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Common Core ELAKindergartenReading: Literature

RL.K.4: Ask About Unknown Words in a Story

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

Make Word Wall CardsAll 41 Kindergarten ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

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

What RL.K.4 Means in Plain English

Kindergartners stop when they hear a word they don’t know and ask about it, and answer when the teacher asks what a word means. In a story where a pumpkin is enormous, too big to lift or roll, children use those clues to say it means really big.

Noticing is the real skill, because many children let a new word slide past. Pictures, the sentences around the word and acting it out all count as ways to answer. In 1st grade the attention turns to words that show feelings or appeal to the senses (RL.1.4).

RL.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 pictures and the story to figure out a word.

RL.K.4 Worked Example

A garden story with one new word in it, and two answers to “What does enormous mean?”

Read the Story
Bo found an enormous pumpkin in Grandpa’s garden.It was too big to lift. It was too big to roll.Grandpa laughed. “We need the wagon for this one!”
A short passage written for this page.
Question: What does enormous mean? What in the story helps you know?
Not Yet“It means orange.”A guess from what pumpkins look like, not from the story. Nothing near the word says anything about color.
Meets the Standard“Really, really big. Bo can’t lift it or roll it, and Grandpa needs a wagon.”It gives a meaning and then the clues right after the word that prove it.
Question Stems to Use
I don’t know the word…What does … mean?What clues help us?Can you show me with your hands?What other word could go there?

Common Mistakes with RL.K.4

Letting new words slide by

Nobody asks about enormous, and the teacher assumes everyone knows it

Try this: Give the class a signal, like a tug on the ear, for “I heard a new word,” and stop to talk about it.

Guessing from what the word sounds like

“Enormous is a monster!”

Try this: Reread the sentence after the word and ask what it tells us. Too big to lift and too big to roll are the clues.

A meaning they never use again

Can say “enormous means big” but never uses the word after that day

Try this: Act it out, then use it all week: an enormous stretch, an enormous yawn, an enormous block tower.

Where RL.K.4 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.K.3Ask a question to get help or clear up something confusing.
AlongsideL.K.4Work out what a new word means, including words with two meanings like duck.RI.K.4Ask about unfamiliar words in informational books.
Comes NextRL.1.4Find words in stories and poems that show feelings or bring in the senses.

Practice RL.K.4

Word Wall MakerFree ToolPrintable cards for the new words from this week’s read-alouds, like enormous, for a wall the class adds to after every story.KindergartenYour own words
Make Word Cards

Quick Check

  1. What did Bo find in Grandpa’s garden?
  2. What two things could Bo not do with the pumpkin?
  3. What does enormous mean? Name one clue.

RL.K.4: Other Names

RL.K.4CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.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.