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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.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 0.1.5.1; 0.1.6.1 · the front cover, back cover and title of a book, and what authors and illustrators do

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A letter is one mark, like N.
  2. A word is a group of letters. Spaces go between words.
  3. 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 Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, 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.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which word comes first?

    We like to play.

    • like
    • play
    • We

  2. Question 2

    How many words are in this sentence?

    Look at the moon.

    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

  3. Question 3

    What do we call the name of a book?

    • 🏷️The title
    • 🔢A number
    • 📄A page

  4. Question 4

    Where does an English book start?

    • 📕At the front
    • 🔚At the back
    • 🎯In the middle

  5. Question 5

    How many words are in this sentence?

    I see a cat.

    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

  6. Question 6

    Which one is a letter?

    • dad
    • n
    • 6

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