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Common Core ELAKindergartenReading: Informational

RI.K.4: Ask About Unknown Words in a Text

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.4 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

All 41 Kindergarten ELA Standards

The Official Wording

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

Common Core State Standards, Kindergarten, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.K.4 Means in Plain English

With the teacher prompting, kindergartners stop at a word they do not know in a nonfiction read-aloud, ask what it means and answer questions about it. In a groundhog book, the words around “burrow” (under the ground, long tunnels, sleeps in it) show it is the animal’s home.

The stopping points are usually science words like burrow, hatch or nocturnal. In 1st grade (RI.1.4) children ask and answer questions to work out words and phrases without the prompting, and the Language standards (L.K.4, then L.1.4) add clues like word endings.

RI.K.4 I Can Statements

  • I can raise my hand when I hear a new word.
  • I can ask what a word means.
  • I can use the other words and pictures to help me.

RI.K.4 Worked Example

A groundhog read-aloud with one word most kindergartners have never heard, and two ways a child might answer the question about it.

Read the Story
A groundhog is a furry animal with strong claws for digging.It digs a burrow under the ground. The burrow has long tunnels and little rooms.All winter, the groundhog sleeps in its burrow, curled up in a ball.In spring, it pokes its head out of the hole to look for green plants to eat.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: The book says burrow. What do you think a burrow is? Which words help you?
Not Yet“A donkey!”The child is thinking of burro, a word that sounds the same. Nothing on the page is about a donkey, and the words right next to burrow point somewhere else.
Meets the Standard“It’s like a house under the ground. The book says it digs it under the ground and sleeps in it all winter.”The meaning comes from the words around the new word: under the ground, tunnels and rooms, sleeps in it. The child can say which ones helped.
Question Stems to Use
Did you hear a word you don’t know?What do you think … means?Which words help you figure it out?Does the picture help?Can you use … in your own sentence?

Common Mistakes with RI.K.4

Swapping in a word that sounds the same

“A burrow is a donkey.”

Try this: Say the word slowly, then reread the sentence it sits in and ask “Would a donkey fit here?”

Letting the new word go by

The child nods along and never stops at a word they did not understand

Try this: Teach a signal, like touching the ear, for “I heard a new word,” and stop to talk about it every time someone uses it.

Giving a meaning that only fits the picture

“Burrow means dirt.” The picture shows a lot of dirt.

Try this: Point to the picture, then read the sentence again and ask if the meaning works in the words too, not just the drawing.

Where RI.K.4 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.K.3Ask a question to clear up something that is confusing, which is where asking about a word starts.
AlongsideRL.K.4The same questions about new words, asked in a story.L.K.4Work out what new words and words with two meanings mean, from kindergarten books and topics.
Comes NextRI.1.4Ask and answer questions to work out the meaning of words and phrases in a text.

Practice RI.K.4

Quick Check

  1. What does a groundhog use its strong claws for?
  2. What is inside a groundhog’s burrow?
  3. Which words in the book help you know what a burrow is?

RI.K.4: Other Names

RI.K.4CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.4

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.