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Common Core ELAKindergartenReading: Informational

RI.K.6: Name the Author and Illustrator

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.6 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

All 41 Kindergarten ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Name the author and illustrator of a text and define the role of each in presenting the ideas or information in a text.

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

What RI.K.6 Means in Plain English

Kindergartners name who wrote a nonfiction book and who made its pictures, and say what each one did. In a book about sea turtles, the author wrote that the babies dig their way out of the sand, and the illustrator drew them racing to the waves.

Unlike most kindergarten reading standards, this one has no prompting written into it: children name both people and both jobs themselves. In 1st grade (RI.1.6) the question moves inside the page: which facts come from the pictures, and which come from the words.

RI.K.6 I Can Statements

  • I can find the author’s name and the illustrator’s name.
  • I can say the author writes the words.
  • I can say the illustrator makes the pictures.

RI.K.6 Worked Example

The cover and pages of a read-aloud about sea turtles, one question about the two people who made it, and two answers.

Read the Story
Cover: Little Sea Turtles. Words by Grace Park. Pictures by Leo Moreno.A mother sea turtle crawls up the beach at night and lays her eggs in the sand.Many weeks later, the babies hatch and dig their way out.Picture: tiny turtles flapping their flippers as they race across the sand.The babies head for the waves, where the moon shines on the water.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Who is the author of this book, and who is the illustrator? What did each one do?
Not Yet“Leo Moreno wrote it.”The child found a name on the cover but mixed up the jobs: Leo Moreno made the pictures. And the question asked about both people.
Meets the Standard“Grace Park is the author. She wrote the words, like the babies dig their way out. Leo Moreno is the illustrator. He made the pictures, like the turtles racing on the sand.”Both names, both jobs, and an example from the book for each: a sentence Grace Park wrote and a picture Leo Moreno made.
Question Stems to Use
Who wrote the words in this book?Who made the pictures?What does an author do?What does an illustrator do?Which part of this page did the illustrator make?

Common Mistakes with RI.K.6

Swapping the two jobs

“Leo Moreno is the author. He drew the turtles.”

Try this: Point to “Words by” and “Pictures by” on the cover and read them aloud every time a new book comes out.

Thinking the author made the whole book

“Grace Park made everything in the book.”

Try this: Cover the pictures with a sheet of paper and ask who made what is left, then uncover them and ask again.

Naming the reader as the author

“You wrote it!” because the teacher is the one reading

Try this: Show that the reader and the author are different people: read the author’s name, then say “I am reading Grace Park’s words.”

Where RI.K.6 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.K.5Find the front cover and title page, where the names are printed.
AlongsideRL.K.6The same two jobs in a storybook, with prompting and support.RI.K.7Say which person, place or thing in the text a picture shows.
Comes NextRI.1.6Tell which information comes from the pictures and which comes from the words.

Practice RI.K.6

Quick Check

  1. Who is the author of Little Sea Turtles, and what did she do?
  2. Who is the illustrator, and what did he do?
  3. Who made the picture of the turtles racing across the sand?

RI.K.6: Other Names

RI.K.6CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.6

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.