Key Vocabulary by Domain Grade K-2
Key Vocabulary by Domain Grade K-2
Grade
Word or Phrase
Cluster
Definition/Related Words
2
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
Authors 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 persons 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 persons 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
authors 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 FingersToo Easy
2-3 FingersJust Right
4-5 FingersToo 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
ormore oftenat 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 20118