retell the story. Reading for Literature Grade PK Standard 11 (RL.PK.11) With prompting from an adult, students must be able to recognize and identify similarities between themselves, their lives, and the stories they read (e.g. characters in the story are celebrating a holiday that your neighbors also celebrate and is similar to one observed by your family). Ask your child… “Have you ever heard of [this story element (place, holiday, food, etc)] before?” “How is [this event, character, etc] similar to [this event, person, etc from your child’s own life]?” Read with your child. Try this activity to encourage him/her to engage more deeply in the text and find connections with the story. READING STANDARDS FOR INFORMATIONAL TEXT Parent Notes Standard Code What does this standard mean? What can I do at home? Resources Reading for With prompting from an Before reading, ask your child…
Informational Text Grade PK Standard 1 (RI.PK.1) adult, students must be able to ask and respond to questions about major details in texts or articles. “I see [this image] on the front cover. What do you think that means we could learn from this book?” “Can you tell me anything you already know about…?” While you are reading, pause to ask questions, clarify points, and remind your child of facts. After reading, prompt your child to ask his/her own questions about the text… “We learned a lot about… What are you still wondering?” Read this online informational text with your child. Then help him/her answer the questions that follow. Reading for Informational Text Grade PK Standard 2 (RI.PK.2) With prompting from an adult, students must be able to restate the main detail(s) of a text or article. Read with your child. After at least one reading, reread the same book and help him/her to identify the main details. Following the reading, ask your child to retell the most important details he/she learned. If necessary, reread key passages and/or ages to prompt him/her to identify the main topic and key points. Read with your child. Then ask him/her to recall the main idea and key details (offer prompting as necessary) and fill in this graphic organizer. Reading for Informational Text Grade PK Standard 3 (RI.PK.3) With prompting from an adult, students must be able to identify and explain similarities between two elements (events or pieces of information) in a text. After reading with your child, use writing, drawing, and/or dramatic play to explain a connection between two people, events, or pieces or information. Ask your child… “What is similar about these two [people, events, etc]?” Print this worksheet and help your child to complete it in order to teach him/her about the different types of information books present. Reading for Students must be able to ask As you read to your child, stop
Informational Text Grade PK Standard 4 (RI.PK.4) questions about the meanings of unfamiliar words and demonstrate interest in learning new words. when you encounter words unfamiliar to him/her to explain the meaning, clarify, and/or give examples. Ask your child… “Have you ever heard [this word] before?” “Listen carefully while I read this page. Did you hear any words you don’t know? Let’s look for clues on the page about what that word means.” Create a “Word Wall” in your home by posting lists of words you and your child have learned together. Read these non-fiction stories with your child. As you read point out unfamiliar words (e.g. check, ingredient, choice) and talk about their meaning. Then help your child to answer the vocabulary questions following the reading. Reading for Informational Text Grade PK Standard 5 (RI.PK.5) Students must be able to recognize and point out the front and back covers of a book. They must also know how to hold a book (right side up, etc) and turn the pages. Before reading with your child, have a conversation about the words and pictures on the front and back covers…. “Let’s look at the front cover to read the title.” “What do you see on the back cover that gives us a clue about what might happen in the story?” Allow your child to hold the book and practice turning the pages. Print these worksheets and review and complete the activities with your child. Then hang them or store them in a place where you can easily access and review the parts of a book when you are reading with your child. Reading for Informational Text Grade PK Standard 6 (RI.PK.6) With prompting from an adult, students must be able to identify that authors write the stories while illustrators create the images. Explicitly name the author, illustrator, and their individual roles each time you begin reading a story with your child. Reiterate as you read and discuss the text. “What did the author say about…?” Print this worksheet and help your child complete the activity. Then hang it up or store it somewhere easily accessible and review when you are reading with your child.
to bottom, and page by page. understand that printed letters are arranged in specific sequences to represent spoken sounds and words. be aware that spaces separate printed words. recognize and name some of the 26 letters of the alphabet – both upper- and lowercase. understand that groups of letters form words. distinguish between letters and numbers. point out text and print features. Explicitly refer to the front cover, title page, and back cover before and/or after reading (e.g. “Let’s look at the front cover to find out what the title is.”). Point out the spaces between the words (e.g. “Our story is called, The Bunny’s Home. Watch me point to each word as I say it. Now you try! Do you see the spaces after each word? Let’s count the words in the title.”). Use opportunities to review the letter names (e.g. “Do you see any letter that is in the title more than once? Which ones?” Read alphabet books and sing the letters of the alphabet to increase familiarity. Trace your finger over the letters and name them. Then prompt your child to do the same. Use blocks, magnets, cards, etc. letters printed on them to practice identifying letters and numbers. Give your child a few options and ask them to point out specific letters and numbers (e.g. “Can you point to the ‘T’?; Can you point to a number?”). you can easily access them to review with your child. Try this activity at home with your child before meals or during playtime. Print this worksheet. Help your child complete the activity. Choose letters to practice and help your child complete the activity. Watch the video with your child to help him/her learn to recognize letters of the alphabet. Print this worksheet and help your child complete the activity. Try this activities with a mix of letters and numbers to help your child practice differentiating between the two. Foundational Reading Skills Grade Students must be able to... participate in Read poems and/or sing songs and nursery rhymes with your child that Watch this video with your child to
Foundational Reading Skills Grade PK Standard 3 (RF.PK.3) Students must be able to… recognize that each letter has its own specific sound and begin to identify the most common sounds of some consonants. recognize their own names and common sounds and labels in their environments (e.g. stop sign, crayon labels, etc). Read to your child and point to each word as you say it. Practice identifying the letter sounds of familiar words (your child’s name, etc). Point out common signs, billboards, product labels, etc as you go about your day with your child (e.g. “I see the big blue P so I know we’re at the grocery store”). Write your child’s name clearly on his/her belongings, so he/she becomes familiar with what it looks like. Help your child to play this interactive game to practice identifying common letter sounds. Work with your child to complete this activity. Foundational Reading Skills Grade PK Standard 4 (RF.PK.4) Students must be able to demonstrate pre-reading behaviors (e.g. pretend reading, listening to read alouds). Read with your child often. Set aside reading time during which you allow your child to look through books on his/her own and you read your own book to model reading behaviors. Sit with your child and allow him/her to “read” to you. Look through the pictures and encourage your child to make up his/her own story as if he/she were reading the words. Try this activity with your child using a variety of texts he/she enjoys. WRITING STANDARDS Parent Notes Standard Code What does this standard mean? What can I do at home? Resources Writing Grade PK Standard 1 (W.PK.1) With guidance from an adult, students must be able to use some combination of drawing pictures, dictating to an adult, and/or writing to communicate their opinions about what they have read. Prompt your child to complete these sentence starters with words or images… “My favorite character is…because…” “The part of this story I like best is…because…” Print the activity sheets. Then help your child to complete them using drawing, writing, and/or dictation. Writing With guidance from an adult, Prompt your child to create stories
LANGUAGE STANDARDS Parent Notes Standard Code What does this standard mean? What can I do at home? Resources Language Skills Grade PK Standard 1 (L.PK.1) Students must be able to use standard English grammar when speaking and writing. Specifically, they should be able to… begin to write some letters – both upper- and lowercase (e.g. the letters in their own names). use common nouns and verbs when speaking. add /s/ or /es/ to form regular plural nouns when speaking. understand and use common question words (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how). use common prepositions (e.g. to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with, under, Provide your child with blocks, magnets, flash cards, etc with the letters (both upper- and lowercase printed on them). Have your child trace them with his/her finger. Supply him/her with pens/pencils to practice printing letters. Give him/her examples to copy. In context, provide examples and introduce your child to new words. Ask him/her… “Wow! That car is moving really fast! Do you what that’s called?” In context, provide examples and introduce your child to plural words. (e.g. “We only have one car, but if we had two, we would have cars. What if we had more than one house? What would we Help your child to choose individual letters to learn about. Listen and sing along to the songs to practice identifying the letters. Watch this video with your child to introduce him/her to many common nouns and verbs. Watch this video with your child to further familiarize him/her with regular plural nouns. Then practice thinking of additional examples of plural nouns. Watch this video with your child to review the basic common question
around) when speaking. speak in complete sentences with prompting from an adult. call them?”). Ask your child questions using the common question words and provide reminders of the meaning as necessary (e.g. “Who was there? Which other people were at the party?”). Prompt your child to use common prepositions in sentences by asking questions. Ask him/her… “Where was he? [He was in the house]”). Speak in complete sentences when talking to your child. Encourage him/her to do the same. words. Print these worksheets. Then compete the activities with your child to practice using basic prepositions. Try to implement some or all of these tips and activities into your daily routines to encourage your child to form complete sentences. Language Skills Grade PK Standard 2 (L.PK.2) Students must be able to use standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling rules when writing. Specifically, they should be able to… use uppercase letters for the first letter of their names. begin to represent words with a letter or letters. use their knowledge of the letters’ sounds to spell simple words phonetically with guidance from an adult. When reading with your child point out that the beginning of each sentence starts with an uppercase letter. Whenever you come across the first letter of your child’s name (uppercase), explicitly connect it to them (e.g. “This book is called, Cars. I see that word begins with an uppercase C. Whose name begins with a C, Catherine?”). Practice identifying the letter sounds of familiar words (your child’s name, etc). Ask your child… “I see that this word has the first letter as your name, Sam. What sound do you think this word Use this handwriting worksheet generator to create practice sheets on which your child can trace his/her name, familiar words, etc. Print these worksheets. Then help your child complete them to help familiarize him/her with simple words. Help your child to play this interactive game to practice spelling simple words.
should be able to… sort familiar objects into organized categories (e.g. shapes, foods, colors). identify the opposites of common verbs and adjectives (e.g. tall/short, smile/frown). make explicit connections between word meanings and real life (e.g. identify family members who are tall) act out the meanings of similar verbs describing the same general action to demonstrate recognition of the differences (e.g. walk, march, prance, skip) common opposites in context. For example, ask your child… “I see that the dog on this page is really big, but the mouse is the opposite. What word would you use to describe the mouse?” Ask your child questions to help them make connections between words they encounter in reading and real life… “Do you know any people who [are short, funny, etc] like this character?” “[This character] like to play soccer. What sports do you like to play? What are some other sports you haven’t tried?” Introduce your child to words with similar meanings by using them in context (e.g. “It is really cold outside today! It’s freezing and very icy. Can you think of another word to describe the weather right now?”) Try this activity with your child to help him/her practice classifying objects. Help your child to match the pictures with their opposites. Try some or all of the activities as your drive around with your child. Play the game with your child. Help him/her to choose the correct words with similar definitions to the given wrods. Then try to think of additional examples together. Language Skills Grade PK Standard 6 (L.PK.6) Students must be able to use new vocabulary –learned from reading, speaking with others, etc. Prompt your child to use new vocabulary when he/she speaks or writes. Ask him/her… “What is it called when…” “Do you remember another word that means…” Try some or all of these activities with your child to encourage him/her to begin to use newly acquired vocabulary in a variety of ways.