Key Vocabulary by Domain – Grade K-2
Grade
Word or Phrase
Alliteration
2
Antonym
K
K
2
Author
Author’s Purpose
Autobiography
2
Background knowledge
K
Biography
2
K
Blend
Caldecott
2
K
K
2
2
K, 2
Capitalization
Cause and effect
Central Message
Challenges
Character
Draft – NDTC August 2011
Cluster
Definition/Related Words
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)
Vocabulary
Acquisition and
Use
Craft and
Structure
Craft and
Structure
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
Complexity
Research to Build
and Present
Knowledge
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
Complexity
Phonological
Awareness
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
Complexity
Conventions of
Standard English
Key Ideas and
Details
Key Ideas and
Details
Key Ideas and
Details
Key Ideas and
A word opposite in meaning to another word.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
The person who originates a piece of writing.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
The different reasons why authors write something. (To inform, entertain, or persuade.)
An account of a person’s life written by that person.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
Knowledge or awareness of previous experiences. (schema)
An account of a person’s life. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
Putting together sounds from left to right to make a word
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.
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)
Noting a relationship between actions or events.
(dictionary.reference.com)
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.
A stimulating task or problem. (merriam-webster.com)
A person represented in a story. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
1
2
Clarification
K, 2
Compare
K, 2
Complete sentence
2
Conflict
2
Context Clues
K, 2
Contrast
2
Culture
K
Details
2
Dialogue
Draft – NDTC August 2011
Details, Integration
of Knowledge and
Ideas
Craft and
Structure
Integration of
Knowledge and
Ideas
Conventions of
Standard English,
Key Ideas and
Details,
Comprehension
and Collaboration,
Presentation of
Knowledge and
Ideas
Key Ideas and
Details
Craft and
Structure
Integration of
knowledge and
Ideas
Key Ideas and
Details, Integration
of Knowledge and
Ideas
Key Ideas and
Details,
Presentation of
Knowledge and
Ideas, Production
and Distribution of
Writing
Craft and
Structure
To make something clearer by using clues to determine its meaning.
To examine and appraise characteristics or qualities in order to discover similarities.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
A group of words representing a complete thought and containing a subject and
predicate. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
Opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action. (merriamwebster.com)
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)
To examine and appraise characteristics or qualities in order to discover differences.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
Customary beliefs, attitudes, goals, values, and traits of a racial, religious, or social
group. (merriam-webster.com)
To relate or report with complete particulars; tell fully and distinctly.
(dictionary.reference.com)
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
2
K
Edit
K
Explanatory
2
Expository
2
Expression
2
Fables
K, 2
Fairy tale
2
Folktale
K, 2
Fantasy
K
Fiction
Draft – NDTC August 2011
Production and
Distribution of
Writing
Text Types and
Purposes
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
Complexity
Craft and
Structure
Key Ideas and
Details, Range of
Reading and Level
of Text Complexity
Craft and
Structure, Range
of Reading and
Level of Text
Complexity
Key Idea and
Details, Range of
Reading and Level
of Text Complexity
Craft and
Structure, Range
of Reading and
Level of Text
Complexity
Craft and
Structure, Range
of Reading and
Level of Text
Complexity
characterize the personality of the speakers.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
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 smallerscale activity often associated with word choice, grammar, punctuation, and syntax.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
To explain or make known. (merriam-webster.com)
Writing that is used to explain, describe, give information or inform.
The use of intonation or tone to create feeling, spirit, or character.
A short narrative in prose or verse, which points to a moral. Non-human creatures
are typically the characters. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
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)
A characteristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated orally among
a people. (merriam-webster.com)
Imaginative fiction featuring especially strange settings and grotesque or
extraordinarily beautiful characters (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
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.
3
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
2
Genre
2
Historical Fiction
K, 2
Illustration
K
Illustrator
2
Independent Reading
Level
K, 2
2
2
Informational text
Instructional Reading
Level
Introduction
Key Ideas and
Details, Range of
Reading and Level
of Text Complexity
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
Complexity
Craft and
Structure,
Integration of
Knowledge and
Ideas,
Presentation of
Knowledge and
Ideas
Craft and
Structure
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
Complexity
Text Types and
Purposes, Range
of Reading and
Level of Text
Complexity
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
Complexity
Craft and
Structure
A category used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique, or content.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
A novel where fictional characters take part in actual historical events and interact
with real people from the past. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
A drawing or painting that accompanies a text.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
A person who originates the drawing or painting that accompanies a text.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
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)
Nonfiction writing in narrative or non-narrative form that is intended to inform.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
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)
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
Draft – NDTC August 2011
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
Strategy used to determine if a book is just right, too easy, too hard.
1. Look at the cover.
4
Complexity
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
2
K, 2
Key details
Literature
Main idea/Topic
writings in prose or poetry
The primary topic of a passage whether explicitly expressed or implied.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
Something that happens in a story that is key to the plot.
Making Connections
Moral
Key Ideas and
Details
The “lesson” in a work, such as a fable, story, poem, or play.
Major Event
2
2
K, 2
Pieces of information that are essential to the plot of a story or to informational text.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
Key Ideas and
Details
Key Ideas and
Details
2
K
Key Ideas and
Details
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
Complexity
Key Ideas and
Details
Narrative
Nonfiction
Draft – NDTC August 2011
Craft and
Structure, Range
of Reading and
Level of Text
Complexity
Text Types and
Purposes,
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
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)
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
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)
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
5
Complexity
K
Nursery rhyme
K
Opinion
K
Personal narrative
K
Phoneme
Craft and
Structure, Range
of Reading and
Level of Text
Complexity
Text Types and
Purposes,
Research to Build
and Present
Knowledge
Text Types and
Purposes
Foundational Skills
Craft and
Structure
personal forms of “literary nonfiction.” (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
A short rhyme for children that often tells a story. (merriam-webster.com)
A view, judgment or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
Tells a story that you are familiar with and that you can relay in an interesting and
entertaining manner. (answers.reference.com)
Sounds represented by a letter
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:

2
Point of View



2
Plot
Draft – NDTC August 2011
Key Ideas and
Details, Integration
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.
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
6
of Knowledge and
Ideas
K, 2
Poetry
K, 2
Prefix
2
Problem/Solution
K
Punctuation
2
Questioning
2
Realistic Fiction
2
Reasons
2
Regular Beats
2
Recount
K
Revise
2
Rhyme
2
Rhythm
Draft – NDTC August 2011
Craft and
Structure, Range
of Reading and
Level of Text
Complexity
Vocabulary
Acquisition and
Use, Phonics and
Word Recognition
Key Ideas and
Details
Conventions of
Standard English
Key Ideas and
Details
Range of Reading
and Level of Text
Complexity
Integration of Key
Ideas and Details
Craft and
Structure
Key Ideas and
Details
Production and
Distribution of
Writing
Craft and
Structure
Craft and
Structure
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)
Writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness through meaning,
sound, image, juxtaposition, and rhythm.
(commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
An affix placed before a base word – word beginnings (answers.reference.com)
A source of distress, confusion, or bother; an answer to a problem.
Symbols not belonging to the alphabet of a writing system to indicate aspects of the
intonation and meaning (dictionary.reference.com)
A strategy to enhance understanding. Through questioning students demonstrate a
desire to learn and understand, leading to increased comprehension.
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)
An explanation or justification for something or a motive or cause for acting or
thinking in a particular way. (Encarta.com)
The rhythm and cadence of a text.
To relate in detail.
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)
Identical or very similar recurring sounds in words within or—more often—at the
ends of lines of verse. (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
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)
7
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)
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.

K, 2
Setting
Key Ideas and
Details, Integration
of Knowledge and
Ideas


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
2
Text
2
Text Features
2
Vowel Teams
Draft – NDTC August 2011
Vocabulary
Acquisition and
Use
Key Ideas and
Details, Integration
of Knowledge and
Ideas
Craft and
Structure
Phonics and Word
Recognition
Words that mean almost the same.
A written, printed document.
An important feature of literary and informational text that facilitates understanding for the
reader. (Examples: title, illustrations, diagrams, labels, bulleted lists, captions, etc.)
Two vowels side by side that create a new sound. (Examples: ee, ay, ai, oo, au)
8