LitHubAZ
Effective Literacy Practices

Literacy Standards

The following indicators outline the developmental benchmarks and literacy behaviors that most children display at a particular age/grade. All are aligned with guidelines and standards established by the Arizona Department of Education. Seen together, they show the progression of development over time, but it is important to remember that all children develop at a different pace and follow varied patterns of development.

For very young children, key components of language and communication development include modeling conversations, book handling, and picture/story comprehension. For preschool and K-3 students, indicators of developing language and emergent literacy provide a clear overview of the learning goals to be achieved by the end of each year. Across the higher grades, indicators may have similar wording, but they are to be applied with increased focus to progressively more challenging texts and tasks.



Reading Standards for Literature

  • Proficiently and independently read a wide variety of grade-level appropriate literature.
  • Use key details to determine a theme of a text.
  • Use details from texts in order to make inferences, to make comparisons, and to connect ideas.
  • Refer to the text when asking or answering a question.
  • Explore the differences between poems, plays, and stories. 
  • Determine the meaning of key words and phrases in a text.
  • Compare how similar ideas and themes are presented in texts from different cultures.

Reading Standards for Informational Text

  • Proficiently and independently read a wide variety of grade-level appropriate informational texts.
  • Determine how the structure and presentation helps to organize the ideas and details in the text.
  • Determine the central idea of a text and how key details contribute to that central idea.
  • Locate evidence in the text to support answers and opinions.
  • Make connections between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or steps in technical procedures.
  • Compare, contrast, and integrate information from multiple texts or sources.
  • Find the meaning of key vocabulary words in informational texts.
  • Use various text features, such as glossaries, icons and indexes, to locate key facts and information.
  • Apply a variety of strategies to comprehend, recount and paraphrase grade-level informational text.

Reading Standards for Foundational Skills

  • Apply a variety of strategies to read unknown words in and out of context.
  • Read text with purpose and understanding, self-monitoring understanding.

Writing Standards

  • Write opinion and explanatory pieces that include evidence to support ideas, linking words, and a conclusion.
  • Write narratives that include a clear sequence of events, descriptive details, dialogue, and words that indicate a change in time.
  • Revise writing based on feedback from adults and peers.
  • Conduct short research projects that address different parts of a topic.
  • Gather information from sources to answer a question.
  • Produce writing that is organized for specific task, audience and purpose.

Writing Foundational Standards

  • Read and write cursive and manuscript.

Speaking and Listening Standards

  • Collaborate in discussions through effectively speaking and listening in a variety of settings.
  • Prepare for a discussion by reading and studying the required materials.
  • Paraphrase information from a wide range of sources.
  • Orally report on a topic or text.

Language Standards

  • Demonstrate mastery of grade level conventions (grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling).
  • Construct paragraphs that include an introduction of the topic, supporting details, and conclusion.
  • Use knowledge of Greek and Latin prefixes, suffixes, and roots to determine the meaning of unknown words.
  • Determine the meaning of unknown words using root words, prefixes, suffixes, context clues, and dictionaries.

Source: Arizona Department of Education, Arizona English Language Arts Standards

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