Communication, Language, and Literacy: Preschool (3-5 years)
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Children understand and use communication and language for a variety of purposes.6.1.PS

1
The child demonstrates a steady increase in listening (receptive language) and speaking (expressive language) vocabulary. 6.1.PS.1
2
The child initiates, listens, and responds in relationship to the topics of conversations with other children (peers) and adults. 6.1.PS.2
3
The child speaks in phrases and sentences of increasing length and complexity.6.1.PS.3
4
The child follows oral directions that involve several actions. 6.1.PS.4
5
The child asks and answers a variety of questions.6.1.PS.5
6
The child demonstrates knowledge of the rules of conversations such as taking turns while speaking.6.1.PS.6
7
The child, who is also an English language learner also uses her or his home language, sometimes in combination with English, to communicate with people.6.1.PS.7
8
The child, who is also an English language learner also demonstrates ongoing development and improvement in vocabulary and complexity in use of home language.6.1.PS.8
9
The child, who is also an English language learner also demonstrates engagement at home or the classroom in literacy activities to relate to her or his home language6.1.PS.9
10
The child, who is also an English language learner also demonstrates receptive (listening) and expressive (speaking) English language skills to be able to comprehend the English language.6.1.PS.10
11
The child, who is also an English language learner also demonstrates engagement in English literacy activities to understand and respond to books, storytelling, and songs presented in English.6.1.PS.11

Children engage in early reading experiences.6.2.PS

1
The child expresses an interest and enjoyment in listening to books and attempts to read familiar books (print motivation). 6.2.PS.1
2
The child displays book handling knowledge by turning the book right side up, turning one page at a time, recognizing familiar books by the cover, pointing to words as they talk about or retell stories using books, and using left to right sweep (print awareness).6.2.PS.2
3
The child shows an awareness of print such as pointing to familiar words or letters (print awareness).6.2.PS.3
4
The child understands sentences are made of words and words are made of individual letters (concepts of print).6.2.PS.4
5
The child understands increasingly and uses a variety of words (vocabulary).6.2.PS.5
6
The child shows increasing comprehension of a story through retelling the story and/or recognizing story elements such as the plot or characters (comprehension and story retelling).6.2.PS.6
7
The child recognizes increasingly and names more of the letters in their first and last name and letters they see frequently (letter knowledge).6.2.PS.7
8
The child recognizes most upper and lower case letters (letter knowledge).6.2.PS.8
9
The child produces the sound of some of the letters she or he knows (phonics).6.2.PS.
10
The child identifies words that rhyme from a group of three words: cat, rug, hat (phonological awareness - rhyme).6.2.PS.10
11
The child identifies the beginning sound in words, such as identifying two words that start with the same sound (phonological awareness – alliteration).6.2.PS.11
12
The child identifies the syllables in his or her name and in familiar objects or words by clapping and segmenting the syllables (phonological awareness – segmenting syllables).6.2.PS.12
13
The child blends syllables to identify a word, object, or picture (phonological awareness – blending syllables).6.2.PS.13

Children engage in early writing experiences6.3.PS

1
The child attempts to communicate with others using scribbles, shapes, pictures, letter-like forms and/or letters in writing. 6.3.PS.1
2
The child experiments with a variety of writing tools such as pencils, crayons, brushes, markers, and digital tools.6.3.PS.2
3
The child uses expressive (speaking) language to share intended meaning of drawings and writing.6.3.PS.3
4
The child starts to demonstrate interest in learning to write letters, especially the letters in his or her name. 6.3.PS.4
5
The child uses invented spelling consisting of beginning sounds to represent a whole word.6.3.PS.5

Frequently asked questions

What grade levels do these standards cover?: PRE-K
Where can I read the official document?: Iowa Early Learning Standards

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