Tennessee K–6 english language arts standards

Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.

Recognize and begin to 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 two- and three-phoneme (VC or CVC) words, excluding CVC words ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.

Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.

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; demonstrate one-to-one correspondence between voice and print.

Recognize and name all upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet in isolation and in connected text.

Distinguish between pictures and words.

Demonstrate knowledge of one-to-one letter sound correspondence by producing the most frequent sound for each consonant.

Associate the long and short phonemes with common spellings for the five major vowels.

Read common high-frequency words by sight.

Decode regularly spelled CVC words.

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

With modeling or verbal prompts, orally produce complete sentences.

Follow one-to-one correspondence between voice and print when writing a 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.

Use the most frequently occurring prepositions when speaking and in shared language activities.

Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities.

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

Recognize and name end punctuation.

Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately.

Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word.

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

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

Make real-life connections between words and their use.

Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action.

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

Write uppercase and lowercase manuscript letters from memory.

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

Represent phonemes first to last in simple words using letters (graphemes) such as rop for rope.

Spell VC (at, in) and CVC (pet, mud) words with short vowels; spell V (a, I) and CV (be, go) words with long vowels.

Identify the letters used to represent vowel phonemes and those used to represent consonants; know that every syllable has a vowel.

Write some common, frequently used words (am, and, like, the).

Print many upper and lowercase letters.

With prompting and support, determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a Kindergarten topic or subject area.

Know various text features.

With prompting and support, define the role of an author and illustrator in presenting the ideas or information in a text.

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

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

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

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

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

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

With prompting and support, read informational texts of appropriate complexity for Kindergarten.

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

Recognize common types of texts.

With prompting and support, define the role of authors and illustrators in the telling of a story.

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

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

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

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

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

With prompting and support, read stories and poems of appropriate complexity for Kindergarten.

Participate with varied peers and adults in collaborative conversations in small or large groups about appropriate Kindergarten topics.

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 of descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.

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

With guidance and support, produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from others and add details to strengthen writing as needed.

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

Participate in shared research and writing projects, such as reading a number of books by a favorite author and expressing opinions about them.

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

With guidance and support from adults, engage routinely in writing activities to promote writing fluency and build writing stamina.

With prompting and support, use a combination of drawing, dictating, and/or writing to compose opinion pieces.

With prompting and support, use a combination of drawing, dictating, and/or writing to compose informative/explanatory texts.

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

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 of words; reread as necessary.

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

Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

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).

Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence, such as first word, capitalization, and ending punctuation.

Know the sound-spelling correspondence for common consonant digraphs.

Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.

Know the final –e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds, including r controlled vowels.

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 decodable text with purpose and understanding.

Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.

Use singular and plural nouns with correct verbs in basic sentences.

Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns.

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

Use frequently occurring adjectives.

Use frequently occurring conjunctions.

Use articles and demonstratives.

Use frequently occurring prepositions such as during, beyond, and toward.

Produce and expand simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in response to prompts.

Capitalize names of people and dates.

End sentences with correct punctuation.

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

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

Use frequently occurring affixes as a clue to the meaning of a word.

Identify frequently occurring root words and their inflectional forms.

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

Define words by category and by one or more key attributes.

Identify real-life connections between words and their use.

Distinguish shades of meaning among words by defining or choosing them or by acting out the meanings.

Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships.

Use conventional spelling for one-syllable words with common consonant spelling patterns, including consonant diagraphs, double letters, and initial and final consonant blends.

Use conventional spelling for one-syllable words with common vowel spelling patterns including VCVe, common vowel teams, final -y, and r-controlled vowels.

Spell words with inflectional endings.

Spell two-syllable words that end in -y or -ly, are compounds, or have two closed syllables.

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

Write many common, frequently used words and some irregular words.

Print all upper and lowercase letters.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 1 topic or subject area.

Know and use various text features 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.

Either orally or in writing when appropriate, use the illustrations and words in a text to describe its key ideas.

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

Identify basic similarities and differences between two texts on the same topic including written details and illustrations when developmentally appropriate.

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

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

Using graphic organizers or including written details and illustrations when developmentally appropriate, describe the connections between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

With prompting and support, read informational texts of appropriate complexity for grade 1.

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

Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide range of text types.

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

Either orally or in writing when appropriate, use illustrations and words in a text to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories including written details and illustrations when developmentally appropriate.

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

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

Using graphic organizers or including written details and illustrations when developmentally appropriate, describe characters, settings, and major events in a story using key details.

With prompting and support, read stories and poems of appropriate complexity for grade 1.

Participate with varied peers and adults in collaborative conversations in small or large groups about appropriate 1st grade topics and texts.

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.

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

With prompting and support, speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation.

With guidance and support, produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from others, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.

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

Participate in shared research and writing projects, such as exploring a number of "how to" books on a given topic and using 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.

With guidance and support from adults, engage routinely in writing activities to promote writing fluency and build writing stamina.

With prompting and support, write opinion pieces introducing the topic or text, stating an opinion, supplying a reason for the opinion, and providing some sense of closure.

With prompting and support, write informative/explanatory texts, naming a topic, supplying some facts about the topic, and providing some sense of closure.

With prompting and support, write narratives recounting an event, including some details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings; use time order words to signal event order and provide some sense of closure.

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 of words; reread as necessary.

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.

Decode grade-level texts with purpose and understanding.

Use collective nouns.

Form and use frequently occurring irregular plural nouns.

Use reflexive pronouns such as myself and ourselves.

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

Use adjectives and adverbs correctly.

Produce, expand, and rearrange simple and compound sentences.

Use common coordinating conjunctions.

Capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names.

Use commas in the greeting and closing of a letter.

Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives.

With prompting and support, link sentences into a simple, cohesive paragraph with a main idea or topic.

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.

Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root.

Use knowledge of the meaning of individual words to predict the meaning of compound words.

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

Identify real-life connections between words and their use.

Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related words.

Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe.

Use conventional spelling for one-syllable words including position-based patterns, complex consonant blends, less common vowel teams for long vowels, vowel-r combinations, contractions, homophones, plurals, and possessives.

Use conventional spelling for regular two- and three-syllable words containing combined syllable types, compounds, and common prefixes and derivational suffixes.

Spell words with suffixes that require consonant doubling, dropping silent -e, and changing y to i.

Write most common, frequently used words and most irregular words.

Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, to check and correct spelling.

Print legibly in manuscript; write many upper and lowercase letters in cursive.

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 to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

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

Identify and explain how illustrations and words contribute to and clarify a text.

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

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

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 multi-paragraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within a text.

Describe the connections between a series of historical events, scientific ideas, or steps in a process in a text.

Read and comprehend stories and informational texts throughout the grades 2-3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding at the high end as needed.

Describe how words and phrases supply meaning in a story, poem, or song.

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

Determine when characters have different points of view.

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

Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story by different authors or different cultures.

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

Recount 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.

Read and comprehend stories and poems throughout the grades 2-3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding at the high end as needed.

Participate with varied peers and adults in collaborative conversations in small or large groups about appropriate 2nd grade topics and texts.

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 gather information or clarify something that is not understood.

Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.

Add audio or visual elements to stories or recounts of experiences, when appropriate, to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

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

With guidance and support, produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.

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

Participate in shared research and writing projects, such exploring a number of books on a single topic or engaging in science experiments to produce a report.

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

With guidance and support from adults, engage routinely in writing activities to promote writing fluency.

Introduce topic or text.

State an opinion.

Supply reasons to support the opinion.

Use linking words to connect the reasons to the opinion.

Provide a concluding statement or section.

Introduce a topic.

Use facts and definitions to provide information.

Provide a concluding statement or section.

Include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings.

Use time order words to signal event order.

Provide a sense of closure.

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 of words; reread as necessary.

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

Decode words with common Latin suffixes, such as -ly, -less, and -ful.

Decode multi-syllable words.

Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs as used in general and in particular sentences.

Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.

Use abstract nouns.

Form and use regular and irregular verbs.

Form and use simple verb tenses.

Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.

Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs correctly.

Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.

Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.

Capitalize appropriate words in titles.

Use commas in addresses.

Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.

Form and use possessives.

Write a cohesive paragraph with a main idea and detailed structure.

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.

Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root.

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

Distinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context.

Identify real-life connections between words and their use.

Distinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty.

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

Use spelling patterns and generalizations in writing one-, two-, and three-syllable words.

Use conventional spelling for high frequency words, including irregular words.

Consult reference materials, including a dictionary and thesaurus, as needed to check and correct spellings.

Write legibly in manuscript; write all lower and uppercase cursive letters.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.

Use text features to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

Distinguish reader point of view from that of an author of a text.

Use information gained from illustrations and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of a text.

Explain how reasons support specific points an author makes in a text.

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

Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as a 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, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

Read and comprehend stories and informational texts at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language (e.g., feeling blue versus the color blue).

Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part of a text builds on earlier sections.

Distinguish reader perspective from that of the narrator or the perspectives of the characters and identify the point of view of a text.

Explain how illustrations in a text contribute to what is conveyed by the words.

Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters.

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

Recount 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 the text.

Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

Read and comprehend stories and poems at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Prepare for collaborative discussions on 3rd grade level topics and texts; engage effectively with varied partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own ideas clearly.

Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text presented in diverse media such as visual, quantitative, and oral formats.

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

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

Add audio or visual elements 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.

With guidance and support, produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 3.)

With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing, as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of technological skills to type a complete product in a single sitting as defined in W.1-3.

Conduct short research projects that build general knowledge about a topic.

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

Include evidence from literary or informational texts, applying grade 3 standards for reading.

Write routinely over extended time frames for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences; promote writing fluency.

Introduce a topic or text.

Develop an opinion with reasons that support the opinion.

Create an organizational structure that lists supporting reasons.

Provide a concluding statement or section.

Use linking words and phrases to connect opinion and reasons.

Apply language standards addressed in the Foundational Literacy standards.

Introduce a topic.

Group related information together, including illustrations when needed to provide clarity to the reader.

Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

Provide a conclusion.

Use linking words and phrases to connect ideas within categories of information.

Use precise language to inform about or explain the topic.

Apply language standards addressed in the Foundational Literacy standards.

Establish a situation by using a narrator, including characters, and organizing an event sequence that unfolds naturally.

Use dialogue and/or descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events, or to show the response of characters to situations.

Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.

Provide a sense of closure.

Apply language standards addressed in the Foundational Literacy standards.

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 of words; reread as necessary.

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

Use relative pronouns and relative adverbs.

Form and use progressive verb tenses.

Use auxiliary verbs such as can, may, and must to clarify meaning.

Form and use prepositional phrases.

Produce complete sentences; recognize and correct inappropriate fragments and run-ons.

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.

Write several cohesive paragraphs on a topic.

Use context 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.

Consult reference materials, both print and digital, to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors in context.

Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms and proverbs.

Demonstrate understanding of words by relating them to their opposites and to words with similar but not identical meanings

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 and that are basic to a particular topic.