Hello English Kids from its genesis has adopted a pedagogy benchmarked against Common Core State Standards. The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live.
The Common Core skills addressed by lessons and activities in the Hello English Kids app are laid out below:
Reading Standard for Literature | ![]() |
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Key ideas and details | |||
1. Ask and answer questions about key details in short texts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
2. Identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Craft and Structure | |||
1. Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. | ✓ | ||
2. Recognize common types of texts (e.g., stories, poems, rhymes). | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
3. Answer basic questions with 5 Ws (What, when, where, which, what) and 1 H (how) in context of the story | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Integration of knowledge and ideas | |||
1. Describe the main idea of the story | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
2. Describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts). | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
3. Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Speaking and Listening Standards | ![]() |
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Comprehension and Collaboration | ||||
1. Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas | ||||
1. Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
2. Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
3.Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Language Standards | ![]() |
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Conventions of Standard English | ||
1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. | ||
A. Print many upper- and lowercase letters. | ✓ | ✓ |
B. Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs. | ✓ | ✓ |
C. Form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/ (e.g., dog, dogs; wish, wishes). | ✓ | ✓ |
D. Understand and use question words (interrogatives) (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how). | ✓ | ✓ |
E. Use the most frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with). | ✓ | ✓ |
F. Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities. | ✓ | ✓ |
2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. | ||
A. Recognize and name end punctuation. | ✓ | ✓ |
B.Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes). | ✓ | ✓ |
C. Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships | ✓ | ✓ |
Language Standards | ![]() |
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Vocabulary Acquisition and Use | |||
1. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content. | |||
A. Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately (e.g., knowing duck is a bird and learning the verb to duck). | ✓ | ||
B. Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes (e.g., -ed, -s, re-, un-, pre-, -ful, -less) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word | ✓ | ✓ | |
2. With guidance and support from adults, explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings | |||
A. Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent. | ✓ | ✓ | |
B. Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at school that are colorful). | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
3. Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Reading Standards: Foundational Skills | Learn to Read | Printables |
Print Concepts | ||
1. Demonstrate the understanding of the organization and basic features of print. | ||
A. Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet | ✓ | |
B. Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters. | ✓ | ✓ |
C. Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page. | ✓ | ✓ |
D. Understand that words are separated by spaces in print. | ✓ | ✓ |
Phonological Awareness | ||
2. Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, & sounds (phonemes) | ||
A. Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-letter/phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words. (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.) | ✓ | ✓ |
B. Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words. (cat, _b_at, _m_at, etc.) | ✓ | |
Phonics and Word Recognition | ||
3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. | ||
A. Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or many of the most frequent sound for each consonant. | ✓ | ✓ |
B. Associate the long and short sounds with common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels. | ✓ | ✓ |
C. Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does). | ✓ | ✓ |
D. Distinguish between similarly spelt words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ. | ✓ | |
Fluency | ||
4. Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding. | ✓ |