Curriculum

With prompting and support, children will ask and answer questions about key details in a text. For example, after reading a story like "The Three Little Pigs," a teacher might ask, "What did the first pig build his house out of?" and the child can answer, "Straw." The teacher might also encourage the child to ask their own questions, such as "Why did the wolf want to blow the houses down?"

With prompting and support, children will retell familiar stories, including key details. For example, after reading "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," a teacher might ask, "Can you tell me what happened in the story?" The child could respond by saying, "Goldilocks went into the bears' house, tried their porridge, and sat in their chairs." The teacher might help by prompting them to remember important details, like, "What happened when the bears came home?"

With prompting and support, children will identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. For example, in the story "Little Red Riding Hood," a teacher might guide children by asking specific questions like, "Who are the main characters in the story?" to which children might respond with "Little Red Riding Hood, her grandmother, and the wolf." The teacher could further prompt, "Where does the story take place?" leading children to discuss the settings such as the forest and grandmother's house. Finally, to identify major events, the teacher might ask, "What happens when Little Red Riding Hood meets the wolf?"

With prompting and support, children will ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. For example, while reading a story like "The Little Engine That Could," if they come across a word like "massive," a teacher might notice the confusion and ask, "Do you know what 'massive' means?" If the child is unsure, the teacher can help by saying, "Massive means very big or huge." Then, the teacher might ask, "Can you think of something massive?" encouraging the child to use the new word in context.

Children will distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text. This means they will learn to notice what details come from the images and what details come from the written text. For example, if they see a picture of a dog playing in a park and read the sentence "The dog is running fast," they will understand that the picture shows how the dog looks and where it is, while the words describe what the dog is doing

Children will know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text. This means they will learn to look at headings to see what a section is about, use the table of contents to find the right page for a topic, check the glossary to understand the meaning of new words, and click on icons in digital texts to get more information.

Children will, with prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear. For example, after reading a story, the teacher might ask, "What does this picture show?" The children could respond, "It shows the bunny and the carrot." The teacher might then prompt them to connect that illustration to the text by asking, "How does this picture help us understand what happens in the story?" The children might answer, "It helps us see what the bunny looks like and where he is."

Children will, with prompting and support, identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text. For example, after reading a nonfiction text, the teacher might ask, "What reasons does the author give to explain why trees are important?" The children could respond with answers such as, "The author says trees provide oxygen and homes for animals." The teacher may encourage them to look back at the text for specific phrases that support their answers, helping them understand how authors use reasons to back up their main points.

Children will, with prompting and support, identify basic similarities and differences between two texts on the same topic. For example, after reading two books about animals, the teacher might ask, "What is the same about these two books?" The children could identify similarities, such as "Both books show pictures of lions." Then, the teacher might prompt them to find differences, asking, "How are these books different?" The children might respond, "One book talks about lions living in the jungle, and the other talks about lions in the zoo."

Children will actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. For example, during a shared reading session, the teacher may read a story aloud while the children follow along and track the words with their fingers. They will be encouraged to participate by predicting what will happen next, asking questions about the story, and sharing their thoughts about the characters and events.