South Dakota ELA K.RL.4

ELAKindergartenReading Literature

The Standard

Ask and answer questions about unknown words and phrases, including multiple meaning words with prompting and support.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025) · Craft and Structure

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: During a story read aloud, students ask about words or phrases they do not know. With help, they use the sentence and pictures to work out the meaning. They notice when the same word means different things.
What Mastery Looks Like: When a story says bark fell from a tree, a student asks what bark means and points to the tree's covering. They can explain that a dog's bark is a sound and tell which meaning fits the story.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think a word means the same thing every time they hear it. They may guess from a picture without checking the sentence. Some repeat an answer but cannot say what clue helped them.
How to Assess It: Read aloud: 'The bat flew into a cave. Sam hit the ball with a bat.' Prompt each child to ask about bat, then explain both meanings using clues from the sentences.

Lesson moves

Read two bark sentences, then have children place a paper word card beside either a drawing of a dog or a tree.
Read 'The fox curled up in the den' and ask, 'What might curled up mean? Which words or picture helped you?'
Play meaning match: read two bat sentences and have children point to an animal picture or a baseball bat picture.
Show a jar of jam and read 'The cars got stuck in a jam'; ask what jam means in each place.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to K.RL.4, 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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