■ Reading closely to find main ideas and supporting details in a story

■ Describing the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in stories (e.g., first, second, third; cause and effect)

■ Comparing the most important points and key details presented in two books on the same topic

■ Writing opinions or explanations that group related information and develop topics with facts and details

■ Writing stories that establish a situation and include details and clear sequences of events that describe the actions, thoughts, and feelings of characters

■ Independently conducting short research projects that build knowledge about various topics

■ Asking and answering questions about information he or she hears from a speaker or while participating in classroom discussions, offering appropriate elaboration and detail that build on what others have said

■ Reading stories and poems aloud fluently, without pausing to figure out what each word means

■ Distinguishing the literal and nonliteral meanings of words, such as something’s fishy and cold shoulder

■ Spelling correctly and consulting dictionaries to clarify meanings of words

 

■ Multiplying and dividing up to 10 × 10 quickly and accurately, including knowing the times tables from memory

■ Solving word problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division

■ Beginning to multiply numbers with more than one digit (e.g., multiplying 9 × 80)

■ Understanding fractions and relating them to the familiar system of whole numbers (e.g., recognizing that 3 ⁄1 and 3 are the same number)

■ Measuring and estimating weights and liquid volumes, and solving word problems involving these quantities

■ Reasoning about shapes (e.g., all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares)

■ Finding areas of shapes, and relating area to multiplication (e.g., why is the number of square feet for a 9-foot by 7-foot room given by the product 9 × 7?)