Kindergarten · English Language Arts · Unit 7 of 12
Book Detectives
Letters, words and books
What your child practices
How print works: telling letters, numbers, words and sentences apart, reading left to right and top to bottom, counting words, and what authors and illustrators do.
Alabama Course of Study content standard: K.8 · how print and books are organized, from the cover to the title page
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- A letter is one mark, like N.
- A word is a group of letters. Spaces go between words.
- We read a book from the front, top to bottom, left to right.
Example: How many words are in “I see a cat”? Count the words: I, see, a, cat. Four words. Answer: 4
Book Detectives in Alabama
In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 7 of 12 in Kindergarten English Language Arts, after Story Order and before Picture Clues.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
How many words are in this sentence?
The sun is hot.
- 3
- 4
- 5
4
Hint: Point to each word as you read. The spaces show where one word ends.
Question 2
In English, which way do we read?
- ⬆️Bottom to top
- ➡️Left to right
- ⬅️Right to left
➡️ Left to right
Hint: In English, we start on the left and move our finger to the right.
Question 3
How many words are in this sentence?
I see a cat.
- 3
- 4
- 5
4
Hint: Point to each word as you read. The spaces show where one word ends.
Question 4
Which word comes first?
Look at the moon.
- moon
- at
- Look
Look
Hint: Start on the left. The first word begins with a capital letter.
Question 5
What do we call the name of a book?
- 🏷️The title
- 🔢A number
- 📄A page
🏷️ The title
Hint: The title is the name of the book. You can find it on the front cover.
Question 6
Which one is a word?
- 7
- red
- m
red
Hint: A word is a group of letters that means something, like dog.