Common Planner
K–12 Standards

Language and Communication: By Entry to Kindergarten

Other Oregon Early Learning Kindergarten Guidelines sets

ATTENDING AND UNDERSTANDING

  • 1

    Child attends to communication and language from others.1

    1. a

      Uses verbal and nonverbal signals to acknowledge the comments or questions of others.1.a

    2. b

      Shows ongoing connection to a conversation, group discussion, or presentation.1.b

  • 2

    Child understands and responds to increasingly complex communication and language from others.2

    1. a

      Shows an ability to recall (in order) multiple step directions.2.a

    2. b

      Demonstrates understanding of a variety of question types, such as “Yes/No?” or “Who/ What/When/ Where?” or “How/ Why?”2.b

    3. c

      Shows understanding of a variety of sentence types, such as multiclause, causeeffect, sequential order, or if-then.2.c

    4. d

      Shows an understanding of talk related to the past or future.2.d

    5. e

      Shows understanding, such as nodding or gestures, in response to the content of books read aloud, stories that are told, or lengthy explanations on a given topic. 2.e

    6. f

      Children who are dual language learners may demonstrate more complex communication and language in their home language than in English.2.f

COMMUNICATING AND SPEAKING

  • 3

    Child varies the amount of information provided to meet the demands of the situation. 3

    1. a

      Usually provides sufficient detail in order to get needs met, such as explaining a point of difficulty in a task or sharing a request from home with the teacher. 3.a

    2. b

      Uses language, spoken or sign, to clarify a word or statement when misunderstood.3.b

    3. c

      Children who are dual language learners may switch between their languages. 3.c

  • 4

    Child understands, follows, and uses appropriate social and conversational rules. 4

    1. a

      Maintains multi-turn conversations with adults, other children, and within larger groups by responding in increasingly sophisticated ways, such as asking related questions or expressing agreement.4.a

    2. b

      With increasing independence, matches the tone and volume of expression to the content and social situation, such as by using a whisper to tell a secret.4.b

  • 5

    Child expresses self in increasingly long, detailed, and sophisticated ways.5

    1. a

      Communicates clearly enough to be understood by a trusted adult across a range of situations. Pronunciation errors and grammatical errors are isolated and infrequent.5.a

    2. b

      Shows proficiency with prepositions, regular/ irregular past tense, possessives, and noun-verb agreement.5.b

    3. c

      Typically uses complete sentences of more than 5 words with complex structures, such as sentences involving sequence and causal relations.5.c

    4. d

      Can produce and organize multiple sentences on a topic, such as giving directions or telling a story, including information about the past or present or things not physically present, and can answer a variety of question types.5.d

VOCABULARY

  • 6

    Child understands and uses a wide variety of words for a variety of purposes.6

    1. a

      Demonstrates the use of multiple (2–3) new words or signs a day during play and other activities.6.a

    2. b

      Shows recognition of and/or familiarity with key domain-specific words heard during reading or discussions.6.b

    3. c

      With multiple exposures, uses new domain-specific vocabulary during activities, such as using the word “cocoon” when learning about the lifecycle of caterpillars or “cylinder” when learning about 3D shapes.6.c

    4. d

      With support, forms guesses about the meaning of new words from context clues.6.d

  • 7

    Child shows understanding of word categories and relationships among words. 7

    1. a

      Categorizes words or objects, such as sorting a hard hat, machines, and tools into the construction group, or giving many examples of farm animals.7.a

    2. b

      Discusses new words in relation to known words and word categories, such as “It fell to the bottom when it sank” or “When you hop it’s like jumping on one leg” or “The bear and fox are both wild animals.”7.b

    3. c

      Identifies shared characteristics among people, places, things, or actions, such as identifying that both cats and dogs are furry and have four legs.7.c

    4. d

      Identifies key common antonyms, such as black/white or up/down. Identifies 1–2 synonyms for very familiar words, such as glad or happy.7.d

    5. e

      Shows an ability to distinguish similar words, such as “I don’t like it, I love it!” or “It’s more than tall, it’s gigantic” or “It’s so cold, it’s freezing.”7.e

Frequently asked questions

What grade levels do these standards cover?
Kindergarten and PRE-K
Where can I read the official document?
Oregon’s Early Learning and Kindergarten Guidelines

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Early Learning Kindergarten Guidelines