Reading: Literature Progression Map

Common Core ELAGrades K to 1299 core standards · 88 connections

How the ten reading anchor skills develop through literature, from retelling a story in kindergarten to analyzing authorial choices in high school.

View

Cite evidence

Read across grades to see how this skill develops.

Kindergarten

1 standard

Grade 1

1 standard

Grade 2

1 standard

Grade 3

1 standard

Grade 4

1 standard

Grade 5

1 standard

Grade 6

1 standard

Grade 7

1 standard

Grade 8

1 standard

Grades 9–10

1 standard

Grades 11–12

1 standard

How to Read This Map

Start in the focused explorer, where standards are grouped into human-readable skill threads and placed in grade order. Select a standard to see what it builds on and what it unlocks. The full network preserves every verified connection: solid lines are essential prerequisites and dashed lines are supporting connections. Cross-topic foundations appear in a selected standard's details. Every standard links to a full breakdown with teaching ideas. How these connections are verified.

All standards on this map, as a list

Cite evidence

  • RL.1.1Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
  • RL.2.1Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
  • RL.3.1Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
  • RL.4.1Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
  • RL.5.1Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
  • RL.6.1Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.7.1Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.8.1Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.9-10.1Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.11-12.1Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
  • RL.K.1With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Central ideas and themes

  • RL.1.2Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
  • RL.2.2Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
  • RL.3.2Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
  • RL.4.2Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
  • RL.5.2Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize...
  • RL.6.2Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
  • RL.7.2Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.8.2Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of...
  • RL.9-10.2Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an...
  • RL.11-12.2Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account;...
  • RL.K.2With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.

People, events, and ideas

  • RL.1.3Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
  • RL.2.3Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
  • RL.3.3Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
  • RL.4.3Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
  • RL.5.3Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).
  • RL.6.3Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
  • RL.7.3Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
  • RL.8.3Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
  • RL.9-10.3Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
  • RL.11-12.3Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced...
  • RL.K.3With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

Word meaning and tone

  • RL.1.4Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
  • RL.2.4Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
  • RL.3.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
  • RL.4.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).
  • RL.5.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
  • RL.6.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
  • RL.7.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration)...
  • RL.8.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including...
  • RL.9-10.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone...
  • RL.11-12.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including...
  • RL.K.4Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

Text structure

  • RL.1.5Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.
  • RL.2.5Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
  • RL.3.5Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.
  • RL.4.5Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions,...
  • RL.5.5Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.
  • RL.6.5Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.
  • RL.7.5Analyze how a drama's or poem's form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.
  • RL.8.5Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.
  • RL.9-10.5Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery,...
  • RL.11-12.5Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution)...
  • RL.K.5Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).

Point of view and purpose

  • RL.1.6Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
  • RL.2.6Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.
  • RL.3.6Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
  • RL.4.6Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations.
  • RL.5.6Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
  • RL.6.6Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
  • RL.7.6Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
  • RL.8.6Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.
  • RL.9-10.6Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.
  • RL.11-12.6Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
  • RL.K.6With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

Media and formats

  • RL.1.7Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
  • RL.2.7Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
  • RL.3.7Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).
  • RL.4.7Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
  • RL.5.7Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).
  • RL.6.7Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they "see" and "hear" when...
  • RL.7.7Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or...
  • RL.8.7Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors.
  • RL.9-10.7Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden's "Musée des Beaux Arts" and Breughel's...
  • RL.11-12.7Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include...
  • RL.K.7With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

Comparing texts

  • RL.1.9Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
  • RL.2.9Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
  • RL.3.9Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series).
  • RL.4.9Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from...
  • RL.5.9Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.
  • RL.6.9Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.
  • RL.7.9Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history.
  • RL.8.9Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the...
  • RL.9-10.9Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by...
  • RL.11-12.9Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or...
  • RL.K.9With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.

Text complexity

  • RL.1.10With prompting and support, read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1.
  • RL.2.10By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2—3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
  • RL.3.10By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2—3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
  • RL.4.10By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4—5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the...
  • RL.5.10By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 4—5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
  • RL.6.10By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6—8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the...
  • RL.7.10By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the...
  • RL.8.10By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 6—8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
  • RL.9-10.10By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9—10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the...
  • RL.11-12.10By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11—CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the...
  • RL.K.10Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

More Common Core ELA Maps