addresses the features and structures of texts. To support the
latter, a coherent program of informational text interactions
is implemented. That is, informational texts are not selected
randomly. They are chosen on the basis of children’s interests
and grade-level content standards, topics, and themes. If
children show an interest in reptiles, for example, teachers share
and make available many texts about reptiles, thus building
children’s knowledge of the subject, including its language.
Some texts are read aloud by the teacher due to their more
challenging nature and some are read, with instructional
support, by children in small or large groups, or independently.
At the same time, teachers deliberately select informational
texts that contribute to grade-level science, social studies, and other curricula. For example, one
goal in the visual arts curriculum for California’s kindergarteners is that children explore principles of
design. When these concepts are introduced and developed, teachers share informational texts that
reinforce and extend understanding, such as Nancy Elizabeth Wallace and Linda K. Friedlaender’s
Look! Look! Look! and Molly Bang’s Picture This: How Pictures Work. The more children learn about
their worlds through hands-on experiences, discussions, and text interactions, the more they benefit
as future readers and writers in general and as learners in content areas.
Engaging in Research
Starting as transitional kindergarteners, children participate in shared research projects that may
be completed in a single day or that extend over several days or even longer (W.K–1.7). They work
in collaboration with peers, with ample guidance from an adult, to pursue topics of interest, seeking
information from a variety of sources, including texts (digital and paper), media, peers, and adults.
They also, with guidance and support, recall information from experiences or gather information
from provided sources to answer a question (W.K–1.8). Engaging in these projects contributes
to children’s knowledge. Notably, the collaborative nature of research projects, in which children
interact in meaningful ways with their peers about the rich content they are learning, also promotes
language development. Children express themselves, attend carefully to what their peers are saying,
interpret information from texts and other resources, and write or create a product that conveys
their understanding of the content. Reading and speaking and listening standards of the CA CCSS for
ELA/Literacy and the collaborative, interpretive, and productive skills outlined in the CA ELD Standards
are richly employed in joint research projects. Likewise, writing standards are addressed when children
record their questions, processes, and findings in writing.Foundational Skills
Careful, systematic attention is given to development of the
foundational skills during the early years, as these skills play a
critical role in reading success (Brady 2012, NICHD 2000) and
the achievement of the goals of ELA/ELD instruction discussed in
the introduction and chapter 2 to this ELA/ELD Framework and
displayed in the outer ring of figure 3.1. The CA CCSS Reading
Standards for Foundational Skills and Part III of the CA ELD
Standards (“Using Foundational Literacy Skills”) are directed
toward fostering children’s understanding and working knowledge
of concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics and word
recognition, and fluency. Several standards in the Language
strand, especially those in which children learn to print upper- and
lowercase letters (L.K–1.1) and learn to write a letter or letters forSome texts are read aloud
by the teacher due to their
more challenging nature
and some are read, with
instructional support, by
children in small or large
groups, or independently.150 | Chapter 3 Transitional Kindergarten to Grade 1