Kindergarten Word Study Curriculum
Family-facing version of the kindergarten word study curriculum
Quarterly Overview of Kindergarten Word Study
The objectives and outcomes for each unit are common across FCPS and based on the Virginia Standards of Learning. The pacing by quarter and by week provides an example of how the curriculum can be organized throughout the year. Teacher teams may adjust the pacing or order of units to best meet the needs of students.
Week 1Week 2Week 3
Week 4Week 5Week 6
Week 7Week 8Week 9
Quarter 1
Quarter 2
Quarter 3
Quarter 4
Units and Details
Unit 1: Letter Learning with Names
Students will:
- Recognize and write first and/or last name.
- Identify the letters in name (in and out of order).
- Understand that words have parts that can be taken apart and put back together.
- Locate name in and out of text by searching for the first letter.
- Begin to understand that letters make sounds.
- Begin to understand the concept of first and last.
- Begin to understand that sentences are made up of words.
Unit 2: Building Alphabet Knowledge
Students will:
- Build letter and sound knowledge.
- Learn to form letters using a verbal pathway.
- Locate known letters in and out of continuous text.
- Understand that letters represent sounds.
- Sort letters by beginning sound.
- Blend and segment syllables.
Unit 3: Building Letter-Sound Relationships
Students will:
- Continue to build letter and sound knowledge and form letters using a verbal pathway.
- Begin to build knowledge of digraphs.
- Build automaticity using letters and digraphs to represent sounds.
- Recognize pairs of rhyming words.
- Begin to blend and segment two phonemes and onset and rime.
- Begin to use blending lines.
Unit 4: Word Building
Students will:
- Understand that vowels make more than one sound.
- Use letter and sound knowledge to begin writing and reading regular high frequency words.
- Begin building knowledge of irregular high frequency words.
- Locate and read known and unknown words in and out of continuous text.
- Orally produce words with similar beginning and ending sounds.
- Continue to recognize pairs of rhyming words.
- Blend and segment two and three phonemes.
Unit 5: Short Vowels and Word Families Part 1
Students will:
- Apply knowledge of letters to read and write words with the CVC pattern that use the medial /ă/ /ĭ/ /ŏ/ sounds (e.g., mat, hop).
- Continue building knowledge of regular and irregular high frequency words.
- Locate and read words in and out of continuous text.
- Continue to orally produce words with similar beginning and ending sounds.
- Recognize a rhyming word when given a word or picture.
- Blend, segment, add, and substitute onset and rimes.
- Blend and segment two and three phoneme words.
Unit 6: Short Vowel and Word Families Part 2
Students will:
- Use their knowledge of letters to read and write words with the CVC pattern (e.g., mat, hop).
- Continue building knowledge of regular and irregular high frequency words.
- Locate and read known and unknown words in and out of continuous text.
- Continue to orally produce words with similar beginning and ending sounds.
- Produce a rhyming word when given a word or picture.
- Blend, segment, add, and substitute onset and rimes.
- Blend and segment VC and CVC words.
Unit 7: Digraphs and Word Families
Students will:
- Understand that digraphs are two letters that make one sound.
- Use their knowledge of letters and digraphs to read and write words with the CVC pattern (e.g., that, shop, chin).
- Continue building knowledge of regular and irregular high frequency words.
- Continue to blend, segment, add, and substitute onset and rimes using digraphs.
- Continue to blend and segment VC and CVC words using digraphs.
Virginia Department of Education Resources
Assessments
Student assessments are part of the teaching and learning process.
- Teachers give assessments to students on an ongoing basis to
- Check for understanding
- Gather information about students' knowledge or skills.
- Assessments provide information about a child's development of knowledge and skills that can help families and teachers better plan for the next steps in instruction.
For testing questions or additional information about how schools and teachers use test results to support student success, families can contact their children's schools.
In Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), kindergarten tests focus on measuring content knowledge and skill development.
Health
Language Arts
Reading
Writing
Word Study