Massachusetts K–6 english language arts standards

Demonstrate the ability to produce and expand complete sentences using frequently occurring nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, question words, and prepositions; name and use in context numbers 0–100.

Form questions that seek additional information, rather than a simple yes/no answer.

Form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/.

Print upper- and lowercase letters.

Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I.

Recognize and name end punctuation.

Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes).

Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships.

Write numbers 0–20

Begins in grade 2.

Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately (e.g., knowing duck is a bird and learning the verb to duck).

Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

Demonstrate understanding of frequently occurring verbs and adjectives by relating them to their opposites (antonyms).

Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at school that are colorful).

Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (e.g., walk, march, strut, prance) by acting out the meanings.

Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, activities in the kindergarten curriculum, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.

Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.

Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.

Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.

Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Recognize and produce rhyming words.

Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.

Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words.

Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words. (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)

Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.

Associate the long and short sounds with common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).

Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

Read early-emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.

With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.

Name the author and illustrator of a text and define the role of each in presenting the ideas or information in the text.

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts). For example, students study the life cycles of plants and animals. Read-alouds from books such as One Bean by Anne Rockwell, From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons, and A Tree is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla introduce students to core science concepts and vocabulary through illustrations and words. Students draw, dictate, and write observations in science journals. (RI.K.2, RI.K.4, RI.K.7, SL.K.5, L.K.6)

With prompting and support, identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.

With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, procedures).

Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

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

With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

Recognize common types of texts and characteristics of their structure (e.g., story elements in books; rhyme, rhythm, and repetition in poems).

With prompting and support, explain that reading the cover or title page is how to find out who created a book; name the author and illustrator of a book and define the role of each in telling the story.

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

Not applicable.

With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.

Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).

Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.

Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.

Ask and answer questions 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.

Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.

Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces that tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is…).

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts that name and supply some information about a topic.

Begins in grade 1.

Begins in grade 3.

Demonstrate the ability to use vocabulary appropriate for kindergarten.

With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including collaboration with peers.

Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).

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

Begins in grade 4.

Write or dictate writing routinely for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Produce and expand simple and compound sentences.

Demonstrate understanding that a question is a type of sentence.

Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in sentences.

Use verbs in sentences to convey a sense of past, present, and future.

Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.

Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns.

Use frequently occurring prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, and articles.

Print legibly all upper- and lowercase letters.

Use end punctuation for sentences.

Capitalize the names of months and people.

Use commas in dates and to separate individual words in a series.

Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words.

Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions.

Write numerals up to 120; understand that numbers are also written as words; write words for numbers from one to ten.

Begins in grade 2.

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies. use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies. use frequently occurring affixes as a clue to the meaning of a word.

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies. identify frequently occurring root words (e.g., look) and their inflectional forms (e.g., looks, looked, looking).

With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings. sort words into categories (e.g., colors, clothing) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings. define words by category and by one or more key attributes (e.g., a duck is a bird that swims; a tiger is a large cat with stripes).

With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings. identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at home that are cozy).

With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings. distinguish shades of meaning among verbs differing in manner (e.g., look, peek, glance, stare, glare, scowl) and adjectives differing in intensity (e.g., large, gigantic) by defining or choosing them or by acting out the meanings.

Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, activities in the grade 1 curriculum, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions (e.g., because) to signal simple relationships.

Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization, ending punctuation).

Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.

Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.

Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).

Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.

Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.

Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.

Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.

Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.

Read words with inflectional endings.

Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.

Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.

Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text.

Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text.

Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.

Identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.

Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).

With prompting and support, read and comprehend informational texts exhibiting complexity appropriate for at least grade 1.

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

Identify characteristics of common types of stories, including folktales and fairy tales.

Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Not applicable.

Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.

With prompting and support, read and comprehend literary texts representing a variety of genres, cultures, and perspectives and exhibiting complexity appropriate for at least grade 1.

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).

Build on others' talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.

Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood.

Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly and using appropriate vocabulary.

Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation.

Write opinion pieces that introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.

Write informative/explanatory texts that name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

For poems, use rhyming words and words that repeat long or short vowel sounds to create structure

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

Begins in grade 3.

Demonstrate the ability to choose and use appropriate vocabulary.

With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of how-to books on a given topic and use them to write a sequence of instructions).

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

Begins in grade 4.

Write routinely for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences and choose among sentence types depending on the meaning to be conveyed.

Use adjectives and adverbs in sentences and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.

Use collective nouns and frequently occurring irregular plural nouns.

Use reflexive pronouns.

Form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs.

Print upper- and lowercase letters legibly and fluently.

Capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names.

Use commas in greetings and closings of letters.

Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives.

Generalize learned spelling patterns when writing words (e.g., cage → badge; boy → boil).

Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.

Demonstrate understanding that context determines whether the writer uses a numeral or a written number (e.g., numerals in 1 + 3 = 4, but written words in "When I was one, I was just begun, / When I was two, I was still quite new" from A. A. Milne's poem "Now We Are Six").

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Compare formal and informal uses of English.

Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known prefix is added to a known word (e.g., happy/unhappy, tell/retell).

Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., addition, additional).

Use knowledge of the meaning of individual words to predict the meaning of compound words (e.g., birdhouse, lighthouse, housefly; bookshelf, notebook, bookmark).

Use glossaries and beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases.

Recognize and use appropriately abbreviations related to grade-level content or commonly used in everyday life (e.g., a.m., p.m.)

Recognize and use appropriately symbols related to grade-level content or commonly used in everyday life (e.g., $, ¢).

Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe foods that are spicy or juicy).

Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs (e.g., toss, throw, hurl) and closely related adjectives (e.g., thin, slender, skinny, scrawny).

Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, activities in the grade 2 curriculum, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe.

Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.

Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.

Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.

Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences.

Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.

Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, mathematical ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area.

Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.

Explain how specific images (e.g., a diagram showing how a machine works) contribute to and clarify a text.

Describe how reasons support specific points the author makes in a text.

Compare and contrast the most important points presented by two texts on the same topic.

Independently and proficiently read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, mathematical, and technical texts, exhibiting complexity appropriate for at least grade 2.

Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

Retell stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

Explain what dialogue is and how it can reveal characters' thoughts and perspectives.

Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Not applicable.

Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.

Independently and proficiently read and comprehend literary texts representing a variety of genres, cultures, and perspectives and exhibiting complexity appropriate for at least grade 2.

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).

Build on others' talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others.

Ask for clarification and further explanation as needed about the topics and texts under discussion.

Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue.

Tell a story, recount an experience, or explain how to solve a mathematical problem with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences and using appropriate vocabulary.

Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or descriptions of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification.

Write opinion pieces that introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section. In math, instead of writing opinions, students write or draw solutions to math word problems and present arguments to explain their thinking.

Write informative/explanatory texts that introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

For poems, use words and phrases that form patterns of sounds (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, end rhymes, repeated sounds in words or lines) to create structure.

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

Begins in grade 3.

Demonstrate the ability to choose and use appropriate vocabulary.

With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations).

Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Begins in grade 4.

Write routinely for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple, compound, and complex sentences.

Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.

Use verbs in the present, past, and future tenses and choose among them depending on the overall meaning of the sentence.

Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and choose between them depending on the overall meaning of the sentence.

Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs and choose between them depending on what is to be modified and the overall meaning of the sentence.

Use abstract nouns.

Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns and the past tense of regular and irregular verbs.

Write legibly and fluently by hand, using either printing or cursive handwriting.

Capitalize appropriate words in titles.

Use commas in addresses.

Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.

Form and use possessives.

Use conventional spelling for high-frequency and other studied words and for adding suffixes to base words (e.g., sitting, smiled, cries, happiness).

Demonstrate understanding that numerals used at the beginning of a sentence are written as words and capitalized (e.g., "Three pandas could be seen eating leaves high in the bamboo grove.").

Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.

Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.

Choose words and phrases for effect.

Recognize and observe differences between the conventions of spoken and written English.

Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known affix is added to a known word (e.g., agreeable/disagreeable, comfortable/uncomfortable, care/careless, heat/preheat).

Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., company, companion).

Use glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

Recognize and use appropriately abbreviations related to grade-level content or common in everyday life (e.g., N, S, E, W on a map).

Recognize and use appropriately symbols related to grade-level content or common in everyday life (e.g., <, >).

Distinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context (e.g., take steps).

Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe people who are friendly or helpful).

Distinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty (e.g., knew, believed, suspected, heard, wondered).

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships.

Identify and know the meaning of the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes.

Decode words with common Latin suffixes.

Decode multisyllable words.

Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, mathematical ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.

Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.

Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words, numbers, and symbols in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).

Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.

Independently and proficiently read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, mathematical, and technical texts, exhibiting complexity appropriate for at least grade 3.

Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

Retell stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in a text.

Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from figurative language.

Identify common structural elements of fiction (e.g., problem, solution); describe how each successive part of a text builds on earlier sections.

Distinguish their own point of view from that of a text's narrator or those of its characters.

Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).

Not applicable.

Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series).

Independently and proficiently read and comprehend literary texts representing a variety of genres, cultures, and perspectives and exhibiting complexity appropriate for at least grade 3.

Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).

Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks of others.

Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.

Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.

Report on a topic, text, or solution to a mathematical problem, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace and using appropriate vocabulary.

Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details.

Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification.

Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.

Provide reasons that support the opinion.

Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because, therefore, since, for example) to connect opinion and reasons.

Provide a concluding statement or section.

Introduce a topic and group-related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.

Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

Use linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more, but) to connect ideas within categories of information.

Provide a concluding statement or section.

Establish a situation and introduce a speaker, narrator, and/or characters; organize an appropriate narrative sequence.

Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences or events or show responses to situations.

Use figurative language to suggest images.

Use temporal words and phrases to signal order where appropriate.

Provide a sense of closure.

For poems, use words and phrases that form patterns of sound (e.g., rhyme, repetition of sounds within words or within lines) to create meaning or effect.

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

Demonstrate command of standard English conventions.

Demonstrate the ability to choose and use appropriate vocabulary

Use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

Begins in grade 4.

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 discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Produce complete sentences, using knowledge of subject and predicate to recognize and correct inappropriate sentence fragments and run-on sentences.

Correctly use frequently confused words (e.g., their/there).

Use helping verbs, also known as auxiliaries (e.g., can, may, might, should), to convey various conditions of possibility, likelihood, obligation, or permission, choosing among helping verbs depending on the overall meaning of the sentence.

Use relative pronouns and relative adverbs to add more information about a noun or verb used in a sentence.

Form and use prepositional phrases in sentences to add more information about qualities such as location, time, agency, and direction.

Form and use progressive verb tenses.

Write legibly and fluently by hand, using either printing or cursive handwriting; write their given name signature in cursive.

Use correct capitalization.

Use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text.

Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence.

Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed.

Choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely.

Choose punctuation for effect.

Differentiate between contexts that call for formal English (e.g., presenting research findings) and situations where informal discourse is appropriate (e.g., small-group discussion).

Use context (e.g., definitions, examples, or restatements in text) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., telegraph, photograph, autograph).

Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

Recognize and use appropriately abbreviations related to grade-level content or common in everyday life (e.g., hr., min., sec.).

Recognize and use appropriately symbols related to grade-level content or common in everyday life (e.g., &, #, *).

Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., as pretty as a picture) in context.

Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.

Demonstrate understanding of words by relating them to their opposites (antonyms) and to words with similar but not identical meanings (synonyms).

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).

Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context.

Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text states explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize a text.