Produce the name and the primary sound of all twenty-six letters, shown in random order in both upper and lower case.

Blend spoken phonemes into consonant-vowel-consonant words and segment a spoken CVC word back into its phonemes.

Read aloud an entire decodable reader at the CVC-plus-digraph level.

Print all upper- and lower-case letters and the digits 0–9 legibly between primary ruled lines, with correct starting point and stroke order.

Answer questions in complete sentences and retell a short story in correct order without prompting.

Decode multisyllabic words by identifying and applying the six syllable types: closed, open, silent-e, vowel team, r-controlled, and consonant-le.

Read aloud unfamiliar grade-level prose with accuracy, appropriate pace, and expression — 60 words per minute by the end of grade 1 and 95 by the end of grade 2.

Spell four hundred cumulative words correctly from dictation and state ten spelling rules that govern them.

Identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns by the end of grade 1, and all eight parts of speech by the end of grade 2, within a given sentence.

Write a complete sentence with correct capitalization and end punctuation, and by the end of grade 2 write a coherent four-sentence paragraph on a single topic.

Write from dictation one to two sentences heard twice, with correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

Form all lower-case and upper-case cursive letters with correct entry and exit strokes, and write his own name and a short verse in cursive.

Retell a passage of two to four paragraphs in his own words after hearing or reading it a single time.

Diagram simple and compound sentences showing subject, predicate, direct and indirect objects, modifiers, and prepositional phrases.

Recite the twenty-three helping verbs, the linking verbs, and at least forty prepositions from memory.

Write a five-sentence narrative or expository paragraph with a topic sentence, three supporting sentences, and a clincher.

Produce a key-word outline of a source paragraph and rewrite the content from the outline alone, then summarize a whole chapter in three to five sentences.

Spell eight hundred cumulative words and use twenty Latin and Greek roots to explain the meaning of English words containing them.

Write all daily written work in legible cursive at a sustainable pace.

Diagram complex and compound-complex sentences including subordinate clauses, appositives, participles, gerunds, and infinitives.

Write a five-paragraph essay with an arguable thesis, three developed supporting paragraphs each with evidence, and a conclusion that does more than restate.

Write a persuasive composition that states a claim, gives at least two reasons with support, and answers one opposing argument fairly.

Use forty Latin and Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes to infer the meaning of unfamiliar English words in context.

Take notes in outline form from a fifteen-minute spoken lecture or sermon and reconstruct its argument afterward.

Revise his own draft against a twelve-item proofreading checklist covering agreement, tense, fragments, run-ons, spelling, punctuation, and word choice.