Colorado Academic Standards Online

Use the options below to create customized views of the Colorado Academic Standards. For all standards resources, see the Office of Standards and Instructional Support.

Reading, Writing and Communicating - 2019

Kindergarten, Standard 1. Oral Expression and Listening

| Read the Colorado Essential Skills | Expand Set of GLEs Below

Prepared Graduates:

1. Collaborate effectively as group members or leaders who listen actively and respectfully; pose thoughtful questions, acknowledge the ideas of others; and contribute ideas to further the group’s attainment of an objective.

Grade Level Expectation:

1. Communicate using verbal and nonverbal language.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. (CCSS: SL.K.1)*
- Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (for example: listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion). (CCSS: SL.K.1a)
- Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges. (CCSS: SL.K.1b)
Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood. (CCSS: SL.K.2) *
Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood. (CCSS: SL.K.3) *
Listen with comprehension to follow two-step directions. *
Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts. (CCSS: L.K.6) *

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Accurately recognize one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. (Personal Skills, Self-Awareness)
Demonstrate an understanding of cause and effect related to personal decisions. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills, Character)
Appropriately express a range of emotions to communicate personal ideas/needs. (Professional Skills, Self-Advocacy)

Essential Questions:

How do we have conversations?
Why is it important for people to wait their turn before speaking?
What does it mean to be a good listener?

Essential Reasoning Skills:

Questions are where learning begins.
Thoughtful speakers and listeners establish agreed upon rules for communicating in their environment.

Minimum Skills Competencies:

Evidence Outcomes marked with an asterisk (*) are the minimum competencies identified in the READ Act.

Prepared Graduates:

2. Deliver effective oral presentations for varied audiences and varied purposes.

Grade Level Expectation:

2. Develop oral communication skills through a language-rich environment.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail. (CCSS: SL.K.4)
Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail. (CCSS: SL.K.5)
Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly. (CCSS: SL.K.6)
Sort common objects into categories (for example: shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent. (CCSS: L.K.5a)
Demonstrate understanding of frequently occurring verbs and adjectives by relating them to their opposites (antonyms). (CCSS: L.K.5b)
Identify real-life connections between words and their use (for example: note places at school that are colorful). (CCSS: L.K.5c)
Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (for example: walk, march, strut, prance) by acting out the meanings. (CCSS: L.K.5d)
Use new vocabulary that is directly taught through reading, speaking, and listening. *
Relate new vocabulary to prior knowledge. *

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Articulate personal strengths and challenges using different forms of communication to express themselves. (Information and Communications Technologies)
Ask questions and learn more about careers and other life pursuits. (Professional Skills, Career Awareness)
Appropriately express a range of emotions to communicate personal ideas/needs. (Professional Skills, Self-Advocacy)

Essential Questions:

Why is it important to learn new words and build speaking vocabularies?
Why is it important to speak clearly and use words the person understands?
How do we describe how objects belong together?

Essential Reasoning Skills:

Effective communicators expand their vocabulary.

Minimum Skills Competencies:

Evidence Outcomes marked with an asterisk (*) are the minimum competencies identified in the READ Act.

Reading, Writing and Communicating - 2019

Kindergarten, Standard 2. Reading for All Purposes

| Read the Colorado Essential Skills | Expand Set of GLEs Below

Prepared Graduates:

3. Read a wide range of literary texts to build knowledge and to better understand the human experience.

Grade Level Expectation:

1. Develop and apply the concepts of print and comprehension of literary texts.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Use Key Ideas and Details to:
- With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. (CCSS: RL.K.1) *
- With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details. (CCSS: RL.K.2)
- With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. (CCSS: RL.K.3) *
Use Craft and Structure to:
- Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. (CCSS: RL.K.4)
- Recognize common types of texts (for example: storybooks, poems). (CCSS: RL.K.5) *
- With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story. (CCSS: RL.K.6)
Use Integration of Knowledge and Ideas to:
- With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (for example: what moment in a story an illustration depicts). (CCSS: RL.K.7)
- With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories. (CCSS: RL.K.9)
Use Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity to:
- Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. (CCSS: RL.K.10)

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Demonstrate curiosity, imagination, and eagerness to learn more. (Entrepreneurial Skills, Creativity/Innovation)
Demonstrate a willingness to try new things. (Entrepreneurial Skills, Informed Risk Taking)
Articulate task requirements and identify deadlines. (Professional Skills, Task/Time Management)

Essential Questions:

How do pictures help us understand a story?
What are different ways to tell a story?
How do we determine what a story is about?

Essential Reasoning Skills:

Critical readers ask questions and draw conclusions from pictures and texts.

Minimum Skills Competencies:

Evidence Outcomes marked with an asterisk (*) are the minimum competencies identified in the READ Act.

Prepared Graduates:

4. Read a wide range of informational texts to build knowledge and to better understand the human experience.

Grade Level Expectation:

2. Develop and apply the concepts of print and comprehension of informational texts.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Use Key Ideas and Details to:
- With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. (CCSS: RI.K.1) *
- With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. (CCSS: RI.K.2)
- With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. (CCSS: RI.K.3)
Use Craft and Structure to:
- With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. (CCSS: RI.K.4)
- Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book. (CCSS: RI.K.5) *
- Name the author and illustrator of a text and define the role of each in presenting the ideas or information in a text. (CCSS: RI.K.6)
Use Integration of Knowledge and Ideas to:
- With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (for example: what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts). (CCSS: RI.K.7)
- With prompting and support, identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text. (CCSS: RI.K.8)
- With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (for example: in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures). (CCSS: RI.K.9)
Use Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity to:
- Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. (CCSS: RI.K.10)

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Demonstrate curiosity, imagination, and eagerness to learn more. (Entrepreneurial Skills, Creativity/Innovation)
Demonstrate a willingness to try new things. (Entrepreneurial Skills, Informed Risk Taking)
Identify key attributes of a variety of information products. (e.g., books, newspapers, online or print articles, social media) (Professional Skills, Information Literacy)

Essential Questions:

How do the illustrations help us figure out the meaning of the text?
How are informational texts read differently than literary texts?

Essential Reasoning Skills:

Critical readers understand that print informs and explains.

Minimum Skills Competencies:

Evidence Outcomes marked with an asterisk (*) are the minimum competencies identified in the READ Act.

Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand how language functions in different contexts, command a variety of word-learning strategies to assist comprehension, and make effective choices for meaning or style when writing and speaking.

Grade Level Expectation:

3. Develop basic reading skills through the use of foundational skills.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print. (CCSS: RF.K.1) *
- Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page. (CCSS: RF.K.1a)
- Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters. (CCSS: RF.K.1b) *
- Understand that words are separated by spaces in print (concept of word). (CCSS: RF.K.1c) *
- Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet. (CCSS: RF.K.1d)*
Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). (CCSS: RF.K.2)
- Recognize and produce rhyming words. (CCSS: RF.K.2a) *
- Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words. (CCSS: RF.K.2b) *
- Blend and segment the onset and rime of single-syllable spoken words. (adapted from CCSS: RF.K.2c) *
- Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words. (adapted from CCSS: RF.K.2d) *
- Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words. (CCSS: RF.K.2e) *
- Read text consisting of short sentences comprised of learned sight words and consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. *
- Identify phonemes for letters. *
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. (CCSS: RF.K3)
- Demonstrate basic knowledge of letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or most frequent sound for each consonant. (adapted from CCSS: RF.K.3a) *
- Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels. (CCSS: RF.K.3b) *
- Read common high-frequency words by sight (for example: the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does). (CCSS: RF.K.3c)
- Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ. (CCSS: RF.K.3d) *
Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding. (CCSS: RF.K.4)
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content. (CCSS: L.K.4)
- Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately (for example: knowing duck is a bird and learning the verb to duck). (CCSS: L.K.4a) *
- Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes (for example: -ed,-s, re-, un-, pre-, -ful, -less) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word. (CCSS: L.K.4b) *
Identify and manipulate sounds.
- Identify and produce groups of words that begin with the same sound (alliteration). *
- Identify the initial, medial, and final phoneme (speech sound) of spoken words. *

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns in everyday experiences. (Entrepreneurial Skills, Inquiry/Analysis)
Demonstrate a willingness to try new things. (Entrepreneurial Skills, Informed Risk Taking)
Resist distractions, maintain attention, and continue the task at hand through frustration or challenges. (Personal Skills, Perseverance/Resilience)

Essential Questions:

How do letters connect to sounds?
What are the parts of words?
How do parts of words help us understand their meaning and how they sound?

Essential Reasoning Skills:

Critical readers understand the connection between letters and sounds.
Critical readers understand that groups of letters are words.

Minimum Skills Competencies:

Evidence Outcomes marked with an asterisk (*) are the minimum competencies identified in the READ Act.

Reading, Writing and Communicating - 2019

Kindergarten, Standard 3. Writing and Composition

| Read the Colorado Essential Skills | Expand Set of GLEs Below

Prepared Graduates:

6. Craft arguments using techniques specific to the genre.

Grade Level Expectation:

1. Write opinions using labels, dictation, and drawing.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (for example: My favorite book is...). (CCSS: W.K.1)
With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed. (CCSS: W.K.5)
With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. (CCSS: W.K.6)

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Accurately recognize one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. (Personal Skills, Self-Awareness)
Recognize personal characteristics, preferences, thoughts, and feelings. (Personal Skills, Initiative/Self-Direction)
Compare attitudes and beliefs as an individual to others. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills, Global/Cultural Awareness)

Essential Questions:

How do we express our opinions in writing?
Why is it important to express our opinions in writing?

Essential Reasoning Skills:

Critical writers can describe their opinions.

Prepared Graduates:

7. Craft informational/explanatory texts using techniques specific to the genre.

Grade Level Expectation:

2. Write informative/explanatory texts on a topic using labels, dictation, and drawing.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic. (CCSS: W.K.2)
With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed. (CCSS: W.K.5)
With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. (CCSS: W.K.6)

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Create information through the use of technologies.
Recognize that problems can be identified and possible solutions can be created. (Entrepreneurial Skills, Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
Identify key attributes of a variety of information products (e.g., books, newspapers, online or print articles, social media). (Professional Skills, Information Literacy)
Find information through the use of technologies. (Professional Skills, Use Information and Communications Technologies)

Essential Questions:

How do people share ideas in print?
Why is it important to explain ideas in writing?
How can writers use pictures and words to explain ideas?

Essential Reasoning Skills:

Critical writers can explain a topic.

Prepared Graduates:

8. Craft narratives using techniques specific to the genre.

Grade Level Expectation:

3. Write real or imagined narratives using labels, dictation, and drawing.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. (CCSS: W.K.3)
With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed. (CCSS: W.K.5)
With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. (CCSS: W.K.6)

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Demonstrate curiosity, imagination, and eagerness to learn more. (Entrepreneurial Skills, Creativity/Innovation)
Demonstrate a willingness to try new things. (Entrepreneurial Skills, Inquiry/Analysis)
Accurately recognize one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. (Personal Skills, Self-Awareness)

Essential Questions:

How do people share stories in writing?
Why is it important for us to write our stories?
Why does writing our own story require us to be creative and original?

Essential Reasoning Skills:

Critical writers can produce narratives with beginnings, middles, and ends.

Prepared Graduates:

9. Demonstrate mastery of their own writing process with clear, coherent, and error-free polished products.

Grade Level Expectation:

4. Use appropriate mechanics and conventions when creating simple texts.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. (CCSS: L.K.1)
- Print many upper- and lowercase letters. (CCSS: L.K.1a)
- Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs. (CCSS: L.K.1b)
- Form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/ (for example: dog, dogs; wish, wishes). (CCSS: L.K.1c)
- Understand and use question words (interrogatives) (for example: who, what, where, when, why, how). (CCSS: L.K.1d)
- Use the most frequently occurring prepositions (for example: to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with). (CCSS: L.K.1e)
- Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities. (CCSS: L.K.1f)
Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. (CCSS: L.K.2)
- Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I. (CCSS: L.K.2a)
- Recognize and name end punctuation. (CCSS: L.K.2b)
- Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes). (CCSS: L.K.2c)
- Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships. (CCSS: L.K.2d)

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Resist distractions, maintain attention, and continue the task at hand through frustration or challenges. (Personal Skills, Perseverance/Resilience)
Articulate task requirements and identify deadlines. (Professional Skills, Task/Time Management)
Find information through the use of technologies. (Professional Skills, Use Information and Communications Technologies)

Essential Questions:

How do we write a complete sentence?
How does a writer show that one sentence ends and another begins?

Essential Reasoning Skills:

Critical writers use complete sentences.

Reading, Writing and Communicating - 2019

Kindergarten, Standard 4. Research Inquiry and Design

| Read the Colorado Essential Skills | Expand Set of GLEs Below

Prepared Graduates:

10. Gather information from a variety of sources; analyze and evaluate its quality and relevance; and use it ethically to answer complex questions.

Grade Level Expectation:

1. Explore the purposes for research and inquiry by accessing resources in collaborative settings.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Participate in shared research and writing projects (for example: explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them). (CCSS:W.K.7)
Identify a clear purpose for research or inquiry (for example: If the class is learning about trees, is my need to know more about pets related?).
Ask a specific question and gather relevant information from various sources related to that question that inform clarity of purpose and conclusions about research.
Ask primary questions of clarity, significance, relevance, and accuracy to improve quality of thinking.
Use a variety of resources to answer questions of interest through guided inquiry (for example: texts read aloud or viewed, direct observation).
Gather relevant information and check various information sources for accuracy (for example: In a class discussion focused on butterflies, students ask questions related to a butterfly and the life cycle.).
With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experience or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. (CCSS:W.K.8)

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Recognize that problems can be identified and possible solutions can be created. (Entrepreneurial Skills, Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
Identify key attributes of a variety of information products (e.g., books, newspapers, online or print articles, social media). (Professional Skills, Information Literacy)
Find information through the use of technologies. (Professional Skills, Use Information and Communications Technologies)

Essential Questions:

Why do researchers ask questions?
How do researchers use resources to help find the answers to their questions?

Essential Reasoning Skills:

Researchers continually find resources to support, challenge, or change thinking.
Researchers understand that a variety of sources may be explored to find answers (for example: direct observation, trade books, texts read aloud or viewed) to answer questions or interest through guided inquiry.
Researchers know that for thinking to improve, it is necessary to ask critical questions.

Need Help? Submit questions or requests for assistance to bruno_j@cde.state.co.us