English Language Arts Common Core Grades K-5 Key Vocabulary
This list of terms and definitions expands the glossary found within the North Dakota
Common Core Standards. North Dakota teachers added terms that they deemed to
be important to understanding and implementing the standards in grades K–5. For
student vocabulary terms associated with individual standards, please see the file
titled, “NDCC Instructional Guide.”
English Language Arts Common Core Grades K-5 Key Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Definition
Affix
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.*
A short, but memorable or traditional saying that is accepted by many as true or partially
true.
Examples: The grass is greener on the other side of the fence. An apple a day keeps the
doctor away.
A morpheme that changes the meaning or function of a root or stem to which it is
attached, such as the prefix ad- and the suffix -ing in adjoining.*
Allusion
An explicit or implicit reference, in a work of literature, to a person, place, or event, or to
another literary work or passage.*
Alliteration
Adage
Use curiosity to generate one’s own questions and enhance the meaning of the text.
Asking Questions
Analyze
Breaking down of text into its component parts by examining different aspects of the
text. In a play, for example, the reader might look at the plot, the themes, the characters,
the setting, the dialogue. In a poem, the reader might look at theme, imagery, language
(word choice), voice (who is speaking - the poet or someone else), rhythm, structure.
Antonym
A word opposite in meaning to another word.*
Author
The person who originates a piece of writing.*
Author’s Purpose
The different reasons why authors write something (to inform, entertain, or persuade).
An account of a person’s life written by that person.*
Autobiography
Background
Knowledge
Knowledge or awareness of previous experiences (schema).
An account of a person’s life.*
Biography
Putting together sounds from left to right to make a word.
Blend
Caldecott
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.
Capitalization
The use of a capital, or uppercase, letter in writing or printing, as in the first word of a
sentence.*
Cause and Effect
Noting a relationship between actions or events. (dictionary.reference.com)
Central Message
Interchangeable with Main Idea
A stimulating task or problem. (merriam-webster.com)
Challenges
A person represented in a story:
Character


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Major character: A character that plays a major role in a story but is not the protagonist.
Minor character: A character who appears in a story but does not play a major role.*
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English Language Arts Common Core Grades K-5 Key Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Character Traits
Chronological
Clarification
Climax
Compare
Complete
Sentences
Conflict
Context Clues
Contrast
Coordinating
Conjunction
Culture
Derivational
Suffixes
Details
Determine
Importance
Dialogue
Domain-Specific
Domain-Specific
Words and
Phrases
Drama
Editing
Emergent Reader
Texts
Evidence
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Definition
The thoughts, words, and actions of the character and by what others say about him or
her indirectly
Arranged in order of time of occurrence
To make something clearer by using clues to determine its meaning.
The turning point of a story
To examine and appraise characteristics or qualities in order to discover similarities.*
A group of words representing a complete thought and containing a subject and
predicate.*
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).*
To examine and appraise characteristics or qualities in order to discover differences.*
Coordinating conjunctions connect phrases to one another.
Customary beliefs, attitudes, goals, values, and traits of a racial, religious, or social group.
(merriam-webster.com)
Suffix causes new word to have a new meaning and is usually a different part of speech
(teach/teacher, music/musician) –able, -ible, -ation, -fy, -ify, -ment, -ty, -ity
To relate or report with complete particulars; tell fully and distinctly.
(dictionary.reference.com)
Make decisions about what is and is not important in a text
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. *
Grade level and subject terms (e.g. science, social studies and math, etc)
Vocabulary specific to a particular field of study (domain), such as the human body (CCSS,
p. 32); in the Standards, domain-specific words and phrases are analogous to Tier Three
words (Language, p. 36)**
A text intended to portray life or character or to tell a story usually involving conflict and
emotions
A part of writing and preparing presentations concerned chiefly with improving the
clarity, organization, concision, and correctness of expression relative to task, purpose,
and audience; compared to revising, a smaller-scale activity often associated with surface
aspects of a text; see also revising, rewriting **
Texts consisting of short sentences comprised of learned sight words and CVC words;
may also include rebuses to represent words that cannot yet be decoded or recognized;
see also rebus**
Facts, figures, details, quotations, or other sources of data and information that provide
support for claims or an analysis and that can be evaluated by others; should appear in a
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English Language Arts Common Core Grades K-5 Key Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Definition
form and be derived from a source widely accepted as appropriate to a particular
discipline, as in details or quotations from a text in the study of literature and
experimental results in the study of science**
Explanatory
To explain or make known. (merriam-webster.com)
Expository
The initial part of the story where the author provides background knowledge in which
the stage is set for the main action of a story
Writing that is used to explain, describe, give information or inform.
Expression
The use of intonation or tone to create feeling, spirit, or character.
Exposition
Fables
Fairytale
Falling Action
Fantasy
Fiction
First-Person
Narration
Fix Up Strategies
Focused Question
Folktale
Formal English
General Academic
Words and
Phrases
Genre
Historical Fiction
Homophone
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A short narrative in prose or verse, which points to a moral. Non-human creatures are
typically the characters.*
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.*
The part of the story after the climax has been reached and the conflict has been
resolved
Imaginative fiction featuring especially strange settings and grotesque or extraordinarily
beautiful characters.*
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. *
A narrative mode where a story is told by one character at a time, speaking for and about
himself or herself.*
Select and use word-attack strategies to overcome difficulties in navigating text
A query narrowly tailored to task, purpose, and audience, as in a research query that is
sufficiently precise to allow a student to achieve adequate specificity and depth within
the time and format constraints**
A characteristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated orally among a
people. (merriam-webster.com)
– See standard English **
Vocabulary common to written texts but not commonly a part of speech; in the
Standards, general academic words and phrases are analogous to Tier Two words and
phrases (Appendix A, Language, p. 36)**
A category used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique, or content. *
A novel where fictional characters take part in actual historical events and interact with
real people from the past.*
A word with a different origin, meaning, but having the same pronunciation as another
word, whether or not it is spelled alike, for instance, wood and would, or to, two, and
too.
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English Language Arts Common Core Grades K-5 Key Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Idiom
i.e.
e.g.
Definition
An expression that cannot be understood from the individual word meanings but must
be inferred as a whole expression.
Short for “id est” or “that is”
Short for “exempli gratia” or “examples given”
Illustration
A drawing or painting that accompanies a text.*
Illustrator
A person who originates the drawing or painting that accompanies a text.*
Independent(ly)
Independent
Reading Level
A student performance done without scaffolding from a teacher, other adult, or
peer; in the Standards, often paired with proficient(ly) to suggest a successful student
performance done without scaffolding; in the Reading standards, the act of reading a
text without scaffolding, as in an assessment; see also proficient(ly), scaffolding
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)
A conclusion or opinion that draws on known facts, evidence, or intuition to fill in missing
information. *
Inference
Combine what is in the text with one’s own ideas to fill in gaps and create a unique
interpretation of the text
Nonfiction writing in narrative or non-narrative form that is intended to inform.
Informational Text (commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary)
Instructional
Reading Level
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)
Interactions
It is a kind of action that occurs as two or more characters have an effect on one another.
Introduction
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. *
Key Details
Pieces of information that is essential to the plot of a story or to informational text. *
Literature
Writings in prose or poetry
The primary topic of a passage whether explicitly expressed or implied.
Main Idea
Major Event
Interchangeable with Central message
Something that happens in a story that is key to the plot.
Metaphor
A comprehension strategy in which the reader bridges from the unknown to the new by
connecting texts to one’s background knowledge (text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-toworld).
A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things
that actually have something in common.
Meter
The rhythmic pattern in verse, made up of stressed and unstressed syllables and/or the
number of syllables in a line; the measured arrangement of words in poetry
Making
Connections
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English Language Arts Common Core Grades K-5 Key Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Definition
Mood
Modal Auxiliaries or Helping Verbs such as will, shall, may, might, can, could, must, etc.
are used with main verbs to express a possibility or necessity.
An attitude; a distinctive atmosphere or context.*
Moral
The “lesson” in a work, such as a fable, story, poem, or play. *
Modal Auxiliaries
More Sustained
An investigation intended to address a relatively expansive query using several sources
Research Project – over an extended period of time, as in a few weeks of instructional time**
A story in a mythology that is based on tradition or legend, which were once believed to
be true by a particular cultural group. These served to explain (in terms of the
intentions and actions of supernatural beings) why the world is as it is and why things
Myth(ology)
happen as they do. Myths also established the rationale for social customs, observances,
rules, and sanctions.*
Monitor
Understanding
Continuously check to determine whether or not the text being read is understood
Morphology
Roots and affixes
Multisyllabic
There is more than one syllable
Narrator
The narrator is the person who relates an account or story dealing with sequences of
events and experiences. The narrator can be a character in the story or a voice outside
the action.*
Narrative
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. *
Nonfiction
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.” *
Nonverbal
Communication
Nuances:
Nursery Rhyme
Order Adjectives
Onset
Opinion
body language, facial expression, eye contact, gestures, and attire**
shades of meaning among closely related words **
A short rhyme for children that often tells a story. (merriam-webster.com)
When using adjectives to describe a noun there is a specific order in which the orders are
to be used (Adjective Order: 1. Quantity or Number 2. Quality or Opinion 3. Size 4. Age 5.
Shape 6. Color 7. Proper Adjective 8. Purpose or Qualifier).
Consonants that precede the initial vowel in a one-syllable word**
A view, judgment or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter. *
Personal Narrative Tells a story that you are familiar with and that you can relay in an interesting and
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English Language Arts Common Core Grades K-5 Key Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Definition
entertaining manner. (answers.reference.com)
Phoneme
Sounds represented by a letter
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. *
Writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness through meaning, sound,
image, juxtaposition, and rhythm. *
Plot
Poetry
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:

Point of View


Prefix and Suffix
Prepositional
Phrases
Print or Digital
(texts, sources)
Problem/Solution
Proficient(ly)
Progressive Verb
Tenses
Prepositional
Phrases
Prose
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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.*
Inflections; an affix placed before a base word – word beginnings
(answers.reference.com)
Prepositional phrases give more information about nouns and verbs.
Sometimes added for emphasis to stress that a given standard is particularly likely to be
applied to electronic as well as traditional texts; the standards are generally assumed to
apply to both**
A source of distress, confusion, or bother; an answer to a problem.
A student performance that meets the criterion established in the Standards as
measured by a teacher or assessment; in the Standards, often paired with
independent(ly) to suggest a successful student performance done without scaffolding;
in the Reading standards, the act of reading a text with comprehension; see also
independent(ly), scaffolding**
Both simple and perfect verb tenses can also be made into progressive verb forms.
Sometimes they are also called continuous. That just means that they show an action
that is in progress or that is continuing.
Prepositional phrases give more information about nouns and verbs.
Written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without the rhythmic or structure of
poetry
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English Language Arts Common Core Grades K-5 Key Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Proverb
Punctuation
Questioning
Quote
Realistic Fiction
Reasons
Rebus
Recount
Regular Beats
Relative Adverbs
Relative Pronouns
Revising
Rewriting
Rhyme
Rhythm
Rime
Definition
A short popular saying that expresses a wise thought.
Examples: A stitch in nine saves time. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
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.
To give exact information set off by quotation marks.
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)
A mode of expressing words and phrases by using pictures of objects whose names
resemble those words**
To relate in detail.
The rhythm and cadence of a text.
Joins two clauses and refers to a noun preceding it answering where, when and why
clauses.
Refers to a noun mentioned before to which new information is being added. They are
used to join two or more sentences and forming “relative sentences”.
A part of writing and preparing presentations concerned chiefly with a reconsideration
and reworking of the content of a text relative to task, purpose, and audience; compared
to editing, a larger-scale activity often associated with the overall content and structure
of a text; see also editing, rewriting**
A part of writing and preparing presentations that involves largely or wholly replacing a
previous, unsatisfactory effort with a new effort, better aligned to task, purpose, and
audience, on the same or a similar topic or theme; compared to revising, a larger-scale
activity more akin to replacement than refinement; see also editing, revising
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.*
Any vowel and consonants that follow the onset sound
Rising Action
A series of events of story or drama that lead to the climax of the story.
Sequence of
Events
Recount the events of a story in chronological order. *
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English Language Arts Common Core Grades K-5 Key Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Definition
The time and place in which a narrative takes place; the scenery and stage effects for a
dramatic production.
Setting



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. *
Temporary guidance or assistance provided to a student by a teacher, another adult, or a
more capable peer, enabling the student to perform a task he or she otherwise would
not be able to do alone, with the goal of fostering the student’s capacity to perform the
task on his or her own later on**
Scaffolding
* Though Vygotsky himself does not use the term scaffolding, the educational meaning
of the term relates closely to his concept of the zone of proximal development. See L. S.
Vygotsky (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Short Research
Project
An investigation intended to address a narrowly tailored query in a brief period of time,
as in a few class periods or a week of instructional time**
Simile
A figure of speech or other direct comparison of two things that are dissimilar, using the
words like or as (or other words of comparison).*
Sight Word
Words that are commonly used, but may not follow phonetic spelling rules, and as a
result are frequently learned through sight memorization. (time4learning.com)
Both simple and perfect verb tenses can also be made into progressive verb forms.
Simple and Perfect
Sometimes they are also called continuous. That just means that they show an action
Verb Tense
that is in progress or that is continuing.
A text used largely for informational purposes, as in research; see also text**
Source
Standard English
Stanza
Structure
Suffix–
In the Standards, the most widely accepted and understood form of expression in English
in the United States; used in the Standards to refer to formal English writing and
speaking; the particular focus of Language standards 1 and 2**
A division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually
reoccurring of meter and rhyme.
The organization of the component parts of literature
includes inflections and affixes**
Summarize
A short description of something that has been said or written—that highlights the main
ideas or details.
Syllables
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.
Synonym
A word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or other words.*
Synthesize
Use individual pieces of information within a text to form a new idea
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English Language Arts Common Core Grades K-5 Key Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Definition
Technical subjects
A course devoted to a practical study, such as engineering, technology, design, business,
or other workforce-related subject; a technical aspect of a wider field of study, such as
art or music**
Text
Text Complexity
Text Complexity
Band
Textual Evidence
Text Features
Topic Sentence
Theme
Tone
Topic
Visualize
Vowel Teams
A written, printed document.
The inherent difficulty of reading and comprehending a text combined with
consideration of reader and task variables; in the Standards, a three-part assessment of
text difficulty that pairs qualitative and quantitative measures with reader-task
considerations **
A range of text difficulty corresponding to grade spans within the Standards; specifically,
the spans from grades 2–3, grades 4–5, grades 6–8, grades 9–10, and grades 11–CCR
(college and career readiness). Text complexity includes Lexile scores. See Appendix A.**
See evidence
A distinct element of literary and informational text that facilitates understanding for the
reader
A sentence stating the topic.
A topic of discussion or writing: a major, recurring or unifying idea that may be stated or
implied
What the author is feeling toward the subject, rather than what the reader feels
A word or phrase in a sentence usually providing information from previous conversation
or discussion that the rest of the sentence elaborates or comments on.
Use all five senses to create pictures in the mind before, during, and after reading
Two vowels side by side which create a new sound. (Examples: ee, ay, ai, oo, au)
With Prompting
See scaffolding
and Support/with
(some) Guidance
and Support
*Common Core Curriculum Maps www.commoncore.org/maps/resources/glossary
** Common Core ELA Glossary
North Dakota has added a few entries to the glossary published by the Common Core. These additions are shown in
italics.
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