Web Resources Supporting the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum

Topic
B. Phonics

Indicator
1.Use a variety of phonetic skills to read unfamiliar words

Objective

a. Apply phonics skills Sample Assessments Assessment Limits

• Initial and final consonant blends (3 letters)
• Vowel patterns
• Long and short vowels
• Irregular/silent consonant sounds
• R-controlled vowels
• Digraphs
• Diphthongs

Topic
C. Fluency

Indicator
1. Read orally at an appropriate rate

Objective

a. Read familiar text at a rate that is conversational and consistent

Indicator
2. Read grade-level text with both high accuracy and appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression

Objectives

a. Apply knowledge of word structures and patterns to read with automaticity

b. Demonstrate appropriate use of phrasing:

• Attend to sentence patterns and structures that signal meaning in text
• Use punctuation cues to guide meaning and expression
• Use pacing and intonation (emphasis on certain words) to convey meaning and expression
• Adjust intonation and pitch (rise and fall of spoken voice) appropriately

c. Increase sight words read fluently

Topic
D. Vocabulary

Indicator
1. Develop and apply vocabulary through exposure to a variety of texts

Objectives

a. Acquire new vocabulary through listening to, independently reading, and discussing a variety of literary and informational texts

b. Discuss words and word meanings daily as they are encountered in text, instruction, and conversation

c. Collect 12-20 new words for deeper study each week

Indicator
2 . Develop a conceptual understanding of new words

Objectives

a. Classify and categorize increasingly complex words into sets and groups

b. Identify and explain word relationships, to determine the meanings of words Sample Assessments Assessment limit: Antonyms, synonyms, homophones, and homographs

c. Identify and use correctly new words acquired through study of their relationships to other words

Indicator
3. Understand, acquire, and use new vocabulary

Objectives

a. Use context to determine the meanings of words Sample Assessments Assessment limits:

• Above grade-level words used in context
• Words with multiple meanings
• Connotations versus denotations
• Grade-appropriate idioms and figurative expressions

b. Use word structure to determine the meaning of words Sample Assessments Assessment limits:

• Prefixes and suffixes
• Grade-appropriate roots and base words
• Grade-appropriate compound words
• Grade-appropriate inflectional endings

c. Use resources to determine the meanings of words Assessment Limit

• Dictionaries
• Glossaries
• Thesauruses
• Other grade-appropriate resources

d. Use new vocabulary in speaking and writing to gain and extend content knowledge and clarify expression

Topic
E. General Reading Comprehension

Indicator
1. Develop comprehension skills through exposure to a variety of texts

Objectives

a. Listen to critically, read, and discuss texts representing diversity in content, culture, authorship, and perspective, including areas, such as race, gender, disability, religion, and socio-economic background

b. Read a minimum of 25 self-selected and/or assigned books or book equivalents representing various genres

c. Discuss reactions to and ideas/information gained from reading experiences with adults and peers in both formal and informal situations

Indicator
2. Use strategies to prepare for reading (before reading)

Objectives

a. Survey and preview the text by examining features, such as the title, illustrations, photographs, charts, and graphs

b. Set a purpose for reading the text

c. Make predictions and ask questions about the text

d. Make connections to the text from prior knowledge and experiences

Indicator
3. Use strategies to make meaning from text (during reading)

Objectives

a Reread the difficult parts slowly and carefully

b. Use own words to restate the difficult part

c. Read on and revisit the difficult part

d. Skim the text to search for connections between and among ideas

e. Make, confirm, or adjust predictions

f. Periodically summarize while reading

g. Periodically paraphrase important ideas or information

h. Visualize what was read for deeper understanding

i. Use a graphic organizer or another note-taking technique to record important ideas or information

j. Explain personal connections to the ideas or information in the text

Indicator
4. Use strategies to demonstrate understanding of the text (after reading)

Objectives

a. Identify and explain the main idea Sample Assessments Assessment limit: In the text or a portion of the text

b. Identify and explain what is directly stated in the text Sample Assessments Assessment limit: Main ideas, supporting details and other information stated in the text or a portion of the text

c. Identify and explain what is not directly stated in the text by drawing inferences Sample Assessments Assessment limit: Implied information from the text or a portion of the text

d. Draw conclusions or make generalizations about the text Sample Assessments Assessment limit: Stated or implied information from the text

e. Confirm, refute, or make predictions and form new ideas Assessment limit: Stated and/or implied information from the text

f. Paraphrase the main idea Assessment limit: Complete text or a portion of the text

g. Summarize Assessment limit: The text or a portion of the text

h. Connect the text to prior knowledge or personal experience Assessment limit: Prior knowledge or experience that clarifies, extends, or challenges the ideas and/or information in the text

Topic
A. Comprehension of Informational Text

Indicator
1.Develop comprehension skills by reading a variety of self-selected and assigned print and electronic informational texts

Objectives

a. Read, use, and identify the characteristics of nonfiction materials to gain information and content knowledge Assessment limits:

• Textbooks
• Appropriate reference materials
• Personal narratives
• Diaries and journals
• Biographies
• Newspapers
• Letters
• Articles
• Web sites and other online materials
• Other appropriate content-specific texts

b. Read, use, and identify the characteristics of functional documents Assessment Limits:

• Sets of directions
• Sets of directions
• Science investigations
• Atlases
• Posters
• Flyers
• Forms
• Instructional manuals
• Menus
• Pamphlets
• Rules
• Invitations
• Recipes
• Advertisements
• Other functional documents

c. Select and read to gain information from personal interest materials, such as brochures, books, magazines, cookbooks, catalogs, and web sites

Indicator
2. Identify and use text features to facilitate understanding of informational texts Clarification

Objectives

a. Use print features Seeds | Public Release Assessment Limits:

• Large bold print
• Font size/type
• Italics
• Colored print
• Quotation marks
• Underlining
• Other print features encountered in informational texts

b .Use graphic aids Seeds Assessment Limits:

• Illustrations
• Photographs
• Drawings
• Sketches
• Cartoons
• Maps (key, scale, legend)
• Graphs
• Charts/tables
• Diagrams
• Other graphic aids encountered in informational texts

c. Use informational aids Seeds Assessment Limits:

• Introductions and overviews
• Materials lists
• Timelines
• Captions
• Glossed words
• Labels
• Numbered steps
• Bulleted lists
• Footnoted words
• Pronunciation key
• Transition words
• Boxed text

d. Use organizational aids Seeds Assessment Limits:

• Titles, chapter titles, and subtitles
• Headings, subheadings
• Tables of content
• Numbered steps
• Glossaries
• Indices
• Transition words

e. Use online features Seeds Assessment Limits:

• URLs
• Hypertext links
• Sidebars
• Drop down menus
• Home pages
• Site maps

f. Identify and explain the contributions of text features to meaning Seeds Assessment limit: Connections between text features and the main idea and/or the reader's understanding

Indicator
3. Develop knowledge of organizational structure of informational text to understand what is read Clarification

Objectives

a. Identify and analyze the organizational patterns of texts Seeds | Public Release Assessment Limits:

• Sequential and chronological order
• Cause/effect
• Problem/solution
• Similarities/differences
• Description
• Main idea and supporting details

b. Identify and use words and phrases associated with common organizational patterns Seeds Assessment Limits:

• Words that show chronology (first, second, third)
• Words that show description (above, beneath, next to, beside)
• Words that show cause and effect (because, as a result)
• Words that show sequence (next, then, finally)

Indicator
4. Determine important ideas and messages in informational texts Clarification

Objectives

a. Identify and explain the author's/text's purpose and intended audience Seeds | Public Release Assessment Limits:

• Purpose of the author or the text or a portion of the text
• Connections between the text and the intended audience

b. Identify and explain the author's opinion Seeds Assessment limit: Texts or portions of texts in which the author's opinion is evident

c. State and support main ideas and messages Seeds | Sample Assessments | Public Release Assessment limit: The whole text or a portion of the text

d. Summarize or paraphrase Seeds Assessment limit: The text or a portion of the text

e. Identify and explain information not related to the main idea Seeds Assessment limit: Information in the text that is peripheral to the main idea

f. Identify and explain relationships between and among ideas Seeds Assessment Limits:

• Comparison/contrast
• Cause/effect
• Sequence/chronology
• Relationships between and among ideas in one or more texts
• Relationships between and among ideas and prior knowledge in one or more texts

g. Draw conclusions and inferences and make generalizations and predictions from text Seeds Assessment Limits:

• From one text or across multiple texts
• Connections between and among ideas that lead a new understanding

h. Distinguish between a fact and an opinion Seeds Assessment limit: In one or more texts

i. Identify and explain how someone might use the text Seeds Assessment limit: Application of the text for personal use or content-specific use

j. Connect the text to prior knowledge or experience Seeds | Public Release Assessment limit: Prior knowledge that clarifies, extends, or challenges the ideas or information in the text or a portion of the text

Indicator
5. Identify and explain the author's use of language Clarification

Objectives

a. Identify and explain specific words or phrases that contribute to the meaning of a text Public Release Assessment Limits:

• Significant words and phrases with a specific effect on meaning
• Similes, metaphors, personification
• Connotations of grade-appropriate words
• Content vocabulary
• Denotations of above-grade-level words in context

b. Identify and explain specific words and punctuation that create tone Assessment Limits:

• Grade-appropriate words that create tone
• Tone in the text or a portion of the text
• Specific punctuation that contributes to the tone of a text or a portion of the text

c. Identify and explain the effect of repetition of words and phrases Assessment limit: Repetition for emphasis of ideas or information

Indicator
6. Read critically to evaluate informational text

Objectives

a. Explain whether the text fulfills the reading purpose Assessment limit: Connections between the content of the text and the purpose for reading

b. Identify and explain additions or changes to format or features that would make the text easier to understand Public Release Assessment limit: Connections between effectiveness of format and text features in clarifying the main idea of the text

c. Identify and explain what makes the text a reliable source of information Assessment limit: Fiction versus nonfiction text

d. Explain whether or not the author's opinion is presented fairly Assessment limit: Evidence that the author has presented all sides of the issue or topic

e. Identify and explain information not included in the text Assessment Limits:

• Information that would enhance or clarify the reader's understanding of the main idea of the text or a portion of the text
• Connections between the main idea and information not included in the text

f. Identify and explain words and other techniques that affect the reader's feelings Assessment limit: Significant words that have an emotional appeal

Topic
A. Comprehension of Literary Text

Indicator
1. Develop comprehension skills by reading a variety of self-selected and assigned literary texts

Objectives

a. Listen to critically, read, and discuss a variety of literary texts representing diverse cultures, perspectives, ethnicities, and time periods

b. Listen to critically, read, and discuss a variety of literary forms and genres

Indicator
2. Use text features to facilitate understanding of literary texts Clarification

Objectives

a. Identify and explain how organizational aids contribute to meaning Assessment limit: Title of the book, story, poem, or play

b. Identify and explain how graphic aids contribute to meaning Assessment Limits:

• Illustrations
• Punctuation
• Print features

c. identify and explain how informational aids contribute to meaning Assessment Limits:

• Footnoted words and phrases
• Captions

Indicator
3. Use elements of narrative texts to facilitate understanding Clarification

Objectives

a. Identify and distinguish among types of narrative texts Assessment Limits:

• Stories
• Folk tales
• Realistic fiction
• Historical fiction
• Fables
• Fairy tales
• Fantasy
• Biographies

b. Identify and explain the elements of a story Assessment limit: Narrative text with a main problem, sequence of chronology of events, and solution to the problem

c. Identify and describe the setting and the mood Public Release Assessment limit: Stories that have settings with a distinct time and place

d. Identify and analyze the characters Public Release Assessment Limits:

• What characters say
• What characters do
• Conclusions about the characters' traits based on what the character says and does
• Conclusions about the characters' motivations based on the characters' actions and interactions with other characters

e. Identify and explain relationships between and among characters, setting, and events Assessment Limits:

• Connections between and among characters
• Connections between and among situations
• Cause/effect relationships between characters' actions and the results of those actions
• Cause/effect relationships between and among situations and events

f. Identify and explain how the actions of the character(s) affect the plot Public Release Assessment Limits: Connections between the actions of the characters and the outcome of the story

g. Identify and describe the narrator Assessment Limits:

• Narrator of the story; speaker of the poem
• First versus third person point of vie

Indicator
4. Use elements of poetry to facilitate understanding

Objectives

a. Use structural features to identify poetry as a literary form and distinguish among types of poems Assessment Limits:

• Structure, including lines and stanzas
• Shape
• Form, including lines and stanzas
• Refrain, chorus
• Types of poems, such as haiku, diamonte, etc.
• Rhyme scheme

b. Identify and explain the meaning of words, lines, and stanzas Assessment limit: Specific meaning of words, lines and/or stanzas

c. Identify and explain sound elements of poetry Assessment Limits:

• Rhyme, rhyme scheme
• Rhythm
• Alliteration and other repetition

d. Identify and explain other poetic elements, such as setting, mood, tone, etc. that contribute to meaning

Indicator
5. Use elements of drama to facilitate understanding

Objectives

a. Use structural features to identify a play as a literary form Assessment Limits:

• List of characters (cast), including narrator
• Introductory information about the setting
• Stage directions
• Dialogue
• Props, scenery, sound effects, staging, lighting
• Acts and scenes

b. Identify and explain the action of a scene Assessment limit: Specific actions and events that occur in a scene

c. Identify and explain stage directions that help to create character and movement Assessment limit: Connections between the stage directions and the physical movement of the characters

d. Identify and explain stage directions and dialogue that help to create character Assessment limit: Connections among the stage directions, the character's lines, and how the character delivers those lines

Indicator
6. Determine important ideas and messages in literary texts Clarification

Objectives

a. Identify and explain main ideas and universal themes Public Release Assessment Limits:

• In the text or a portion of the text
• Literal versus interpretive meanings of a text or a portion of text
• Message, moral, or lesson learned from the text

b. Identify and explain a similar theme in more than one text Assessment Limits:

• Main ideas across texts
• Messages, morals, or lessons learned across texts
• Different versions of the same story across eras or cultures

c. Paraphrase the text Assessment limit: Restatement of the text or a portion of the text in student's own words

d. Summarize Assessment limit: The text or a portion of the text

e. Identify and explain personal connections to the text Public Release Assessment limit: Connections between personal experiences and the theme or main ideas

Indicator
7. Identify and describe the author's use of language Clarification

Objectives

a. Identify and explain how the use of dialogue contributes to a story Assessment limit: Character and plot development advanced through dialogue

b. Identify and explain specific words and phrases that contribute to meaning Public Release Assessment Limits:

• Significant words and phrases with a specific effect on meaning
• Denotations of above-grade-level words used in context
• Connotations of grade-appropriate words and phrases in context
• Multiple meaning words

c. Identify and explain words and punctuation that create tone Assessment Limits:

• Grade-appropriate words that describe the tone of a text or a portion of text
• Tone in the text or portion of the text
• Specific punctuation that contributes to the tone of a text or a portion of the text

d. Identify and explain figurative language Assessment Limits:

• Similes
• Metaphors
• Personification
• Onomatopoeia

e. Identify and explain language that appeals to the senses and feelings Assessment limit: Specific words and phrases that appeal to the senses

f. Identify and explain repetition and exaggeration Assessment Limits:

• Specific examples of repetition that affect meaning
• Specific examples of exaggeration
• Alliteration

Indicator
8. Read critically to evaluate literary texts

Objectives

a. Identify and explain the believability of the characters' actions and the story's events Assessment Limits:

• Realism versus fantasy
• Characters and events that parallel everyday life

b. Identify and explain questions left unanswered by the text Assessment limit: Questions and predictions about events, situations, and conflicts that might occur if the text were continued

c. Identify and explain the relationship between a literary text and its historical context Assessment limit: Connections between the text and its historical setting

Topic
A. Writing

Topic
A. Grammar

Indicator
1. Recognize elements of grammar in personal and academic reading

Indicator
2. Recognize, recall, and use basic elements of grammar to express ideas clearly

Objectives

a. Identify and use parts of speech, such as prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections

b. Combine short, related sentences using a series, compound words, and key words

c. Compose simple and compound sentences using coordinating conjunctions

d. Identify and use verb forms, such as singular/plural, regular/irregular

e. Identify and use verb tenses, such as present, past, and future

Topic
B. Usage

Indicator
1.Recognize examples of conventional usage in personal and academic reading

Indicator
2. Comprehend and apply standard English usage in oral and written language

Objectives

a. Use singular subjects with singular verbs and plural subjects with plural verbs

b. Apply consistent and appropriate use of verb tenses, such as past, present, and future; pronouns, such as personal, possessive, and pronoun/antecedent agreement; and modifiers

c. Recognize and correct common usage errors, such as homophones, contractions, and commonly confused words

d. Use available resources to correct or confirm editorial choices

e. Explain editorial choices

Topic
C. Mechanics

Indicator
1. Explain the purpose of mechanics to make and clarify meaning in academic and personal reading and writing

Indicator
2. Apply standard English punctuation and capitalization in written language

Objectives

a. Use correct and varied end punctuation

b. Use commas correctly in appositives, items in a series, and before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence

c. Use underlining, quotation marks, or italics to identify titles of documents

d. Use apostrophes in contractions and possessives

e. Use quotation marks and commas in simple dialogue and for direct quotations

f. Use capital letters correctly in titles and the first word in a direct quotation

g. Indent for paragraphs

Indicator
3. Explain editorial choices involving mechanics involving mechanics

Topic
D. Spelling

Indicator
1. Recognize conventional spelling in and through personal and academic reading

Indicator
2. Apply conventional spelling in written language

Objectives

a. Spell grade-appropriate high frequency and content words

b. Modify spellings when adding inflectional endings and suffixes

c. Spell one-syllable and multi-syllabic words with complex spelling patterns, such as -tion, -ous, ph-, kn-, etc.

d. Access resources as a spelling aid, such as word wall, technology, dictionary

e. Use mnemonic devices to recall frequently misspelled words

Indicator
3. Maintain a personal list of words to use in editing original writing

Word Find

This web site allows children a chance to enhance their spelling by locating words in an interactive word searh program.(auditory, visual, reflective, global understanding, kinesthetic, tactile, sequential)

Topic
E. Handwriting

Indicator
1. Produce writing that is legible to the audience

Objectives

a. Maintain accuracy and automaticity in manuscript and cursive writing

b. Use word processing technology when appropriate

Topic
A. Listening

Indicator
1.Demonstrate active listening strategies

Objectives

a. Attend to the speaker

b. Ask appropriate questions

c. Contribute relevant comments

d. Relate prior knowledge

Indicator
2. Comprehend and analyze what is heard

Objectives

a. Determine speaker's purpose

b. Identify how the language of the presentation contributes to effect and meaning

c. Demonstrate an understanding of what is heard by retelling, asking questions, relating prior knowledge, and summarizing

d. Follow a set of multi-step directions

e. Listen carefully to expand and enrich vocabulary

f. Make judgments based on information from the speaker

Topic
A. Speaking

Indicator
1. Use organization and delivery strategies at an appropriate level

Objectives

a. Demonstrate appropriate volume, articulation, enunciation, intonation, pacing, timing, and stress

b. Demonstrate appropriate timing

• Fluency
• Pacing
• Rate

c. Use appropriate non-verbal techniques to enhance communications

• Posture
• Eye contact
• Facial expressions
• Gesture

Indicator
2. Make oral presentations

Objectives

a. Speak in a variety of situations to inform and/or relate experiences, including retelling stories

b. State a position and support it with reasons

c. Participate in dramatic presentations

d. Plan and deliver effective oral presentations

e. Use props when appropriate