Key Vocabulary by Domain – Grade K-2
Grade / Word or Phrase / Cluster / Definition/Related Words2 / Alliteration / Craft and Structure / The repetition of speech sounds, usually applied only to consonants, and only when the recurrent sound occurs in a conspicuous position at the beginning of a word or of a stressed syllable within a word. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Antonym / Vocabulary Acquisition and Use / A word opposite in meaning to another word. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Author / Craft and Structure / The person who originates a piece of writing. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Author’s Purpose / Craft and Structure / The different reasons why authors write something. (To inform, entertain, or persuade.)
2 / Autobiography / Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / An account of a person’s life written by that person. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Background knowledge / Research to Build and Present Knowledge / Knowledge or awareness of previous experiences. (schema)
2 / Biography / Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / An account of a person’s life. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Blend / Phonological Awareness / Putting together sounds from left to right to make a word
2 / Caldecott / Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published that year. It was named in honor of the nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott.
K / Capitalization / Conventions of Standard English / The use of a capital, or uppercase, letter in writing or printing, as in the first word of a sentence. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Cause and effect / Key Ideas and Details / Noting a relationship between actions or events. (dictionary.reference.com)
2 / Central Message / Key Ideas and Details / The point the author is making, the lesson or moral of a text. An example may be a text that has a central message of honesty or loyalty.
2 / Challenges / Key Ideas and Details / A stimulating task or problem. (merriam-webster.com)
K, 2 / Character / Key Ideas and Details, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas / A person represented in a story. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Clarification / Craft and Structure / To make something clearer by using clues to determine its meaning.
K, 2 / Compare / Integration of Knowledge and Ideas / To examine and appraise characteristics or qualities in order to discover similarities. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K, 2 / Complete sentence / Conventions of Standard English, Key Ideas and Details, Comprehension and Collaboration, Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas / A group of words representing a complete thought and containing a subject and predicate. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Conflict / Key Ideas and Details / Opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action. (merriam-webster.com)
2 / Context Clues / Craft and Structure / Words and phrases from the immediate textual setting that may help suggest the meaning of an unknown word. The context may also help resolve which shade of meaning is intended (e.g., prog-ress or pro-gress). (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K, 2 / Contrast / Integration of knowledge and Ideas / To examine and appraise characteristics or qualities in order to discover differences. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Culture / Key Ideas and Details, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas / Customary beliefs, attitudes, goals, values, and traits of a racial, religious, or social group. (merriam-webster.com)
K / Details / Key Ideas and Details, Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas, Production and Distribution of Writing / To relate or report with complete particulars; tell fully and distinctly. (dictionary.reference.com)
2 / Dialogue / Craft and Structure / The conversation between characters in a drama or narrative. A dialogue occurs in most works of literature. It moves the action along in a work and helps to characterize the personality of the speakers. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Edit / Production and Distribution of Writing / To improve the clarity, organization, concision, and correctness of a piece of writing relative to task, purpose, and audience; compared to revising, editing is a smaller-scale activity often associated with word choice, grammar, punctuation, and syntax. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Explanatory / Text Types and Purposes / To explain or make known. (merriam-webster.com)
2 / Expository / Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Writing that is used to explain, describe, give information or inform.
2 / Expression / Craft and Structure / The use of intonation or tone to create feeling, spirit, or character.
2 / Fables / Key Ideas and Details, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / A short narrative in prose or verse, which points to a moral. Non-human creatures are typically the characters. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K, 2 / Fairy tale / Craft and Structure, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / A narrative, usually involving magic, about the fortunes and misfortunes of a hero or heroine who, after experiencing some type of an adventure, lives happily ever after. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Folktale / Key Idea and Details, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / A characteristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated orally among a people. (merriam-webster.com)
K, 2 / Fantasy / Craft and Structure, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Imaginative fiction featuring especially strange settings and grotesque or extraordinarily beautiful characters (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Fiction / Craft and Structure, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Literature that offers insights, challenges assumptions, plays with language, or presents possibilities through the telling of imaginary stories. It may be entertaining, but is not limited to entertainment. It is distinguished from nonfiction, which is designed primarily to explain, argue or describe. Specifically, fiction is a type of literature, especially prose, such as novels and short stories, but also including plays and narrative poetry. Fiction may take many literary forms, including historical fiction, fables, fairy tales, folklore, legends, and picture books. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Genre / Key Ideas and Details, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / A category used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique, or content. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Historical Fiction / Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / A novel where fictional characters take part in actual historical events and interact with real people from the past. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K, 2 / Illustration / Craft and Structure, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas / A drawing or painting that accompanies a text. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Illustrator / Craft and Structure / A person who originates the drawing or painting that accompanies a text. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Independent Reading Level / Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / The level at which a reader can read text with 95% accuracy (i.e., no more than one error per 20 words read). Independent reading level is relatively easy text for the reader. (Florida Center for Reading Research)
K, 2 / Informational text / Text Types and Purposes, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Nonfiction writing in narrative or non-narrative form that is intended to inform. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Instructional Reading Level / Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / The level at which a reader can read text with 90% accuracy (i.e., no more than one error per 10 words read). Instructional reading level engages the student in challenging, but manageable text. (Florida Center for Reading Research)
2 / Introduction / Craft and Structure / The opening section, usually of an essay, which states the author’s purpose and gives the reader an idea of the theme to be discussed in the body. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / “Just Right” Books / Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Strategy used to determine if a book is just right, too easy, too hard.
1. Look at the cover.
2. Read the title and the author.
3. Read the blurb in the back.
4. Flip through the book.
5. Read the first page.
6. Use the 5 Finger Rule.
0-1 Fingers—Too Easy
2-3 Fingers—Just Right
4-5 Fingers—Too Hard
(busyteacherscafe.com)
K, 2 / Key details / Key Ideas and Details / Pieces of information that are essential to the plot of a story or to informational text. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Literature / Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / writings in prose or poetry
K, 2 / Main idea/Topic / Key Ideas and Details / The primary topic of a passage whether explicitly expressed or implied. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Major Event / Key Ideas and Details / Something that happens in a story that is key to the plot.
2 / Making Connections / Key Ideas and Details / A comprehension strategy in which the reader makes connections between the text and their own lives. (text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world)
2 / Moral / Key Ideas and Details / The “lesson” in a work, such as a fable, story, poem, or play. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Narrative / Craft and Structure, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / A collection of events that tells a story, which may be true or not, placed in a particular order and recounted through either telling or writing. Most novels and short stories are placed into the categories of first-person and third-person narratives, which imply a particular narrator (a character in the story, or an outsider, known or unknown) and his or her perspective. Related terms include “narrative poetry,” which is poetry that tells a story, and “narrative technique,” which means how one tells a story. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K, 2 / Nonfiction / Text Types and Purposes,
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Prose that is designed primarily to explain, argue, or describe, rather than to create imaginary stories; specifically a type of prose other than fiction, but including biography, autobiography, reflective essays, and speeches. Although its emphasis is factual, fictional (especially narrative) elements are sometimes found in the more personal forms of “literary nonfiction.” (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Nursery rhyme / Craft and Structure, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / A short rhyme for children that often tells a story. (merriam-webster.com)
K / Opinion / Text Types and Purposes, Research to Build and Present Knowledge / A view, judgment or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K / Personal narrative / Text Types and Purposes / Tells a story that you are familiar with and that you can relay in an interesting and entertaining manner. (answers.reference.com)
K / Phoneme / Foundational Skills / Sounds represented by a letter
2 / Point of View / Craft and Structure / The perspective or perspectives established by an author through which the reader is presented with the characters, actions, setting, and events that constitute the narrative in a work of fiction. There are multiple modes of point of view, including:
· First-person narration: A narrative mode where a story is told by one character at a time, speaking for and about himself or herself. The narrator may be a minor character observing the action or the main protagonist of the story. A first-person narrator may be reliable or unreliable.
· First-person perspective: The perspective implicit in first-person narration, intimate on the one hand and circumscribed on the other.
· Third-person narration: A narrative mode in which a story is told by a narrator who relates all action in third person, using third-person pronouns such as he or she.
· Third-person omniscience: A method of storytelling in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story, as opposed to third person limited, which adheres closely to the thoughts and feelings of a single character.
2 / Plot / Key Ideas and Details, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas / The structure of the actions in a dramatic or narrative work, ordered and rendered toward achieving particular emotional and artistic effects. The most basic elements in a plot line are: (a) exposition, (b) rising action, (c) climax, crisis, or turning point, (d) falling action, and (e) resolution or denouement. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K, 2 / Poetry / Craft and Structure, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness through meaning, sound, image, juxtaposition, and rhythm. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K, 2 / Prefix / Vocabulary Acquisition and Use, Phonics and Word Recognition / An affix placed before a base word – word beginnings (answers.reference.com)
2 / Problem/Solution / Key Ideas and Details / A source of distress, confusion, or bother; an answer to a problem.
K / Punctuation / Conventions of Standard English / Symbols not belonging to the alphabet of a writing system to indicate aspects of the intonation and meaning (dictionary.reference.com)
2 / Questioning / Key Ideas and Details / A strategy to enhance understanding. Through questioning students demonstrate a desire to learn and understand, leading to increased comprehension.
2 / Realistic Fiction / Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity / Any form of narrative which deals, in part or in whole, with events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary and invented by its author(s). Although untrue, it could actually happen. (merriam-webster.com)
2 / Reasons / Integration of Key Ideas and Details / An explanation or justification for something or a motive or cause for acting or thinking in a particular way. (Encarta.com)
2 / Regular Beats / Craft and Structure / The rhythm and cadence of a text.
2 / Recount / Key Ideas and Details / To relate in detail.
K / Revise / Production and Distribution of Writing / To alter something already written or printed, in order to make corrections, improve, or update. Revision may affect the structure and ideas of a work as well as the details. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Rhyme / Craft and Structure / Identical or very similar recurring sounds in words within or—more often—at the ends of lines of verse. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Rhythm / Craft and Structure / The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry or prose. Poets use rhythm to bring out the musical quality of language, to emphasize ideas, to create mood, to unify a work, or to heighten emotional response. Rhythm differs from meter in that the latter is a fixed form, while the former comes from the words and phrases themselves as they occur in the work. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K, 2 / Sequence of events / Key Ideas and Details, Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas, Text Types and Purposes / Recount the events of a story in chronological order. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
K, 2 / Setting / Key Ideas and Details, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas / The time and place in which a narrative takes place; the physical and psychological background against which the action of a story takes place; the scenery and stage effects for a dramatic production.
· Environment: The surrounding things, conditions, and influences in the narrative.
· Place: The physical location of the narrative.
· Time: The period or era in which the narrative takes place. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2 / Sight Word / Phonics and Word Recognition / Words that are commonly used, but may not follow phonetic spelling rules, and as a result are frequently learned through sight memorization. (time4learning.com)
2 / Suffix / Phonics and Word Recognition / An affix (a letter or group of letters) that comes after a base or root word. (Examples: ing, ed, ly)
2 / Syllables / Phonics and Word Recognition / A unit of spoken language consisting of a single uninterrupted sound formed by a vowel, diphthong, or syllabic consonant alone, or by any of these sounds preceded, followed, or surrounded by one or more consonants.
K / Synonym / Vocabulary Acquisition and Use / Words that mean almost the same.
2 / Text / Key Ideas and Details, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas / A written, printed document.
2 / Text Features / Craft and Structure / An important feature of literary and informational text that facilitates understanding for the reader. (Examples: title, illustrations, diagrams, labels, bulleted lists, captions, etc.)
2 / Vowel Teams / Phonics and Word Recognition / Two vowels side by side that create a new sound. (Examples: ee, ay, ai, oo, au)
Draft – NDTC August 2011 8