letters.

Begins to point to one-syllable words while reading simple, memorized texts.

Identifies book parts and features, such as the front, back, title, and author.

Names 18 uppercase and 15 lowercase letters.

Knows the sounds associated with several letters.

Retells or acts out a story that was read, putting events in the appropriate sequence, and demonstrating more sophisticated understanding of how events relate, such as cause-and-effect relationships. 

Tells fictional or personal stories using a sequence of at least 2–3 connected events.

Identifies characters and main events in books and stories.

Answers questions about details of a story with increasingly specific information, such as when asked “Who was Mary?” responds “She was the girl who was riding the horse and then got hurt.”

Answers increasingly complex questions that require making predictions based on multiple pieces of information from the story, understanding characters’ feelings or intentions, or explaining why something happened in the story.

Provides a summary of a story, highlighting a number of the key ideas in the story and how they relate.

With minimal adult prompting, holds a writing tool with a three-finger grasp.

Able to copy more sophisticated figures, such as squares, crossed lines, and triangles.

Creates a variety of written products that may or may not phonetically relate to intended messages.

Shows an interest in copying simple words posted in the environment.

Attempts to independently write some words using invented spelling, such as K for kite.

Writes first name correctly or close to correctly.

Writes (draws, illustrates) for a variety of purposes and demonstrates evidence of many aspects of print, such as creating a book that moves left to right.