K-8 Reading Objectives

Ohio's Reading Objectives

Introduction: Basis for Benchmarks

Reading objectives for kindergarten through eighth grade students are adapted from the Ohio Department of Education’s 2001 revised academic content standards for reading. These standards were updated in December, 2001 and are in alignment with the No Child Left Behind legislation of 2001.

Reading by Third Grade

It is the goal of the school that all students be proficient readers by the end of their third grade year. Specifically, the school and state expectations for students in the third grade involve the content areas of phonemic awareness, word recognition and fluency, acquisition of vocabulary, concepts of print, comprehension strategies, word recognition strategies, and reading applications involving informational, technical, persuasive and literary texts. For phonemic awareness, students in the third grade are expected to have mastered using letter-sound correspondence, and should be able to use structural analysis to decode words. This should lead to fluent reading using both site words and decoding skills. Oral reading skills for students in the third grade include demonstrating correct intonation and timing of speech.

As for the content standard of vocabulary acquisition, third grade students should be able to use context clues, as well as word parts and relationships in defining new words. For words students can’t identify, students should understand other means to discover word meanings and pronunciations (dictionary, internet, etc.). Students should also have a large body of high frequency site words they automatically understand and read.

In comprehending what has been read, third grade students should utilize a multitude of reading comprehension strategies in understanding passages. Students should be able to make predictions based on the text read, as well as draw conclusions about what has been read. For both, students should be able to explain their reasoning by citing the given text. Students should be able to compare and contrast two passages, and should be able to show comprehension by answering questions about passages read. Finally, students should be able to monitor their own comprehension progress.

In reading non-literary texts, students should be able to comprehend the main and supporting ideas behind information given, be able to understand written directions, work with visual aids for technical information, and know which questions to ask to clarify understanding about informational text. In reading literary texts, students in the third grade should be able to identify and compare plots of separate literary works, describe the theme, main ideas, characters and the setting of the reading materials, recognize and describe different types of literary forms and genres, and recognize how an author inputs mood into a written work.

Kindergarten through Second Grade: Progressive Indicators

In progressing towards the stated goals for the end of the third grade year, students will need to develop specific abilities for each previous year of schooling. The indicators for each grade previous to the third grade level follow.

Kindergarten

By the end of the student’s kindergarten year, the child should be able to write his or her first and last names, recognize all upper case and lower case letters and common letter sounds, understand that letters make up words and words are used to tell a story. The child should understand that books are read from front to back, top to bottom, and left to right. Children of this age should be able to count out the syllables in words and recognize rhyming words and patterns. Clapping and other counting games can be used towards this purpose. The individual phonemes of words can be separated and some one syllable words should be able to be read by site. Common sign words (stop signs, exit signs, etc.) should be understood by site as well.

Children of kindergarten age should be able to distinguish fiction from fact and identify their favorite stories and books. A story’s characters and setting should be identifiable and explainable by the child.

First Grade

Building and reinforcing what has been learned in kindergarten (or in some cases, Transitional First Grade), students should also be able to recognize beginning and ending word sounds and utilize sound and consonant blends and word families to sound out unknown words. Students should be able to recognize the purpose of punctuation and express this when reading texts. First grade children are expected to be able to group known words into categories, understand the concepts of synonyms, antonyms and some homophones. Children should also be able to recognize contractions, compound words, and common abbreviations.

In discussing books, children should understand the concept and importance of authors and illustrators. Children should understand the purposes of reading, such as to gaining knowledge or being entertained. With the assistance of illustrations, students should also be able to make predictions in texts being read. Children in first grade should also be able to compare texts to other passages previously read, and demonstrate knowledge of read passages by answering both literal and inferential questions and retelling the basic concepts, or main ideas, of recently read stories.

Second Grade

In the path to the third grade reading objectives, and in addition to the skills taught in kindergarten through first grade, second grade students should develop skills in the following areas. Students in the second grade should be able to differentiate between the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words. Students should be able to orally read age appropriate texts with fluency, adjusting voice and pitch as appropriate. Decoding skills are used to identify words unrecognized by sight. Prefixes and suffixes should be able to be manipulated to create new words from known words. Also, verb tenses and persons should be recognized.

In addition to illustrations, children in the second grade should be able to employ the table of contents, glossary and captions in working with texts. Readers should be able to organize events or directions in texts in sequential order, and answer the “who, what, why, where, when, and how” questions relating to passages read. Additionally, second graders should be able to tell the difference between stories, poems, plays, fairy tales and fables.

Reading by Seventh Grade

The next major point defining reading goals falls at the end of the student’s seventh grade year. Here, students should be proficient in areas covering acquisition of vocabulary, concepts of print, comprehension strategies, word recognition strategies, and reading applications involving informational, technical, persuasive and literary texts. There is no stated criterion covering focus on phonemic awareness or word recognition and fluency during these years, as these skills are to be mastered by the end of the third grade. For the other content areas, the following skills will have been augmented to the third grade mastered skills.

For the benchmark covering vocabulary acquisition, students at the end of seventh grade should be able to utilize analogies, word relationships, knowledge of word origins and derivations, roots, and affixes in inferring word meaning. In discussing the reading process, students should be able to explain the purposes of reading. Additionally, students should be able to ask and respond to a variety of questions in assisting themselves and others in deriving meaning from passages.

Students working with informational, technical, or persuasive texts should be able to differentiate between cause and effect and facts and opinions. Additionally, students should be able to describe how the main ideas of a variety of sources are interconnected, recognize the persuasive techniques used in papers, as well as separate and identify arguments used in persuasive passages. In researching a topic, students should be able to understand the different organizations of ideas from multiple sources in drawing a unified conclusion. In critiquing a work, students should be able to describe how well a summary reflects the actual content and details of an article.

When working with literary articles, seventh grade students should be able to discuss the development of characters, the importance of setting, predict future events based on the plot of a work, and comprehend the various points of view in a narrative. Also, students should be able to recognize differences and likenesses of multiple literary forms and genres.

Fourth Grade through Sixth Grade: Progressive Indicators

As with working towards the third grade goals in reading, there are yearly indicators for students in fourth through sixth grade as they progress towards the seventh grade ambitions. These indicators are as described below.

Fourth Grade

Beginning in the fourth grade, there are no specific benchmarks for phonemic awareness, fluency, or word recognition. It is expected that these skills will naturally improve over the years, leading to conversational speed reading with full comprehension. Vocabulary acquisition will grow as texts grow more difficult, yet reading will continue to become easier for the student.

In vocabulary understanding, fourth grade readers should understand the difference between a word’s actual definitional meaning and its figurative meaning in the context of a passage. Students should be able to explain the concepts of homophones and homographs, as well as synonyms, antonyms, similes and metaphors.

In working with texts as a whole, students of this level should be able to summarize written works, identifying not only the main ideas, but supporting details as well. Students should be able to research topics or themes utilizing a variety of informational sources, including magazines, computers, books and newspapers, as well as maps, diagrams, charts and graphs. In doing research, students should be able to differentiate between fact and opinion. In fictional works, fourth grade readers should be able to describe the thoughts and emotions of characters and recognize how word choice can affect the mood of the reader.

Fifth Grade

In addition to the progression discussed through fourth grade, fifth grade readers will be able to use word origins to assist in identifying the meanings of new words. As informational books become more complex in layout, students will be able to utilize footnotes and sidebars combined with text in gathering information. Additionally, fifth grade students will use be able to use other text features, including chapter titles, headings and subheadings, the index and table of contents and online search engines to locate information. Students will also recognize that many texts may have more than one main idea, but rather that there may be several ideas and supporting details for each. Students will be able to separate relevant from irrelevant information in passages read.

In studying literary texts, fifth grade students should be able to describe how a character’s written thoughts and actions tell of his or her motivations. Readers should identify and clarify the use of figurative language, including idioms, similes, hyperboles, metaphors and personification. Students should also be able to describe how point of view can influence the affect of a passage.

Sixth Grade

Beginning in the sixth grade year, readers should begin to recognize words from other languages which have been adopted in English. Students should also be able to interpret metaphors and similes in understanding new uses of words and phrases in reading passages. Students of this level should be able to make observations and comparisons across texts and within large bodies of text.

Students in the sixth grade level should be able to identify an author’s viewpoint and assess the sufficiency and correctness of details used and understand an author’s purpose for writing, including whether it is the author’s intent to explain, entertain, persuade or inform the reader. In literary works, the reader should be able to explain the differences between points of view, including first person, third person, and omniscient points of view. Across works, readers should recognize recurring themes, patterns and symbols present in literature from unique eras and cultures.

Moving towards High School: Eighth Grade Indicators

After reaching the seventh grade benchmarks, students are next geared towards the 10th and then 12th grade goals. On the path to the tenth grade benchmarks (not discussed in this paper) are the eighth grade indicators which include the following novel proficiencies.

Students in the seventh grade will begin to recognize that various cultural, political, technological, and social events are continuously changing the English language. It is understood that our language, and therefore what we need to be able to read and understand, is fluid. Conversely, students should begin to appreciate the historical significance of Greek, Latin, and other roots in our language. Knowledge of these roots will lead to a better ability to understand newfound words derived from these roots, especially in readings pertaining to math and sciences.

In reading traditional literature, eighth grade students should be able to discuss the dynamics of various characters, the importance of subplots, parallel episodes, foreshadowing, flashback, and other literary devices. An author’s body of work should be recognized for its similarities and uniqueness. Finally, reading at this level will move beyond the traditional print sources, expanding into items such as warranties, newspaper opinion pages, product information sheets, workplace style documentation, and publicly reproduced speeches.

Filed under: EDC 539 & 573 Administration of Pupil Personnel Services & Orientation to the Educational Process
Copyright: April, 2004 - David Profitt