Page • Kindergarten ELAR TEKs

ELAR Kindergarten TEKS TEA Knowledge and skills.

revised June 2024

(1) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, discussion, and thinking--oral language. The student develops oral language through listening, speaking, and discussion. The student is expected to:

(A) listen actively and ask questions to understand information and answer questions using multi-word responses;

(B) restate and follow oral directions that involve a short, related sequence of actions;

(D) work collaboratively with others by following agreed-upon rules for discussion, including taking turns; and

(E) develop social communication such as introducing himself/herself, using common greetings, and expressing needs and wants.

(2) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--beginning reading and writing. The student develops word structure knowledge through phonological awareness, print concepts, phonics, and morphology to communicate, decode, and spell. The student is expected to:

(A) demonstrate phonological awareness by:

(i) identifying and producing rhyming words;

(ii) recognizing spoken alliteration or groups of words that begin with the same spoken onset or initial sound;

(iii) identifying the individual words in a spoken sentence;

(iv) identifying syllables in spoken words;

(v) blending syllables to form multisyllabic words;

(vi) segmenting multisyllabic words into syllables;

(vii) blending spoken onsets and rimes to form simple words;

(viii) blending spoken phonemes to form one-syllable words;

(ix) manipulating syllables within a multisyllabic word; and

(x) segmenting spoken one-syllable words into individual phonemes;

(B) demonstrate and apply phonetic knowledge by:

(i) identifying and matching the common sounds that letters represent;

(ii) using letter-sound relationships to decode, including VC, CVC, CCVC, and CVCC words;

(iii) recognizing that new words are created when letters are changed, added, or deleted such as it - pit - tip - tap; and

(iv) identifying and reading at least 25 high-frequency words from a research-based list;

(i) spelling words with VC, CVC, and CCVC;

(ii) spelling words using sound-spelling patterns; and

(iii) spelling high-frequency words from a research-based list;

(D) demonstrate print awareness by:

(i) identifying the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book;

(ii) holding a book right side up, turning pages correctly, and knowing that reading moves from top to bottom and left to right with return sweep;

(iii) recognizing that sentences are comprised of words separated by spaces and recognizing word boundaries;

(iv) recognizing the difference between a letter and a printed word; and

(v) identifying all uppercase and lowercase letters; and

(E) develop handwriting by accurately forming all uppercase and lowercase letters using appropriate directionality.

(3) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary. The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively. The student is expected to:

(A) use a resource such as a picture dictionary or digital resource to find words;

(B) use illustrations and texts the student is able to read or hear to learn or clarify word meanings; and

(C) identify and use words that name actions; directions; positions; sequences; categories such as colors, shapes, and textures; and locations.

(4) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--self-sustained reading. The student reads grade-appropriate texts independently. The student is expected to self-select text and interact independently with text for increasing periods of time.

(5) Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts. The student is expected to:

(A) establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected texts with adult assistance;

(B) generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information with adult assistance;

(D) create mental images to deepen understanding with adult assistance;

(E) make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society with adult assistance;

(F) make inferences and use evidence to support understanding with adult assistance;

(G) evaluate details to determine what is most important with adult assistance;

(H) synthesize information to create new understanding with adult assistance; and

(I) monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, checking for visual cues, and asking questions when understanding breaks down with adult assistance.

(6) Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed. The student is expected to:

(A) describe personal connections to a variety of sources;

(B) provide an oral, pictorial, or written response to a text;

(D) retell texts in ways that maintain meaning;

(E) interact with sources in meaningful ways such as illustrating or writing; and

(F) respond using newly acquired vocabulary as appropriate.

(7) Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts—literary elements. The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts. The student is expected to:

(A) discuss topics and determine the basic theme using text evidence with adult assistance;

(B) identify and describe the main character(s);

(C) describe the elements of plot development, including the main events, the problem, and the resolution for texts read aloud with adult assistance; and

(D) describe the setting.

(8) Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres. The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts. The student is expected to:

(A) demonstrate knowledge of distinguishing characteristics of well-known children's literature such as folktales, fables, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes;

(B) discuss rhyme and rhythm in nursery rhymes and a variety of poems;

(D) recognize characteristics and structures of informational text, including:

(i) the central idea and supporting evidence with adult assistance;

(ii) titles and simple graphics to gain information; and

(iii) the steps in a sequence with adult assistance;

(E) recognize characteristics of persuasive text with adult assistance and state what the author

is trying to persuade the reader to think or do; and

(F) recognize characteristics of multimodal and digital texts.

(9) Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances. The student is expected to:

(A) discuss with adult assistance the author's purpose for writing text;

(B) discuss with adult assistance how the use of text structure contributes to the author's purpose;

(D) discuss with adult assistance how the author uses words that help the reader visualize; and

(E) listen to and experience first- and third-person texts.

(10) Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts—writing process. The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions. The student is expected to:

(A) plan by generating ideas for writing through class discussions and drawings;

(B) develop drafts in oral, pictorial, or written form by organizing ideas;

(D) edit drafts with adult assistance using standard English conventions, including:

(i) complete sentences;

(ii) verbs;

(iii) singular and plural nouns;

(iv) adjectives, including articles;

(v) prepositions;

(vi) pronouns, including subjective, objective, and possessive cases;

(vii) capitalization of the first letter in a sentence and name;

(viii) punctuation marks at the end of declarative sentences; and

(ix) correct spelling of words with grade-appropriate orthographic patterns and rules and high-frequency words; and

(E) share writing.

(11) Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres. The student uses genre characteristics and craft to compose multiple texts that are meaningful. The student is expected to:

(A) dictate or compose literary texts, including personal narratives; and

(B) dictate or compose informational texts.

(12) Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes. The student is expected to:

(A) generate questions for formal and informal inquiry with adult assistance;

(B) develop and follow a research plan with adult assistance;

(D) demonstrate understanding of information gathered with adult assistance; and

(E) use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present

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