Standards

Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

• Different strategies and skills are required to understand a variety of materials.

• People apply different strategies and skills when reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.

• People access, read, evaluate, and use a variety of resources to get information.

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

• Why do we need to understand what we read? *How do we understand what we read?

• Why do we need to understand print around us?

• Why are the sounds and letters in words important?

• How do we communicate what we have read?

• Why is it important to really think about what we read?

• Why do I need a variety of resources?

• How do I access information and use it responsibly? How do I evaluate resources?

Standards
Must be Mastered by End of Year Must be Introduced Other Standards & E-skills
 

 Five Components of Literacy

Phonemic Awareness:  Hear the similarities of sounds in words and rhythmical patterns in a sequence (e.g. word families).  Count the number of syllables in a word (word parts)  Initial sounds.  Onset and rime.  Segment words into phonemes and sounds.
Phonics:  Recognize and identify letters and sounds.
Fluency:  Self correct and re-reads at grade level.
Vocabulary:  Recognize sight words. All 76 kindergarten words from the D-11 common word list plus 50 first grade words.
Comprehension:  Track print/knows concepts about print (handles book correctly, knows directionality, uses pictures and voice-print match). Read, comprehend, and listen to a range of genres: narrative text (e.g. stories, songs, poems, plays) and expository texts (e.g. trade books, how-to-books). Retell a narrative text using characters, setting and sequence of events. Know story elements--character, setting, and sequence of events.  Expository text structure (title page, glossary, vocabulary). Answer questions about text using prior knowledge and pictures to check meaning. Explain difference between fiction and nonfiction (real vs. make-believe).
Thinking Skills:  During this year, students will:

• Learn to predict what is next in a story and check for accuracy. 

• Use pictures and pre-reading strategies to relate text to personal experiences.

• Use text and picture clues to draw inferences. 

• Apply background knowledge using personal connections. 

• Discuss and identify cause and effect. 

• Explain the difference between truth and fantasy. Identify title and author. 

• Retell a story showing sequence and story elements (character, setting, problem/solution or important details on expository text). 

• Create/use simple graphic organizers. Discuss similarities in characters and events across stories and cultures.

Research Skills:  Answer questions about text and understand mood, voice, humor and illustrations.

Standard 1: Students read, listen to, and understand a variety of materials.
Standard 4: Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.
Standard 5: Students read to locate, select, and make use of relevant information from a variety of media, reference, and technological sources.

Kindergarten Literacy Yearly Overview

This is the recommended pacing guide.  We highly recommend the pace of instruction throughout this guide because the pace assures coverage of key standards.  Teachers may make professional decisions based on their students’ needs to adjust at various points in the guide – while assuring coverage of the standards.

District 11 Diamond Units/Lessons Overview - includes information about the purpose, goals and structure of these sample instructional units:

• Quarter 1: August Unit
• Quarter 1: September Unit
• Quarter 1: October Unit  Continued in Quarter 2
• Quarter 2: November Unit
• Quarter 2: December Unit
• Quarter 3: January Unit
• Quarter 3: February Unit
• Quarter 3: March Unit
• Quarter 4: April - May Unit