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Common Core ELAKindergartenLanguage

L.K.5: Explore How Words Relate

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K.5 · Cluster: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use.

Get the Word MapAll 41 Kindergarten ELA Standards

The Official Wording

With guidance and support from adults, explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

Common Core State Standards, Kindergarten, Language · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What L.K.5 Means in Plain English

With an adult guiding, kindergartners play with how words connect: they sort toys and foods into groups, pair opposites like open and close, spot noisy places at school, and act out march, tiptoe and stomp to feel how each way of walking differs.

None of it needs reading or writing: it is talk, sorting and movement at the carpet or during a read-aloud. In 1st grade (L.1.5) students define words by category and key features, like a robin is a bird that sings, and compare adjectives such as large and gigantic.

L.K.5 I Can Statements

  • I can sort things into groups that go together.
  • I can tell the opposite of a word, like big and little.
  • I can act out march, tiptoe and stomp.

L.K.5 Worked Example

Three ways to walk, acted out at the carpet, and two answers to the question of how they differ.

Prompt

Walk to the door. Now march. Now tiptoe. Now stomp. How are they different?

Not Yet“They’re all walking.”True, and the place every child starts: the words share one general action. The child has not yet noticed what makes each one its own word.
Meets the Standard“March is big steps and your knees go up, like a band. Tiptoe is on your toes and quiet so the baby doesn’t wake up. Stomp is loud and mad.”Each word gets what it looks like and when you would do it. That is part d: shades of meaning among verbs for one action, shown by acting them out.
Moves to Use
Put things that go together in one group, and say why.Find the opposite: big and little, open and close.Find the word in real life: what at school is noisy?Act out words that are almost the same and show how they differ.

Common Mistakes with L.K.5

Opposite means any different word

Opposite of happy? “Tired.”

Try this: Act out both ends with your body, arms wide for big and hands close for little, before asking for the word.

Sorting by color when the group is something else

Asked to sort foods and toys, makes a red pile and a blue pile

Try this: Name the category out loud before sorting, “things we eat,” and have the child say it again for each object placed.

Close words treated as the same word

Marches, tiptoes and stomps at the same speed and the same volume

Try this: Play each word as a sound first, a loud stomp and a silent tiptoe, then have students act it out and name it.

Where L.K.5 Fits

Comes BeforeK.MD.3Sort objects into given categories and count each group, the same sorting with a math purpose.
AlongsideL.K.4Work out new meanings for familiar words and use word parts as clues.L.K.6Use new words from conversations and read-alouds when talking.
Comes NextL.1.5Define words by category and key features, and compare words that differ in manner or intensity.

Practice L.K.5

Vocabulary Worksheet GeneratorFree ToolA word chart with a Draw It column: march, tiptoe and stomp in three rows, and a drawing of each way to walk.Word chartDraw itAction words
Make a Worksheet

Quick Check

  1. Name the opposite of open, and the opposite of little.
  2. Sort these into two groups: apple, ball, banana, doll. What are the groups?
  3. Which is the quiet way to walk: march, tiptoe or stomp?

L.K.5: Other Names

L.K.5CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K.5

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.