Grades K and 1

This question is asking the student to demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of text by recognizing upper case letters. The student can show mastery of the skill by identifying a printed letter after listening to the letter stated orally. To correctly answer: 

1: After listening to the letter Z stated orally, the student must be able to distinguish among the printed letters S, C, and Z, letters that are often confused by students at this level.

2: After listening to the letter B stated orally, the student must be able to distinguish among the printed letters B, D, and P, letters that are often confused by students at this level.

This question is asking the student to demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of text by recognizing lower case letters. To show mastery of the skill, the student must be able to identify the letter k after listening to the letter stated orally. To correctly answer: 

1: After listening to the letter k stated orally, the student must be able to distinguish among the letters h, t, and k, letters that are often confused by students at this level.

2: After listening to the letter l stated orally, the student must be able to distinguish among the letters j, l, and i, letters that are often confused by students at this level. 

This question is asking the student to demonstrate understanding of spoken words through recognizing that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters. The student can show mastery of the skill by identifying a word that begins with a specific letter stated orally. To correctly answer the question:

1: The student must understand that the question is asking for a word that has the letter m at the beginning. The student must then connect the spoken letter m in the question to the printed word make, which appears as one of three answer choices.

2: The student must understand that the question is asking for a word that has the letter j at the beginning. The student must then connect the spoken letter j in the question to the printed word jump, which appears as one of three answer choices.

This question is asking the student to apply knowledge of grade-level phonics and word-analysis skills in decoding words by connecting initial sounds to letters. The student can show mastery of the skill by listening to a word provided orally and then identifying the first letter of the word. To correctly answer the question

1: The student must recognize the printed letter t as the first letter of the orally provided word tell.

2: The student must recognize the printed letter c as the first letter of the orally provided word car.

This question is asking the student to apply phonics and word-analysis skills in decoding words by identifying a printed word that demonstrates knowledge of letter-sound correspondence for a common consonant blend. The student can show mastery of the skill by recognizing a beginning blend in a word stated orally––and then connecting the blend in the orally stated word to a printed word that begins with the same blend. To correctly answer: 

1: The student must carefully listen to the word stated in the audio prompt: spin. The student must then be able to distinguish among three words in answer choices to identify another word that begins with the same consonant blend: sp. The student must identify the word spot as beginning with the same consonant blend as the word spin.

2: The student must carefully listen to the word stated in the audio prompt: bread. The student must then be able to distinguish among three words in answer choices to identify another word that begins with the same consonant blend: br. The student must identify the word bring as beginning with the same consonant blend as the word bread.

This question is asking the student to apply phonics and word-analysis skills in decoding words through decoding a regularly spelled one-syllable word. To show mastery of the skill, the student must be able to identify a printed word after the word has been stated orally. To correctly answer:

 1: The student must listen to the word pet, which is stated in an audio prompt. The student must then be able to distinguish among three words to identify the printed word pet.

2: The student must listen to the word ran, which is stated in an audio prompt. The student must then be able to distinguish among three words to identify the printed word ran. 

This question is asking the student to read text with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension, using context to confirm understanding. The student can show mastery of the skill by viewing an image and then identifying a sentence that describes the image. To correctly answer, the student must carefully note details in the image provided in the question––and then select from among three sentences to identify the sentence that describes the image. The student must use the image as context to confirm understanding. 

1: Understanding this question depends on being able to recognize the verb "sit" and distinguish it from the other verbs. The only sentence that correctly describes the image is the following sentence: The bear sits.

2: The bugs are in the sky, so they cannot be walking; this answer choice is incorrect. There are multiple bugs, so we cannot say that a bug is alone; this answer choice is incorrect. The only sentence that describes the image is the following sentence: These five bugs fly.