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
- Independently and proficiently read grade-appropriate and increasingly complex literature from a variety of genres.
- Determine themes in literary texts.
- Analyze elements of literature, including an author’s use of figurative language.
- Quote accurately by referring to the text.
- Compare and contrast different texts.
- Analyze the way a text is structured.
Reading Standards for Informational Text
- Read and analyze grade appropriate informational text from a variety of content areas such as history/social studies, science and technical texts.
- Determine meaning from reading informational texts.
- Quote text accurately by referring to the text.
- Summarize informational text accurately.
- Integrate information gained from a variety of texts to determine different points of view.
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, precise vocabulary and a conclusion.
- Write narratives that include a clear sequence of events, descriptive details, dialogue, and words that indicate a change in time.
- Conduct short research projects to build knowledge through investigation.
- Plan, draft, revise and edit to produce clear and coherent writing.
- Demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to complete a writing task.
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, drawing on that preparation during the discussion.
- Paraphrase information from a wide range of sources.
- Report on a topic or text, sequencing ideas logically, using relevant facts and details, and including multimedia components.
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.
- Demonstrate the meaning of idioms and figurative language.
Source: Arizona Department of Education, Arizona English Language Arts Standards
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