Benchmark a.
Engages in multiple back-and-forth communicative interactions with adults and peers in purposeful and novel situations to reach a goal 

Benchmark b.
Shows understanding by answering factual questions and responding appropriately to what is said

Benchmark a.
Tells the main idea or topic of a conversation, story, informational text or creative play, and makes a connection 

Benchmark b.
Observes simple aspects of child's world and responds and reacts

Benchmark a.
Achieves mastery of one-step directions and usually follows two-step directions

Benchmark a.
Begins to speak and is usually understood by both a familiar and an unfamiliar adult but may make some pronunciation errors

Benchmark a.
Begins to demonstrate understanding of age-appropriate vocabulary across multiple topic areas and demonstrates a variety of words and their meanings within each area (e.g., world knowledge, names of body parts and feelings) 

Benchmark b.
Begins to understand the use of words in different context (including plurals and past tense in speech) 

Benchmark a.
Produces sentences or phrases of two to five words including subject/verb/object (e.g., “Suzy has cookies.” “My shirt's got blue flowers.”) 

Benchmark b.
Asks more complex questions beginning with “is” (e.g., “Is David here?” “What was for lunch?”)

Benchmark c.
Uses conjunctions “and” and sometimes “because” in sentences and uses other complex sentence structures (e.g., elaborated phrases with adjectives and adverbs)

Benchmark a.
Engages in conversations using sentences with four or more words, participates in simple, back-and-forth conversations to exchange ideas or information

Benchmark a.
Asks and responds to increasingly longer and more complex sentences and simple questions

Benchmark a.
Demonstrates awareness of nonverbal conversational rules 

Benchmark b.
Begins to demonstrate knowledge of verbal conversational rules (e.g., appropriately takes turns, does not interrupt, uses appropriate verbal expressions and uses appropriate intonation) 

Benchmark c.
Begins to match language to social and academic contexts (e.g., uses volume appropriate to context)

Benchmark a.
Begins to select books for reading enjoyment and reading related activities including pretending to read to self or others 

Benchmark b.
Begins to make real-world connections between stories and real-life experiences 

Benchmark c.
Interacts appropriately with books; pretends to read, holds book appropriately or picture reads

Benchmark d.
Asks to be read to or asks the meaning of written text 

Benchmark e.
Participates in conversations that demonstrate appreciation of printed materials

Benchmark a.
Listens and matches rhythm, volume and pitch of rhymes, songs and chants

Benchmark a.
Recognizes that print conveys meaning 

Benchmark b.
Recognizes some letters when named (e.g., when shown a group of letters, can accurately identify, verbally or nonverbally, the letter that is named) 

Benchmark c.
Names some letters (e.g., when shown an uppercase or lowercase letter, can accurately say its name)

Benchmark a.
Retells or reenacts parts of a story after it is read aloud

Benchmark a.
Uses scribbling, letter-like shapes and drawings to represent thoughts and ideas

Benchmark a.
Engages in active games or outdoor play and other forms of physical activity for sustained periods of time (e.g., dancing in circle time)

Benchmark a.
Follows basic safety practices with close adult supervision (e.g., tries to buckle own seatbelt; seeks adult assistance to use step stool)

Benchmark a.
Carries out familiar hygiene routines with occasional reminders of how to do them

Benchmark a.
Begins to balance, such as on one leg or a beam, for short periods

Benchmark b.
Begins to perform some skills, such as jumping for height and hopping 

Benchmark c.
Engages in physical activity that requires strength and stamina for brief periods

Benchmark a.
Begins to combine and coordinate two or more motor movements (e.g., runs with long strides showing arm and leg opposition; uses wheelchair to move in classroom)

Benchmark a.
Begins to act and move with purpose and recognizes differences in direction, distance and location 

Benchmark b.
Demonstrates awareness of own body in relation to others

Benchmark a.
Uses various drawing and art tools with developing coordination

Benchmark a.
Uses hand-eye coordination to manipulate objects and materials (e.g., completing large-piece puzzles or threading beads with large holes, begins to use scissors) 

Benchmark b.
Uses hand-eye coordination in handling books (e.g., turning pages, pointing to a picture or looking for favorite page)

Benchmark a.
Identifies complex emotions in a book, picture or on a person's face (e.g., frustrated, confused)

Benchmark a.
Verbalizes own feelings and those of others

Benchmark a.
Begins to verbalize emotions

Benchmark a.
Begins to sustain attention for brief periods of time in group activities

Benchmark a.
Develops positive relationships and interacts comfortably with familiar adults

Benchmark a.
Builds social relationships and becomes more connected to other children 

Benchmark b.
Demonstrates strategies for entry into social play with peers 

Benchmark c.
Develops an initial understanding of bullying

Benchmark a.
Able to suggest a potential solution to social problems, and with adult support, is able to follow through

Benchmark a.
Responds to the emotions of others with comforting words or actions

Benchmark a.
Continues to play with preferred playmates

Benchmark a.
Continues sustained independent play and participates in more planned group activities

Benchmark a.
Begins to show a willingness to be flexible if routines must change in minor ways

Benchmark a.
Increasingly uses words to communicate wants and needs 

Benchmark b.
Begins to recognize preferences of others 

Benchmark c.
Begins to use words to demonstrate knowledge of personal information (e.g., hair color, age, gender or size) 

Benchmark d.
Begins to identify self as part of a group (e.g., class or family)

Benchmark a.
Begins to identify each of the five senses and how they relate to the sense organs 

Benchmark b.
Uses senses to observe and experience objects and environment

Benchmark a.
Demonstrates the use of simple tools and equipment for observing and investigating (e.g., droppers, blocks, bug catchers)

Benchmark a.
Makes simple predictions and reflects on what caused something to happen 

Benchmark b.
Participates in and discusses simple experiments 

Benchmark c.
Represents ideas and observations through drawings or using other forms of representation (e.g., manipulatives or different objects)

Benchmark a.
Observes and explores a variety of plants and animals and their environments (e.g., rabbits, birds, ladybugs, hermit crabs, eggs, butterflies and bugs in the garden) 

Benchmark b.
Begins to notice the similarities and differences among various living things 

Benchmark c.
Explores basic life cycles (e.g., plants grow from seeds and hatching eggs) 

Benchmark d.
Explores the differences between living and non-living things 

Benchmark e.
Explores the needs of living things (e.g., plants need water to grow and kids need food to grow)

Benchmark a.
Explores and investigates objects that require positioning and movement through play (e.g., gears, marble chutes, screws in a toy workbench) 

Benchmark b.
Explores and investigates how to change the speed with which an object will move (e.g., pedaling a tricycle, rolling a ball) 

Benchmark c.
Explores and investigates the properties of toys and objects (e.g., relationship between size and weight of blocks, what makes balls bounce) 

Benchmark d.
Explores and begins to identify physical properties and state of matter of objects or materials (e.g., playing with sand and water, mixing paints, freezing and cooking, sinking/floating objects)

Benchmark a.
Investigates and asks questions about the properties of water using adult- and child-directed activities

Benchmark b.
Investigates and asks questions about the properties of rocks, soil, sand and mud using adult- and child-directed activities 

Benchmark c.
Asks questions and shows curiosity about objects in the sky (e.g., clouds, sun, moon and stars)

Benchmark d.
Describes typical daytime and nighttime activities for people and other animals through drawing, naming or pretend play 

Benchmark e.
Observes and discusses weather changes day to day

Benchmark a.
Begins to identify problems and tries to solve them by designing or using tools (e.g., uses a stick or bat to reach and pull a ball back inside the fence) 

Benchmark b.
Explores and identifies simple machines through play (e.g., ramps, gears, wheels, pulleys and levers) 

Benchmark c.
Explores and constructs simple objects and structures with appropriate materials and explores concept of stability of structures (e.g., block building, ramps, pathways, sand, playdough and knocking over a block tower)

Benchmark a.
Seeks to engage in physical activities or active play routinely with increased intensity and duration

Benchmark a.
Consistently follows basic safety rules independently across different situations 

Benchmark b.
Identifies consequences of not following safety rules

Benchmark a.
Initiates and completes familiar hygiene routines independently

Benchmark a.
Assists adults in preparing simple foods to serve to self or others 

Benchmark b.
Recognizes nutritious food choices and healthy eating habits

Benchmark a.
Balances, such as on one leg or on a beam, for longer periods of time both when standing still and when moving from one position to another 

Benchmark b.
Demonstrates more coordinated movement when engaging in skills, such as jumping for height and distance, hopping and running 

Benchmark c.
Engages in more complex movements (e.g., riding a tricycle with ease) 

Benchmark d.
Engages in physical activities of increasing levels of intensity for sustained periods of time

Benchmark a.
Combines and coordinates more than two motor movements (e.g., moves a wheelchair through an obstacle course)

Benchmark a.
Acts and moves with purpose and independently recognizes differences in direction, distance and location 

Benchmark b.
Demonstrates spatial awareness through play activities

Benchmark a.
Shows hand control using various drawing and art tools with increasing coordination

Benchmark a.
Recognizes the emotions of peers and responds with empathy and compassion

Benchmark a.
Demonstrates cognitive empathy (recognizing or inferring other's mental states) and the use of words, gestures and facial expressions to respond appropriately

Benchmark a.
Recognizes and names own emotions and manages and exhibits behavioral control with or without adult support

Benchmark a.
Increases attention to preferred activities and begins to attend to non-preferred activities

Benchmark a.
Shows enjoyment in interactions with trusted adults while also demonstrating skill in separating from these adults

Benchmark a.
Plays with peers in a coordinated manner including assigning roles, materials and actions 

Benchmark b.
Maintains friendships and is able to engage in prosocial behavior such as cooperating, compromising and turn-taking 

Benchmark c.
Responds appropriately to bullying behavior

Benchmark a.
Able to independently engage in simple social problem solving including offering potential solutions and reflecting on the appropriateness of the solution

Benchmark a.
Able to take the perspective of others and actively respond in a manner that is consistent and supportive

Benchmark a.
Engages in associative play and begins to play cooperatively with friends

Benchmark a.
Persists at individual planned experiences, caregiver-directed experiences and planned group activities

Benchmark a.
Demonstrates willingness to be flexible if routines must change

Benchmark a.
Uses words to communicate personal characteristics, preferences, thoughts and feelings 

Benchmark b.
Recognizes preferences of others 

Benchmark c.
Uses words to demonstrate knowledge of personal information (e.g., hair color, age, gender or size) 

Benchmark d.
Identifies self as a unique member of a group (e.g., class, school, family or larger community)

Benchmark a.
Identifies each of the five senses and their relationship to each of the sense organs 

Benchmark b.
Begins to identify and make observations about what can be learned about the world using each of the five senses 

Benchmark c.
Begins to understand that individuals may experience sensory events differently from each other (e.g., may like sound of loud noises or feel of fuzzy fabric)

Benchmark a.
Uses tools and various technologies to support exploration and inquiry (e.g., digital cameras, scales)

Benchmark a.
Makes predictions and tests their predictions through experimentation and investigation 

Benchmark b.
Collects and records data through drawing, writing, dictation and taking photographs (e.g., using tables, charts, drawings, tallies and graphs) 

Benchmark c.
Begins to form conclusions and construct explanations (e.g., What do the results mean?) 

Benchmark d.
Shares findings and outcomes of experiments

Benchmark a.
Identifies characteristics of a variety of plants and animals including physical attributes and behaviors (e.g., camouflage, body covering, eye color, other adaptations, types of trees and where they grow) 

Benchmark b.
Notices the similarities and differences among various living things 

Benchmark c.
Understands that all living things grow, change and go through life cycles 

Benchmark d.
Begins to distinguish between living and non-living things 

Benchmark e.
Observes that living things differ with regard to their needs and habitats

Benchmark a.
Discusses what makes objects move the way they do and how the movement can be controlled 

Benchmark b.
Makes predictions about how to change the speed of an object, tests predictions through experiments and describes what happens 

Benchmark c.
Distinguishes between the properties of an object and the properties of which the material is made (e.g., water and ice) 

Benchmark d.
Investigates and describes changing states of matter —liquid, solid and gas 

Benchmark e.
Explores the relationship of objects to light (e.g., light and shadows)

Benchmark a. 

Describes properties of water including changes in the states of water — liquid, solid and gas (e.g., buoyancy, movement, displacement and flow) 

Benchmark b.
Discovers, explores, sorts, compares, and contrasts objects that are naturally found in the environment, including rocks, soil, sand and mud, and recognizes relationships among the objects (e.g., nature walks with hand lenses, collection bag) (e.g., rocks, twigs, leaves and sea shells) 

Benchmark c. 

Begins to explore and discuss simple observations of characteristics and movements of the clouds, sun, moon and stars 

Benchmark a.
Demonstrates how people use objects and natural resources in the environment 

Benchmark b.
Participates in daily routines demonstrating basic conservation strategies (e.g., conserving water when washing hands or brushing teeth) 

Benchmark c.
Identifies examples of organized efforts to protect the environment (e.g., recycling materials in the classroom)

Benchmark a.
Identifies problems and tries to solve them by designing or using tools (e.g., makes a simple tent with a chair and cloth for protection from the sun) 

Benchmark b.
Explains why a simple machine is appropriate for a particular task (e.g., moving something heavy, moving water from one location to another) 

Benchmark c.
Uses appropriate tools and materials with greater flexibility to create or solve problems

Benchmark d.
Invents and constructs simple objects or more complex structures and investigates concepts of motion and stability of structures (e.g., ramps, pathways, structure, Legos, block building and play)

Benchmark a.
Engages in multiple back-and-forth communicative interactions with adults (e. g., teacher-shared information, read-aloud books) and peers to set goals, follow rules, solve problems and share what is learned with others

Benchmark b.
Shows understanding by asking and answering factual, predictive and inferential questions, adding comments relevant to the topic and reacting appropriately to what is said

Benchmark a.
Identifies the main idea, some details of a conversation, story or informational text and can explicitly connect what is being learned to own existing knowledge 

Benchmark b.
Demonstrates increased ability to focus and sustain attention, set goals and solve dilemmas presented in conversation, story, informational text or creative play

Benchmark a.
Achieves mastery of two-step directions and usually follows three-step directions

Benchmark a.
Speaks and is understood by both a familiar and an unfamiliar adult but may make some pronunciation errors

Benchmark a.
Uses large speaking vocabulary, adding new words weekly (e.g., repeats words and uses them appropriately in context) (typically has a vocabulary of more than 1,500 words) 

Benchmark b.
Uses a variety of word-meaning relationships (e.g., part-whole, object-function, object-location)

Benchmark c.
Identifies unfamiliar words asking for clarification 

Benchmark d.
Uses words in multiple contexts, with the understanding that some words have multiple meanings

Benchmark a.
Typically uses complete sentences of five or more words, usually with subject, verb and object order 

Benchmark b.
Uses regular and irregular plurals, regular past tense, personal and possessive pronouns and subject-verb agreement

Benchmark a.
Uses sentences with more than one phrase 

Benchmark b.
Combines more than one idea using complex sentences (e.g., sequences and cause/effect relationships)

Benchmark c.
Combines sentences that give lots of detail, stick to the topic and clearly communicate intended meaning

Benchmark a.
Engages in conversations with two to three back-and-forth turns using language, gestures, and expressions (e.g., words related to social conventions like “please” and “thank you”)

Benchmark a.
Asks and responds to more complex statements and questions, follows another's conversational lead, maintains multi-turn conversations, appropriately introduces new content and appropriately initiates or ends conversations

Benchmark a.
Demonstrates increased awareness of nonverbal conversational rules 

Benchmark b.
Demonstrates knowledge of verbal conversational rules (e.g., appropriately takes turns, does not interrupt, uses appropriate verbal expressions and uses appropriate intonation) 

Benchmark c.
Matches language to social and academic contexts (e.g., uses volume appropriate to context)

Benchmark a.
Selects books for reading enjoyment and reading related activities including pretending to read to self or others 

Benchmark b.
Makes real-world connections between stories and real-life experiences 

Benchmark c.
Interacts appropriately with books and other materials in a print-rich environment 

Benchmark d.
Asks to be read to, asks the meaning of written text or compares books/stories 

Benchmark e.
Initiates and participates in conversations that demonstrate appreciation of printed materials

Benchmark a.
Distinguishes individual words within spoken phrases or sentences 

Benchmark b.
Combines words to make a compound word (e.g., “foot” + “ball” = “football”) 

Benchmark c.
Deletes a word from a compound word (e.g., “starfish” − “star” = “fish”) 

Benchmark d.
Combines syllables into words (e.g., “sis” + “ter” = “sister”) 

Benchmark e.
Deletes a syllable from a word (e.g., “trumpet” − “trum” = “pet” or “candy” − “dy” = “can”) 

Benchmark f.
Combines onset and rime to form a familiar one-syllable word with and without pictorial support (e.g., when shown several pictures and adult says “/c/” + “at,” child can select the picture of the cat)

Benchmark a. 
Recognizes that print conveys meaning 

Benchmark b.
Recognizes almost all letters when named (e.g., when shown a group of letters, can accurately identify, verbally or nonverbally, the letter that is named) 

Benchmark c.
Names most letters (e.g., when shown an uppercase or lowercase letter, can accurately say its name) 

Benchmark d.
Recognizes some letter sounds (e.g., when shown a group of letters, can accurately identify, verbally or nonverbally, the letter of the sound given)

Benchmark a.
Retells or reenacts story with increasing accuracy and complexity after it is read aloud 

Benchmark b.
Asks and answers appropriate questions about the story (e.g., “What just happened?” “What might happen next?” “What would happen if…?” “What was so silly about…?” “How would you feel if you…?”)