Figure 3.25. Kindergarten Standards in Phonics and Word Recognition with Examples
Standard 3 Examplea. Demonstrate basic knowledge
of one-to-one letter-sound
correspondences by producing
the primary or many of the most
frequent sounds for each consonant.When children see the printed letter “s,” in isolation (as
on a flash card) and in text (as in an emergent level
book they are viewing), they indicate that it represents
the sound /s/. When they hear the sound /s/, they
identify the letter that represents it.b. Associate the long and short sounds
with common spellings (graphemes)
for the five major vowels. (Identify
which letters represent the five
major vowels [Aa, Ee, Ii, Oo,
and Uu] and know the long and
short sound of each vowel. More
complex long vowel graphemes
and spellings are targeted in the
grade 1 phonics standards.) (CA
addition)Vowels: When children see the printed letter “A” or “a,”
they indicate that it may represent /ā/ or /ă/ (the long
or short vowel sound).*c. Read common high-frequency words
by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she,
my, is, are, do, does).When children see selected high-frequency words in
print (both in isolation and in text), they say the words.d. Distinguish between similarly spelled
words by identifying the sounds of
the letters that differ.Children know which of the following two printed
words is man by examining the words and using their
knowledge of the letter-sound correspondences: man
fan* Vowels may, of course, represent sounds other than the long and short sounds, but those are not the focus of this
standard in kindergarten.Because children learn to blend spoken phonemes into recognizable words (RF.K.2f), the
teacher models using this skill in tandem with children’s developing knowledge of letter-sound
correspondences to sound and blend simple printed words, such as mom and cat. Words may be
blended in their entirety (e.g., /mmŏŏmm/ is mom, elongating sounds as appropriate) or in smaller
chunks (e.g., /mmŏŏ/ is /mŏ/, then the initially blended unit is blended with the final sound so
/mŏmm/ is mom). Importantly, words that children first learn to decode should be ones in their
vocabulary. As they begin to grapple with blending the sounds represented by letters, they match their
preliminary attempts with words that are in their mental storehouse. This is especially important when
children, typically in later grades, encounter printed words that might be pronounced one of several
different ways given the complexity of the code and the different stresses on syllables in multisyllabic
words. See the overview of the span in this chapter for additional information. As children continue
to develop as readers, they begin to encounter words that are not in their oral vocabulary. Reading
contributes significantly to their vocabulary development.
Children have many opportunities to apply their growing knowledge of the code in a variety
of contexts throughout the kindergarten year. They use what they have learned to engage with
beginning-level texts and to record their own thoughts in printed language. It is important that they
see many examples of print that match what they are learning. When print is not consistent with what
216 | Chapter 3 Kindergarten