APPENDIX A
Conventions of Academic English/Language for Learning: Grade Band
Skills
Please note: Language Standards 1 and 2 are organized within grade bands. For the Core
Conventions Skills and Core Punctuation and Spelling Skills, the student is expected to know
and be able to use the skills by the end of the grade band. The → is included to indicate skills
that connect and progress across the band. These particular skills are depicted on a continuum
because research suggests that they develop along a progression.
Prekindergarten-Grade 2
Anchor Standard L1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of academic English grammar
and usage when writing or speaking*.
Core Conventions Skills for Grades Prekindergarten→Grade 2:
• Print upper- and lowercase letters in their name → Print many upper- and lowercase
letters → Print all upper- and lowercase letters.
• Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs (orally) → Use frequently occurring nouns and
verbs.
• Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.
• Use collective nouns (e.g., group).
• Form and use regular plural nouns (e.g., dog, dogs; wish, wishes).
• Form and use frequently occurring irregular plural nouns (e.g., feet, children, mice, fish).
• Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences (e.g., The boy
jumps; The boys jump).
• Understand and use interrogatives (question words—e.g., who, what, where, when,
why, how).
• Use frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with).
• Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities.
• Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns (e.g., I, me, my; they, them, their,
anyone, everything). → Use reflexive pronouns (e.g., myself, ourselves).
• Use verbs →Use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future (e.g., Yesterday I
walked home; Today I walk home; Tomorrow I will walk home). → Form and use the
past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs (e.g., sat, hid, told).
• Use frequently occurring adjectives. → Use adjectives or adverbs appropriately.
• Use frequently occurring conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, so because). → Use frequently
occurring transition words (e.g., first, then, therefore, finally)
• Produce and expand complete sentences → Understand and use simple and compound
sentences in speech or writing (e.g., The child read the book; The child read the book,
but she did not watch the movie).
*While building proficiency in English,
ELLs/MLLs, in English as a New Language and
Bilingual Education programs may
demonstrate skills bilingually or transfer
linguistic knowledge across languages.
94