Kindergarten

Viewing 

 Foundational Skills

Published Signing

Discourse and Presentation

Language 

Fingerspelling and Fingerreading

Literature

Informational

Sign Concepts

Phonological Awareness

Morphological Awareness

Fluency

Text Types and Purposes 

Production and Distribution of Published Signing

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Range of Signing

Comprehension and Collaboration 

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

Structure of American Sign Language

Knowledge of Language

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

Key Ideas

Initialized and Lexicalized Forms

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use 

Key Ideas and Details

Craft and Structure

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Range of Viewing and Level of Text Complexity

Key Ideas and Details

Craft and Structure

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Range of Viewing and Level of Text Complexity

Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of sign.

Demonstrate understanding of signs and parameters (phonemes).

Know and apply grade-level sign analysis skills in decoding signs.

View and sign on-level texts with purpose and understanding.

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and signing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a viewer the topic or the name of the text they are signing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or text (e.g., My favorite text is …).

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and signing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are signing about and supply some information about the topic.

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and signing to compose a visual-story map narrating a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.

(Begins in grade 2.)

With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen signing as needed.

With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish signing, including in collaboration with peers.

Participate in shared research and signing projects (e.g., explore a number of texts by a favorite author and/or signer and express opinions about them).

With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

(Begins in grade 4.)

Publish signing over short time frames (e.g., a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences

Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

Confirm understanding of storytelling or storysigning or information signed or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.

Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.

Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.

Sign clearly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

Demonstrate command of the structure of standard ASL grammar and usage when signing (live and published).

(Begins in grade 2.)

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiplemeaning signs, fingerspelled words, and phrases based on kindergarten viewing and content.

With guidance and support from adults, explore sign relationships and nuances in sign meanings.

Use signs and phrases acquired through conversations, signing and being signed to, and responding to texts. 

Demonstrate understanding of ways fingerspelled signs are formed and their uses.

Demonstrate understanding of initialized and lexicalized forms of fingerspelled words.

Know and apply grade-level parameters and sign analysis skills in decoding signs both in isolation and in context. 

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text

With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details. 

With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

Ask and answer questions about unknown fingerspelled words or signs in a text.

Recognize common types of text (e.g., storysigning, storytelling, poems).

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

With 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).

(Not applicable to literature.)

With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.

Actively engage in group viewing activities with purpose and understanding.

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details.

With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text

With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown signs and fingerspelled words.

Identify the beginning, body, and ending of a text. 

Name the author and signer of a text and define the role of each in presenting the ideas or information.

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea an illustration depicts in the text).

With prompting and support, identify the reasons a signer gives to support points in a text.

With prompting and support, identify basic similarities and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures). 

Actively engage in group viewing activities with purpose and understanding.

 Recognize the structure of the signing space (i.e., head, trunk, arm, and hand).

 Recognize that signs are represented by a combination of parameters. 

Recognize that signs produce meaning.

Recognize that non-manual markers have meanings.

 Recognize that specific classifiers have specific meanings.

 Recognize that signs are separated by parameters. 

Identify the phonological parameters in ASL. 

Count, produce, blend, and segment parameters in signs. 

Manipulate parameters to make new meaning. 

Recognize and produce rhyming signs

Recognize common high-frequency signs (e.g., LIKE, WANT, WHY). 

 Recognize that specific classifiers represent specific nouns (e.g., vehicle, people, structures, elements).

Recognize signs incorporate agentive suffix (e.g., TEACHER = TEACH+PERSON, PILOT = PLANE+PERSON). 

Recognize signs with inflections (e.g., comparatives, superlatives, and plural; SIT-FOR-A-LONG-TIME, SHE-GIVESHIM). 

Identify meaning of numerically incorporated signs (e.g., 1-YEAR-OLD vs. ONE-O’CLOCK = TIME+ONE). f. Recognize non-manual markers of signs inform their meanings (e.g., PUZZLED,)

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., attending to others and taking turns signing about the topics and texts under discussion). 

Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges. 

Can use visual access strategies (e.g., reposition self when visual access is blocked; positioning to see signer; maintaining eye-gaze).

Use the full range of handshapes. 

Use frequently occurring nouns, verbs, and depictions. 

Form plural nouns by modifying parameters. 

Use question signs and non-manual markers (e.g., WHO-Q, WHAT-Q, WHY-Q, WHERE-Q, HOW-Q, WHEN-Q). 

Use the most frequently occurring prepositions through referents (e.g., CL: 3 CAR NEXT-TO CL-5 TREE, HURT-ONTUMMY).). 

Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities.

Use non-manual markers and classifiers to produce frequently occurring adjectives and adverbs. 

Produce sentences with indicating verbs (e.g., BOY-THERETELL-ME). 

Use pronouns as spatial referents (e.g., BOTH-OF-US, BOTHOF-THEM, CL: 1 person). j. Use inflection to indicate temporal markers (e.g., movement, non-manual signals).

Use inflection to indicate temporal markers (e.g., movement, non-manual signals).

Use context to identify the meaning of unknown signs, fingerspelled words, and phrases. 

Identify new meanings for similar signs and apply them accurately (e.g., SAME vs. LIKE, BUT vs. DIFFERENT). 

Use the most frequently occurring inflections (e.g., SIT-FORA-LONG-TIME, SHE-GIVES-HIM) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown sign.

Use the most frequently occurring affixes and compound words (e.g., LAW-PERSON, WOOD+CUT-PERSON, TREE+HOUSE) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown sign.

Use role-shifting and/or non-manual markers to represent categories (e.g., shapes, food) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

Demonstrate understanding of frequently occurring verbs and adjectives by relating them to their opposites (antonyms) (e.g., WANT/DON’T-WANT, LIKE/DON’T-LIKE). 

Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (e.g., WALK-quickly, WALK-slowly, WALK-clumsily).

Recognize that fingerspelled words are represented by specific sequences of handshapes produced from in to out. 

Connect fingerspelling with English in print. 

Recognize that some signs have fingerspelling equivalents. 

Can see connections between initialized forms and alphabet letters (e.g., name signs, WATER, FAMILY). 

Can fingerspell words, including short words and names of people or places (e.g., own name, fs T-A-R-G-E-T, fs J-O-H-N). 

Produce lexical fingerspelling (e.g., #BACK, #OFF, #FIX).

Use signs to inquire for the fingerspelling of those signs (e.g., TABLE to get fs T-A-B-L-E).