At Little Mountain, we know that strong reading, writing, and communication skills are the foundation for academic success. But what exactly should students be able to do at each stage? Here’s a guide to the essential English Language Arts (ELA) skills students should be developing from Kindergarten through to Grade 7.
Kindergarten (K): Early Language Foundations
In Kindergarten, students begin building the basics of reading and writing. They learn to recognize letters, understand their sounds, and start blending sounds together to read simple words like cat and sun and beyond. Through storytelling and group discussions, they also begin developing listening and speaking skills, while early writing often focuses on drawing, labelling, and forming simple sentences.
Grade 1: Beginning to Read and Write
By Grade 1, students should be reading simple books independently with growing fluency. They learn to retell stories by identifying the beginning, middle, and end. In writing, they focus on forming complete sentences using capitals and periods correctly. Vocabulary building continues through conversation and reading, while classroom discussions help them express ideas more clearly.
Grade 2: Building Fluency and Basic Composition
In Grade 2, students move toward greater fluency and comprehension. They can read longer texts and identify the main idea and key details. Writing shifts toward short, organized paragraphs with topic sentences. Students also start adding more descriptive words to their writing and take their first steps in independently editing for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
Grade 3: Strengthening Comprehension and Structure
Grade 3 marks an important transition: students are expected to summarize stories, make predictions, and begin making inferences. Their writing evolves into multi-paragraph pieces with clear introductions and conclusions. They learn to connect ideas using linking words like because and then, and they start revising and editing their own work with guidance.
Grade 4: Analyzing and Elaborating
In Grade 4, students dig deeper into texts, identifying themes, character traits, and structures like cause and effect. Their writing focuses on well-organized essays across different genres — narrative, informative, and persuasive. Students use evidence from texts to support their ideas and expand their vocabulary and sentence variety to create more polished writing.
Grade 5: Critical Thinking and Persuasive Skills
By Grade 5, students are expected to think critically about what they read, comparing and contrasting characters, settings, and ideas. Their writing includes clear thesis statements and structured essays with strong supporting points. Students also begin conducting research projects and summarizing their findings, while discussions and debates help sharpen their persuasive skills.
Grade 6: Deepening Analysis and Argument
In Grade 6, students refine their ability to analyze literature and nonfiction texts, focusing on how authors develop characters, themes, and viewpoints. Writing includes argumentative, explanatory, and narrative essays, supported by relevant evidence. Students are also expected to complete research projects, edit for clarity and style, and present information clearly in both written and oral formats.
Grade 7: Mastering Formal Writing and Analysis
By Grade 7, students should be comfortable evaluating the strength of arguments in texts and crafting well-developed formal essays with strong introductions and conclusions. They analyze how literary elements like symbolism or foreshadowing shape a story and conduct deeper research across multiple sources. Their writing uses more advanced grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure, and they present ideas confidently in discussions and presentations.
Final Thoughts
English Language Arts skills build year by year, laying a strong foundation not just for school success but for lifelong learning. At Little Mountain, we guide students through each stage – from learning to read and write to mastering essays and critical analysis – so they feel confident at every step of their journey.