English Language Arts

Reading Standards Key Ideas and Details:

Reading Standards Craft and Structure

Reading Standards Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Reading Standards Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

Foundational Literacy Standards Print Concepts

Foundational Literacy Standards Phonological Awareness

Foundational Literacy Standards Phonics and Word Recognition

Foundational Literacy Standards Word Composition

Foundational Literacy Standards Fluency

Foundational Literacy Standards Sentence Composition

Foundational Literacy Standards Vocabulary Acquisition

Writing Standards Text Types and Protocol

Writing Standards Production and Distribution of Writing

Writing Standards Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Writing Standards Range of Writing

Speaking and Listening Standards Comprehension and Collaboration

Speaking and Listening Standards Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

Read closely to determine what a text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Determine central ideas or themes of a text, analyze their development, and summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of a text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. 

Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of evidence.

Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches an author takes.

Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. 

Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.

Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when decoding isolated words and in connected text.

Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when encoding words; write legibly.

Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when speaking and conventions of standard English grammar and usage, including capitalization and punctuation, when writing.

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.

Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Write information/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. 

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. 

Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

Conduct short but more sustained research projects based on focus questions, demonstrating new understanding of the subject under investigation.

Integrate relevant and credible information from multiple print and digital sources while avoiding plagiarism.

Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with varied partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media formats, such as visual, quantitative, and oral formats.

Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric. 

Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning; the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

Adapt speech to a variety of contents and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

With modeling, prompting, and support, ask and answer questions about informational text read aloud.

With modeling, prompting, and support, ask, and answer questions about a story read aloud. 

With prompting and support, orally identify a main topic and retell details of texts, discussions, and activities.

With prompting and support, orally retell familiar stories including details.

With prompting and support, orally identify the connection between information in a text to personal experience or other text.

With prompting and support, orally identify characters, settings, and events from a familiar story. 

With prompting and support, answer questions about the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to pre-K topic or subject area.

With prompting and support, respond to questions about the meaning of unknown words in a story. 

Recognize various text features. 

Recognize common types of text. 

With prompting and support, answer questions about who is presenting ideas or information in a text. 

With prompting and support, answer questions about who is telling a story.

With prompting and support, orally describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear.

With prompting and support, orally describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear.

This standard begins in Kindergarten. 

Not applicable to literature.

With prompting and support, orally identify basic similarities and differences between two texts on the same topic.

With prompting and support, orally compare and contrast the experiences of characters in a story to personal experience or to the experiences of characters in another familiar story.

Listen and respond to informational texts of appropriate complexity for pre-K. 

Listen and respond to stories and poems of appropriate complexity for pre-K. 

Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.

Demonstrate increasing understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes) through oral language and with guidance and support. 

Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when decoding isolated words and in connected text.

Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when encoding words. 

Interact with text to support comprehension.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when speaking, and conventions of standard English grammar and usage, including capitalization and punctuation, when writing with adult modeling, guidance, and support.

With modeling, prompting, and support, use a combination of drawing, dictating, and/or emergent writing to express a preference, opinion, or idea about a specific topic or text.

With modeling, prompting, and support, use a combination of drawing, dictating, and/or emergent writing to explain information about a familiar topic or informational text.

With modeling, prompting, and support, use a combination of drawing, dictating, and/or emergent writing to narrate a single event.

With modeling, guidance, and support, produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.) 

With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from others and add details to strengthen drawing, dictating and/or emergent writing as needed.

This standard begins in Kindergarten.

With modeling, guidance, and support, participate in shared research and writing projects, such as reading a number of books by a favorite author and expressing opinions about them.

With modeling, guidance, and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

This standard begins in Grade 4. 

With modeling, guidance, and support from adults, engage routinely in drawing, dictating, and emergent writing activities for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Participate with varied peers and adults in collaborative conversations across activities throughout the day.

Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details, or by retelling, acting out, or representing key details through work in centers.

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.

Describe familiar people, places, things, and events, and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

Create representations and extensions of experiences or stories through writing, drawing, and open-ended materials in centers, and discuss them with others.

With modeling, guidance, and support, express thoughts, feelings, and ideas through speaking. 

Handle books appropriately, right-side-up, turning pages one at a time, and front to back.

Recognize that spoken words can be written and read.

With guidance and support, understand that words are made up of alphabet letters.

Recognize familiar uppercase letters and some of the most common lowercase letters.

Distinguish between pictures and words.

Recognize and discriminate between rhyming words in spoken language.

Begin to pronounce and identify syllables in familiar words and words in a sentence.

Begin to blend and segment onsets and rhymes of single-syllable spoken words. 

Begin to isolate and pronounce the initial, final, and/or medial vowel sounds (phonemes) in two- and three-phoneme (VC or CVC) words, excluding CVC words ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.

Identify whether or not two words begin or end with the same sound.

Begin to demonstrate knowledge of one-to-one letter sound correspondence by producing the most frequent sound for familiar consonants.

Recognize high-frequency words by sight, including own name and other familiar words in the environment

Begin to decode regularly spelled CVC words.

Begin to recognize the difference between upper and lowercase letters.

Begin to print the distinctive features of letter forms (circle, line, diagonal, crossed lines, etc.). 

Use illustrations to retell story events in familiar picture books.

With modeling or verbal prompts, orally produce complete sentences. 

Follow one-to-one correspondence between voice and print when writing a sentence or sentence fragment, or when rereading a dictated sentence.

Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs when speaking and in shared language activities.

Form regular plural nouns when speaking and in shared language activities.

Understand and use question words (interrogatives) when speaking and in shared language activities.

With prompting and support, use the most frequently occurring prepositions when speaking and in shared language activities.

With prompting and support, produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities. 

Begin to recognize that a name begins with a capital letter.

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on pre-K conversations, reading, and content. (1) Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately. (2) Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word.

With guidance and support from adults, explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, being read to, and responding to texts.

Demonstrate appropriate conversational interactions including taking turns, listening, speaking, answering questions, and wait time.

Sort common objects into categories to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent. 

Demonstrate understanding of frequently occurring verbs and adjectives.

Make real-life connections between words and their use. 

Distinguish shades of meaning among familiar verbs describing the same general action. (i.e., jog/sprint)