Illinois Pre-Kindergarten ELA Standards in Preschool Benchmarks

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1 Demonstrate increasing competence in oral communication (listening and speaking).

• 1.A Demonstrate understanding through age-appropriate responses.
  • 1.A.ECa Follow simple one-, two- and three-step directions.
  • 1.A.ECb Respond appropriately to questions from others.
  • 1.A.ECc Provide comments relevant to the context.
  • 1.A.ECd Identify emotions from facial expressions and body language.
• 1.B Communicate effectively using language appropriate to the situation and audience.
  • 1.B.ECa Use language for a variety of purposes.
  • 1.B.ECb With teacher assistance, participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners (e.g., peers and adults in both small and large groups) about age-appropriate topics and texts.
  • 1.B.ECc Continue a conversation through two or more exchanges.
  • 1.B.ECd Engage in agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening, making eye contact, taking turns speaking).
• 1.C Use language to convey information and ideas.
  • 1.C.ECa Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with teacher assistance, provide additional detail.
• 1.D Speak using conventions of Standard English.
  • 1.D.ECa With teacher assistance, use complete sentences in speaking with peers and adults in individual and group situations.
  • 1.D.ECb Speak using age-appropriate conventions of Standard English grammar and usage.
  • 1.D.ECc Understand and use question words in speaking.
• 1.E Use increasingly complex phrases, sentences, and vocabulary.
  • 1.E.ECa With teacher assistance, begin to use increasingly complex sentences.
  • 1.E.ECb Exhibit curiosity and interest in learning new words heard in conversations and books.
  • 1.E.ECc With teacher assistance, use new words acquired through conversations and book-sharing experiences.
  • 1.E.ECd With teacher assistance, explore word relationships to understand the concepts represented by common categories of words (e.g., food, clothing, vehicles).
  • 1.E.ECe With teacher assistance, use adjectives to describe people, places, and things.

2 Demonstrate understanding and enjoyment of literature.

• 2.A Demonstrate interest in stories and books.
  • 2.A.ECa Engage in book-sharing experiences with purpose and understanding.
  • 2.A.ECb Look at books independently, pretending to read.
• 2.B Recognize key ideas and details in stories.
  • 2.B.ECa With teacher assistance, ask and answer questions about books read aloud.
  • 2.B.ECb With teacher assistance, retell familiar stories with three or more key events.
  • 2.B.ECc With teacher assistance, identify main character(s) of the story.
• 2.C Recognize concepts of books.
  • 2.C.ECa Interact with a variety of types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems, rhymes, songs).
  • 2.C.ECb Identify the front and back covers of books and display the correct orientation of books and page-turning skills.
  • 2.C.ECc With teacher assistance, describe the role of an author and illustrator.
• 2.D Establish personal connections with books.
  • 2.D.ECa With teacher assistance, discuss illustrations in books and make personal connections to the pictures and story.
  • 2.D.ECb With teacher assistance, compare and contrast two stories relating to the same topic.

3 Demonstrate interest in and understanding of informational text.

• 3.A Recognize key ideas and details in nonfiction text.
  • 3.A.ECa With teacher assistance, ask and answer questions about details in a nonfiction book.
  • 3.A.ECb With teacher assistance, retell detail(s) about main topic in a nonfiction book.
• 3.B Recognize features of nonfiction books.
  • 3.B.ECa With teacher assistance, identify basic similarities and differences in pictures and information found in two texts on the same topic.

4 Demonstrate increasing awareness of and competence in emergent reading skills and abilities.

• 4.A Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.
  • 4.A.ECa Recognize the differences between print and pictures.
  • 4.A.ECb Begin to follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.
  • 4.A.ECc Recognize the one-to-one relationship between spoken and written words.
  • 4.A.ECd Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.
  • 4.A.ECe Recognize that letters are grouped to form words.
  • 4.A.ECf Differentiate letters from numerals.
• 4.B Demonstrate an emerging knowledge and understanding of the alphabet.
  • 4.B.ECa With teacher assistance, recite the alphabet.
  • 4.B.ECb Recognize and name some upper/lowercase letters of the alphabet, especially those in own name.
  • 4.B.ECc With teacher assistance, match some upper/lowercase letters of the alphabet.
  • 4.B.ECd With teacher assistance, begin to form some letters of the alphabet, especially those in own name.
• 4.C Demonstrate an emerging understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
  • 4.C.ECa Recognize that sentences are made up of separate words.
  • 4.C.ECb With teacher assistance, recognize and match words that rhyme.
  • 4.C.ECc Demonstrate ability to segment and blend syllables in words (e.g., “trac/tor, tractor”).
  • 4.C.ECd With teacher assistance, isolate and pronounce the initial sounds in words.
  • 4.C.ECe With teacher assistance, blend sounds (phonemes) in one-syllable words (e.g., /c/ /a/ /t/ = cat).
  • 4.C.ECf With teacher assistance, begin to segment sounds (phonemes) in one-syllable words (e.g., cat = /c/ /a/ /t/).
  • 4.C.ECg With teacher assistance, begin to manipulate sounds (phonemes) in words (e.g., changing cat to hat to mat).
• 4.D Demonstrate emergent phonics and word-analysis skills.
  • 4.D.ECa Recognize own name and common signs and labels in the environment.
  • 4.D.ECb With teacher assistance, demonstrate understanding of the one-to-one correspondence of letters and sounds.
  • 4.D.ECc With teacher assistance, begin to use knowledge of letters and sounds to spell words phonetically.

5 Demonstrate increasing awareness of and competence in emergent writing skills and abilities.

• 5.A Demonstrate growing interest and abilities in writing.
  • 5.A.ECa Experiment with writing tools and materials.
  • 5.A.ECb Use scribbles, letter-like forms, or letters/words to represent written language.
  • 5.A.ECc With teacher assistance, write own first name using appropriate upper/ lowercase letters.
• 5.B Use writing to represent ideas and information.
  • 5.B.ECa With teacher assistance, use a combination of drawing, dictating, or writing to express an opinion about a book or topic.
  • 5.B.ECb With teacher assistance, use a combination of drawing, dictating, or writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
  • 5.B.ECc With teacher assistance, use a combination of drawing, dictating, or writing to narrate a single event and provide a reaction to what happened.
• 5.C Use writing to research and share knowledge.
  • 5.C.ECa Participate in group projects or units of study designed to learn about a topic of interest.
  • 5.C.ECb With teacher assistance, recall factual information and share that information through drawing, dictation, or writing.