Focus Skills: Most Critical Reading Skills by Grade

Grade
Pre-K

Skill Set

Skill Area

1. Alphabetic Principle

1. Alphabetic Knowledge

2. Concept of Word

2. Print Concepts

3. Phonemic Awareness

3. Rhyming and Word

Families

1.Alphabetical Principle

1. Letter Sounds

2. Concept of Word

2. Print Concepts

Definition/Example
1.Recognize the letters of the
alphabet
Ex: Which of these are a
letter? Pick letter a from s, a, t
2. Understand that sounds
which are paired with letters
represent spoken speech in
print
3. Understand and identify
rhyming sounds
Ex: The sound is / /. Pick the
picture that has the / / sound.
1. Know that letters are visual
symbols that represent
phonemes
Ex: recognize the sounds in
all uppercase and lowercase
letters
2. Understand that words are
specific sequences of letters
that carry meaning
Ex: Identify which is a word,
not a letter from choices and

3. Phonemic Awareness

3. Rhyming and Word

Families

3. Blending Word Parts

3. Initial and Final Phonemes
3. Medial Phoneme
Discrimination

4. Phonics

vice versa
3. Use knowledge of rhyme to
distinguish between the
rhyming and non-rhyming
word in spoken language
Ex: The sound is /an/, pick
the picture of the word that
has the /an/ sound
3.Identify 2 and 3 syllable
patterns in spoken words
Ex: tar-get makes target
3. Identify initial and final
phonemes or sound, in spoken
words
3. Identify short vowel sounds
in spoken words

3.Phoneme
Isolation/Manipulation

3. Add or substitute initial or

final phonemes in order to
produce new words in spoken
language. Ex: Change the /s/
in sat to /b/ for bat

4. Short Vowel Sounds

4. Decode CVC( ConsonantVowel-Consonant) words

Ex: cat, mom, sad
4.Identify initial consonant
sounds with the letters that
represent them

4.Initial Consonant Sounds

5. Vocabulary Knowledge

5. Word facility
5.Understand Analogies

5. Use Context Clues

5. Read grade appropriate

high frequency words by sight
5. Understand that high
frequency words and oral
vocabulary have categorical
relationships
Ex: color, shape, size
5. Use context clues to
determine or clarify the
meanings of unfamiliar words
in grade appropriate text
Ex: Use the illustrations or
word placement

6. Reading Process Skills

6. Make Predictions

6.Predict recurring wording

Ex: Sam I am from Green
eggs and Ham

7. Literary Elements

7. Identify and understand

elements of plot

7. Identify the beginning,

middle, and end of a story.
Retell events from a story.

8. Authors Choices

8. Identify sensory detail

8.Identify the senses to which

specific words or descriptions
appeal

1st

1. Phonemic Awareness

1. Phoneme Segmentation

1. Phoneme Isolation/
Manipulation

2. Phonics

2. Short Vowel Sounds

2. Long Vowel Sounds

2. Consonant Blends

1. Recognize and distinguish

individual phonemes in
single-syllable spoken words
by segmenting phonemes
Ex: /c/ /a/ /t/
1.Add or substitute initial,
final, or medial vowel
phonemes in order to produce
new words in spoken
language
2.Distinguish short vowel
sounds from long vowel
sounds in order to
discriminate between those
sounds in single syllable
words
Ex: Read egg, we, key Egg
has the short vowel sound
2.Decode single syllable words
and identify long vowel
sounds with common
spellings in order to decode
single syllable words
2.Isolate and identify initial
consonant blends in spoken
and written words
Ex: Pick the word that starts
with /bl/ from: block, brew,
book

2. Consonant Digraphs

2. Sound-Symbol
Correspondence: vowels
2. Word Families/Rhyming

3. Vocabulary Knowledge &

Strategies

3. Word Facility
3.Use Structural Analysis
3. Antonyms

3.Use Context Clues

4. Constructing Meaning

4. Identify Details

2. Recognize and identify

consonant digraphs in words
Ex: Pick the word that has sh
from wash, have, too
2.Understand that changing
the middle vowel sound
creates a new word
2.Use knowledge of word
families to match sounds in
written words
3. Read grade-level sight
words Ex: again, could,every
3.Understand that a
compound word is a word
whose parts are also words
3.Identify and understand
antonyms for gradeappropriate words
Ex: before and after
3.Use context clues to
determine or clarify the
meanings of unfamiliar words
in grade appropriate text
Ex: Use illustrations or
rhyming words in poetry
4.Answer who, what, where,
when, why, and how
questions

5. Genre Characteristics

5. Identify fiction and

nonfiction, reality and fantasy

5. Identify whether a story is

realistic fiction or a fantasy.

6.Literary Elements

6. Identify and understand

elements of plot

6.Identify the basic elements

of a storys plot Ex: Problem,
Important events

7.Authors Choices

7. Identify Sensory Detail

7. Identify how words or

phrases in literary text appeal
to the senses