Foundational Skills
Children in transitional kindergarten make progress toward
achievement of the kindergarten CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy
foundational skills in reading. Instruction takes many forms
and includes direct instruction, modeling, and meaningful
exploration. Children participate in whole-class, small group,
and individual lessons. The foundational skills are taught in a
purposeful context that ensures children are eager to learn.
Alphabet letters, for example, are not taught merely for their
own sake. Children witness the symbols’ importance in many
classroom routines: books read aloud, their dictated thoughts
recorded in print, information accessed in center materials,
and a range of other activities. Children recognize that the
alphabetic code is important and has a valuable role to play
in their lives. At the same time, teachers do not assume
that children learn the letters and their corresponding sounds simply through exposure. They provide
systematic and thoughtful instruction and make explicit links with the print children see and use in the
room and in their lives.
Figure 3.16 provides the California Preschool Learning Foundations for Language and Literacy that
are related to the kindergarten reading foundations of the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy. The preschool
foundations serve as a guide to transitional kindergarten teachers as they consider precursors to
the kindergarten standards. The alignment between the
preschool foundations and the kindergarten standards
is displayed in multiple tables in The Alignment of the
California Preschool Learning Foundations with Key Early
Education Resources http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/
documents/psalignment.pdf (California Department of
Education 2012).
See the overview of the span in this chapter for guidance
on addressing foundational literacy skills instruction for
ELs in the early years. See also the English-Language
Development foundations and discussions in the California
Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1, and the
California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 1 for
guidance.
... teachers do not assume that
children learn the letters and
their corresponding sounds
simply through exposure.
They provide systematic and
thoughtful instruction and
make explicit links with the
print children see and use in
the room and in their lives.
180 | Chapter 3 Transitional Kindergarten