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Planning Page
Standard: ___________________________________________________________________________________
The standards guide instruction; they do not dictate it. So as you plan lessons remember you aren’t teaching the standards, but instead are teaching students how to read, write, talk, and think through well-crafted lessons that draw from the pedagogy embedded within them. Engaging lessons often have several ELA standards within them and integrate reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language.
Craft and Structure
Grades K–2 Common Core Reading Standard 4: Craft and Structure
Standard 4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
Literature
K Students ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
1 Students identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
2 Students describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
Informational Text
K With prompting and support, students ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
1 Students ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.
2 Students determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area.
Grades K–2 Common Core Reading Standard 4: What the Student Does
Literature
K Gist: Students ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
They consider:
What words do I not understand?
Are there words or phrases I do know that can help me figure out those I don’t know?
Do the illustrations help me figure out the meaning of a word?
1 Gist: Students identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
They consider:
Which words or phrases help me experience the text with my senses (sight, smell, taste, touch)?
Which words or phrases seem surprising or funny and may have a fancy (figurative) rather than normal (literal) meaning?
Are there words or phrases that help me picture what’s happening?
2 Gist: Students determine the meaning of words and phrases in a story, poem, or song, and how they supply rhythm and meaning.
They consider:
Which words tell me the most about the characters or actions?
Which words or phrases seem surprising or funny and so may have a fancy (figurative) rather than a normal (literal) meaning?
Which fancy words or phrases help me experience or understand the text in a deeper, more powerful way?
Are there words in a poem or song that repeat or rhyme? How does this add to my understanding and enjoyment?
Informational Text
K Gist: Students ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
They consider:
What words or phrases are hard for me?
What do I think they mean?
Do the illustrations give clues about the meaning of a word?
Are some words written in bold (to signal that they’re important)? Is there an illustration on the page that helps me understand the word in bold?
1 Gist: Students ask and answer questions to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar words.
They consider:
Do the illustrations or text features (titles, headings, captions) help me figure out the meaning of a word?
Are there words the author uses repeatedly? (These often indicate the main topic, key ideas, or key details.)
Are there words written in bold?
Can I substitute another word in place of the unknown word that would make sense?
Can I use the words and sentences around the unknown word to figure out what it means?
2 Gist: Students determine the meaning of words or phrases in a text that are relevant to a content-area topic.
They consider:
Do the illustrations or text features (titles, headings, captions) help me figure out the meaning of a word?
Are there words the author uses repeatedly?
Are there words the author has written in bold? Is there a picture/caption or glossary that refers to the word in bold?
Can I substitute another word in place of the unknown word that would make sense?
Can I use the context to figure out special, important words (domain-specific words)?
Note: Although the questions listed above are too difficult for most young students to internalize and apply on their own, we share them to give teachers a detailed sense of what their students should be striving toward as learners. K–2 students may not be able to ask these questions of themselves independently, but teachers can use them as a jumping-off point for lesson content and as prompts and reminders to share with students. Over time and with instruction, students will be able to pose these questions on their own.
Grades K–2 Common Core Reading Standard 4: What the Teacher Does
To have students ask and answer questions about unfamiliar words and phrases in a text:
Explain to students that understanding what individual words mean has everything to do with how well they understand a text. It’s the reader’s job to be on the lookout for words he or she understands or doesn’t understand.
When working with students in whole-class and small-group settings, and when conferring one-on-one, encourage students to acknowledge when they don’t know what a word or phrase means. Explain that the best readers readily pause when they don’t know a word, admit to themselves they’re confused, and work to figure it out. Share words