TExES Core Subjects EC-6 (391) key terms

The ability to hear and manipulate individual speech sounds in spoken words, such as blending, segmenting, and deleting sounds. It is auditory only and does not involve printed letters.

The broader ability to notice and work with the sound structure of language, including syllables, rhymes, and onset-rime units as well as individual phonemes. It develops before and alongside phonemic awareness.

Instruction in the predictable relationships between letters or letter patterns and the sounds they represent. It connects sounds to print so students can decode unfamiliar written words.

The understanding that letters and letter combinations stand for speech sounds in a systematic way. It is the foundation for decoding and spelling in an alphabetic writing system such as English.

Using knowledge of letter-sound correspondences to translate printed words into spoken words. Fluent decoding frees attention for meaning-making during reading.

Reading text accurately, at an appropriate rate, and with suitable expression. It bridges word recognition and comprehension, allowing readers to focus on meaning rather than on sounding out words.

The process of constructing meaning from text by integrating prior knowledge with information in the text. It depends on vocabulary, fluency, and strategic use of comprehension strategies.

The organized background knowledge a reader brings to a text. Activating relevant schema before and during reading helps students connect new information to what they already know.

A conclusion drawn by combining clues in the text with the reader's prior knowledge when information is not stated directly. It is a key higher-order comprehension skill.

An assessment in which a teacher records a student's oral reading, marking accurate words, substitutions, omissions, and self-corrections. Analysis of errors reveals the reader's use of meaning, structure, and visual cues.

The study of a reader's oral reading errors to understand which cue systems the reader is using. Patterns of errors and self-corrections inform instructional decisions.

The smallest unit of meaning in a word, such as a base word, prefix, or suffix. Teaching morphemes supports vocabulary growth and spelling.

A morpheme attached to a base or root word to change its meaning or grammatical function. Prefixes come before the base; suffixes come after it.

The body of words a person understands and uses. Explicit instruction in word meanings, context clues, and word parts expands students' reading and writing vocabularies.

Information in surrounding text that helps a reader figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Types include definitions, examples, synonyms, antonyms, and general sense clues.

Text written to inform, explain, or describe, often organized with structures such as cause-effect, compare-contrast, or problem-solution. It contrasts with narrative text.

Text that tells a story, typically including characters, setting, plot, and theme. Understanding story elements supports comprehension of fiction and literary nonfiction.

The organizational pattern an author uses to arrange ideas, such as sequence, description, compare-contrast, cause-effect, or problem-solution. Recognizing structure aids comprehension and recall.

The value of a digit based on its position in a number, such as ones, tens, and hundreds. Understanding place value underlies computation, rounding, and regrouping.

Renaming a number into a different combination of place-value units, used when adding or subtracting, such as trading ten ones for one ten. Also called borrowing and carrying.

Manipulatives representing ones (units), tens (rods), hundreds (flats), and thousands (cubes). They build concrete understanding of place value and operations before symbolic work.

An intuitive understanding of numbers, their magnitudes, relationships, and how operations affect them. It supports estimation, mental math, and judging the reasonableness of answers.

Finding an approximate answer or value that is close enough for a purpose. Strategies include rounding, front-end estimation, and compatible numbers.

Replacing a number with a nearby, simpler number of a specified place value. The digit in the target place is examined along with the digit to its right to decide whether to round up.

Fractions that name the same amount even though they have different numerators and denominators, such as 1/2 and 2/4. They are generated by multiplying or dividing numerator and denominator by the same nonzero number.

A shared multiple of the denominators of two or more fractions, used to add, subtract, or compare them. The least common denominator is the smallest such multiple.

A step-by-step procedure that reliably produces a result, such as the standard method for multi-digit multiplication. Algorithms are best taught after students understand the underlying concepts.

A physical object students handle to model mathematical ideas, such as counters, pattern blocks, or fraction tiles. Manipulatives support the concrete-to-abstract progression.

A firsthand record or artifact created by someone who experienced an event, such as letters, photographs, diaries, or official documents. It contrasts with secondary sources that interpret events.

An account that interprets or analyzes primary sources or past events, such as textbooks, biographies, or encyclopedia articles. It is one step removed from the original evidence.

The skills historians use to investigate the past, including sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and interpreting evidence. These skills are central to social studies instruction.

The study of Earth's places, environments, and the people who live in them. It examines location, physical features, human-environment interaction, movement, and regions.

The parts of a map that make it readable, including title, compass rose, legend or key, scale, and grid coordinates. Students use these to interpret location and distance.

A systematic process of asking questions, forming hypotheses, conducting investigations, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions. It guides inquiry-based science learning.

A testable prediction or proposed explanation that can be supported or refuted by evidence. It is usually stated before an investigation begins.

The factors in an investigation that can change. A fair test changes one variable (independent) while keeping others (controlled) constant and measuring the effect (dependent).

The series of stages an organism passes through from birth or germination to reproduction and death, such as egg, larva, pupa, and adult in butterflies. It illustrates growth and development.

A community of living organisms interacting with one another and with nonliving parts of their environment, such as soil, water, and air. Energy flows through producers, consumers, and decomposers.

The basic visual components used to create artworks: line, shape, form, color, value, texture, and space. They are the building blocks taught in fine arts instruction.

Ways artists organize the elements of art, including balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, and unity. They describe how a composition is arranged.

A movement that travels from one place to another, such as walking, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, or galloping. These skills are foundational in physical education.

A movement performed in place without traveling, such as bending, twisting, stretching, pushing, or swaying. It develops body awareness and control.