When teachers introduce students to written language, students must understand the basic organization and concepts of print: Words have meaning, left-to-right and top-to-bottom hierarchy; letters create words and words create sentences; words are separated
by spaces, and punctuation controls the pace and expression of print. Children frequently come to understand these concepts through owning their first books.
The anchor statements define what students should understand and be able to do by the end of each grade. They correspond to the College and Career Readiness (CCR) anchor statements. The CCR and grade-specific standards are necessary complements—the former
providing broad standards, the latter providing additional specificity—that together define the skills and understandings that all students must demonstrate.
Strand Cluster Anchor Statement