Understanding that print carries meaning.

Knowing the directionality of text (left to right, top to bottom).

Recognizing parts of a book (cover, title, author, spaces between words).

Milestone: By the end of kindergarten, most children can demonstrate correct directionality and identify the difference between letters and words.

Clay’s Concepts About Print Test (CAP)

• Students show book orientation, directionality, and recognition of letters/words.

Observational Checklist

• Teacher notes whether students handle books correctly, track print, or recognize spaces between words.

Interactive Read-Aloud Questions

• Asking, “Where do I start reading?” or “Can you point to a word?”

For ELs: Use picture walk before reading to build background knowledge and vocabulary.

For students with dyslexia: Provide tactile books (raised letters, textured illustrations) to reinforce the print concept in a multisensory way.

Broad awareness of the sound structure of spoken language.

Includes rhyming, alliteration, word awareness, syllable segmentation, onset-rime.

Milestone: By end of Kindergarten, students can identify and produce rhymes, segment words into syllables, and identify initial sounds.

Phonological Awareness Test–2

• Measures rhyme, segmentation, blending, deletion, and substitution.

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS, First Sound Fluency)

• Tracks growth in identifying initial sounds.

Informal Games

• “Clap the syllables” or “Which words rhyme?” activities for observational assessment.

Narrower subset of phonological awareness.

Ability to identify, isolate, blend, segment, and manipulate individual phonemes (smallest units of sound).

Milestone: By Grade 1, students can segment and blend phonemes in CVC words (e.g., /c/ /a/ /t/ → cat).

Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (DIBELS)

• Students break apart words into phonemes within 1 minute.

Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation

• Students segment words orally (teacher records accuracy).

Informal Blending/Segmenting Tasks

• Ask students to blend spoken sounds into words.

For ELs: Use picture cues for words (cat, dog, sun) to support vocabulary while focusing on phonemes.

For dyslexia: Incorporate Orton-Gillingham–style multisensory instruction (saying, hearing, moving tokens, writing sounds).

Ability to recognize and name letters of the alphabet (uppercase and lowercase).

Milestone: By end of kindergarten, students typically can name all 26 uppercase and lowercase letters.

Letter Naming Fluency (DIBELS)

• Students name as many letters as possible within 1 minute.

Alphabet Recognition Checklist

• Teacher points to letters in random order for child to identify.

Flashcard Assessment

• Informal check of both uppercase and lowercase letter naming.

For ELs: Pair letter names with keyword pictures (A–apple, B–ball) to reinforce vocabulary.

For dyslexia: Provide tactile/kinesthetic practice (sandpaper letters, air-writing, tracing) to strengthen memory pathways.