Maryland ELA RL.K.6

ELAKindergartenReading Literature

The Standard

With modeling, prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Children listen as the teacher reads the names on a book cover. They name the author and illustrator, then tell who wrote the words and who made the pictures.
What Mastery Looks Like: Given a familiar picture book, a child points to each name as the teacher reads it. They name each person and tell what that person made.
Common Misconceptions: Some children call the person reading aloud the author. Others mix up the two names or think the illustrator wrote the story words.
How to Assess It: Read the cover credits of The Gruffalo aloud. Ask each child to name the author and illustrator and tell what each one made.

Lesson moves

After reading The Gruffalo, have children place Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler name cards beside labels marked 'words' and 'pictures.'
Ask, 'What did the pictures help you notice about the mouse? Who made those pictures? Who wrote the words?'
Play cover detective: read credits from three picture books aloud, then have children hold up a pencil card for author or paintbrush card for illustrator.
At the school library, choose a picture book and ask the librarian to help children find who wrote it and who drew its pictures.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to RL.K.6, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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