STATE List for Kinder: Time, Guidelines, Bluebonnet, Truths and Contradictions...And CITATIONS.

Kinder: How fast should texts be read aloud? 

Grade Level	Recommended Oral Reading Rate (WPM)
Kindergarten	~80–100 (modeling fluency)
1st Grade	60–90
2nd Grade	90–100
Adult Conversation	150–170

K-2 (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 2017) Adult Conversation: (The Speaker Lab, 2023)

Text Title	Author / Source	Genre	Publication Year	Estimated Read-Aloud Time	Total Minutes
Anansi the Spider	Gerald McDermott	Folk Tale	1972	~5–6 min	6
"April Rain Song"	Langston Hughes	Poetry	1932	~1 min	1
Are You My Mother?	P. D. Eastman	Children's Fiction	1960	~8–10 min	10
The Bald Eagle	Norman Pearl	Informational	2007	~5–7 min	7
Blueberries for Sal	Robert McCloskey	Realistic Fiction	1948	~10–12 min	12
The Cat in the Hat	Dr. Seuss	Fantasy / Humor	1957	~15–17 min	17
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom	Bill Martin Jr.	Alphabet / Rhyme	1989	~4–5 min	5
Cinderella	Marcia Brown	Fairy Tale	1954	~12–15 min	15
Classic Nursery Rhymes	Various (Nicola Baxter)	Poetry / Rhymes	2005	~10–15 min	15
"George Washington & Cherry Tree"	William J. Bennett (Ed.)	Folk Legend	1995	~3–4 min	4
The Golden Rule	State of Texas	Informational	2023	~5 min	5
The Grasshopper & the Ant	Jerry Pinkney	Fable	2014	~4–5 min	5
Goldilocks & the Three Bears	Jim Aylesworth	Fairy Tale	2003	~8–10 min	10
The Keeping Quilt	Patricia Polacco	Family History	1988	~12–15 min	15
L is for Lone Star	Carol Crane	Texas Alphabet	2001	~15–20 min	20
The Little Red Hen	William J. Bennett (Ed.)	Fable	1995	~5–6 min	6
The Lion and the Mouse	William J. Bennett (Ed.)	Fable	1995	~3–4 min	4
Luna Loves Art	Joseph Coelho	Realistic Fiction	2020	~6–8 min	8
A Picture Book of G. Washington	David A. Adler	Biography	1989	~8–10 min	10
A Picture Book of T. Edison	David A. Adler	Biography	1990	~8–10 min	10
The Runaway Bunny	Margaret Wise Brown	Children's Fiction	1942	~5–7 min	7
Snow White & Seven Dwarfs	Anne Bowles	Fairy Tale	2018	~10–12 min	12
The Snowy Day	Ezra Jack Keats	Realistic Fiction	1962	~4–5 min	5
Three Billy Goats Gruff	Paul Galdone	Folk Tale	1973	~5–6 min	6
The Three Little Pigs	Paul Galdone	Folk Tale	1970	~6–8 min	8
The Tortoise and the Hare	William J. Bennett (Ed.)	Fable	1995	~3–4 min	4
The Very Hungry Caterpillar	Eric Carle	Life Cycle Fiction	1969	~2–3 min	3

Total Time to Complete the List: About 225 minutes. 3 hours and 45 minutes. 

If we add instructional use and pauses during the read aloud such as vocabulary building, the time increases. According to TEA standards, a read aloud for Kinder folks is supposed to be INTERACTIVE, not a performance where the kids sit passively (Texas Education Agency [TEA], 2026, p. 5).

The guidelines also state that the read alouds should include specific instructional approaches. 

1. Predictive Questioning: Teachers are supposed to stop and pause at PRE-SELECTED points. Questions should ask learners to predict what will happen next and are to build comprehension and critical thinking. Nothin' wrong with that unless the state also wants to select these spots for us. (TEA, 2006, p. 5). 
1. Under subsection (f)(1) TEA defines read alouds (TEA, 2026). In addition, Bluebonnet materials explicitly require teachers to use the preselected words for "analytic talk".You will find this language in the Bluebonnet Learning/Literacy Plan(TEA, 2024, p. 12).
2. Vocabulary Building: Teachers are supposed to pick two to four words per book. Kid friendly definitions are used during the reading to help the kids follow the meaning. Nothin' wrong with that unless the state wants to pick all that as well to build "literacy coherence" (TEA, 2006, p. 6).
3. TEA says they chose these specific books to make sure kids have a particular kind of background knowledge. You know, cultural and historical themes with concepts of honesty and American history with the inclusion of folks like George Washington (TEA, 2006, p 5). 

Impact on time: This adds 10 hours and becomes a set of required LESSONS, not a just a read aloud. Therefore and verily: This isn't just a list. It's a mandate for a significant instructional block of time in the Kinder schedule. 

Were these texts already in Bluebonnet? 

Yes, some of them: 

Required Text Title	Author	Integration in Bluebonnet Learning
Anansi the Spider	Gerald McDermott	Used in unit on Folk Tales/Storytelling
Luna Loves Art	Joseph Coelho	Core Trade Book for Knowledge-Building unit
The Snowy Day	Ezra Jack Keats	Key text for Winter/Weather units
The Very Hungry Caterpillar	Eric Carle	Foundational text for Life Cycles/Nature units
The Little Red Hen	William J. Bennett (Ed.)	Used for Fable/Character Education lessons
George Washington & the Cherry Tree	William J. Bennett (Ed.)	Primary text for American History/Honesty unit

Do these texts represent the required genres in the 2017 TEKS? 

Note: STAFF did not accurately represent the truth. 

Staff stated during the last board meeting that the list represented the skills and "breadth of genres" while maintaining "instructional coherence" required in the 2017 TEKS. They reported a "Backgound Pre-Read" document explicitly stating that they (TEA staff) examined multiple  kinds of literary works "as described in the TEKS" to insure they included traditional, contemporary, and classical texts across genres like fiction, poetry, fables, and informational texts. Yet - drama, multimodal, and digital texts are not represented. 

Genre Category	Required by TEKS?	Present in Draft List?	Specific Titles from Draft List
Folktales	Yes	Yes	Anansi the Spider, Three Billy Goats Gruff
Fables	Yes	Yes	The Little Red Hen, The Lion and the Mouse
Fairy Tales	Yes	Yes	Cinderella, Snow White, Goldilocks
Nursery Rhymes	Yes	Yes	Classic Nursery Rhymes
Poetry	Yes	Yes	"April Rain Song", Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Informational	Yes	Yes	The Bald Eagle, The Golden Rule
Biography	Yes	Yes	A Picture Book of G. Washington/T. Edison
Drama	Yes	No	Missing in the Draft List
Multimodal	Yes	No	Missing in the Draft List
Digital Texts	Yes	No	Missing in the Draft List

(Texas Education Agency [TEA], 2017)

Here's some additional information about what was actually reported and where you can find the information. 

During the State Board of Education (SBOE) meetings in November 2025 and January 2026, TEA staff and Deputy Commissioner Shannon Trejo asserted that the proposed Literary Works List was developed to align with and represent the diverse genre requirements of the 2017 Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).

Genre Coverage Statements

• November 2025 Meeting: Deputy Commissioner Trejo testified that the initial list of 10,000 titles was narrowed to roughly 425 by cross-referencing state standards and surveying over 5,000 educators. Staff emphasized that the resulting list was intended to cover the "breadth of genres" required by the TEKS while maintaining "instructional coherence".

• January 2026 Meeting: TEA staff presented a "Background Pre-Read" document explicitly stating that they examined multiple kinds of literary works "as described in the TEKS" to ensure they included traditional, contemporary, and classical texts across genres like fiction, poetry, fables, and informational texts.

• Contradiction of "Missing" Genres: While staff claimed the list covered required genres, public testimony and board discussion highlighted that certain sub-genres mandated in the 2017 TEKS (specifically drama, multimodal, and digital texts) were not clearly represented in the draft list's Kindergarten section.

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Citations and Timestamps

Event	Source Title	Internal Citation	Key Timestamp/Location
January 2026 Meeting	January 28, 2026 Committee of the Full Board Item 4	(Texas Education Agency [TEA], 2026a)	Discussion begins at approximately 1:15:00 in the archived video stream.
TEA Supporting Document	State Board of Education TEA Proposed Literary Works List	(TEA, 2026b)	Page 5: "In developing a recommendation... TEA examined multiple kinds of literary works as described in the TEKS."
November 2025 Meeting	Texas considers first state-mandated reading list (KSAT)	(Trejo & TEA, 2025)	Testimony by Trejo regarding the survey and standard cross-referencing process.
2017 Standards	Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Kindergarten (ELAR)	(TEA, 2017)	Section 8: Lists the specific genres (Folk Tales, Fables, Fairy Tales, etc.) students must analyze

Reference List

Hasbrouck, J., & Tindal, G. A. (2017). An update to compiled ORF norms (Technical Report No. 1702). Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon.

Texas Education Agency. (2017). Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Kindergarten: English Language Arts and Reading. https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/K_ELAR_TEKS_Adopted2017.pdf

Texas Education Agency. (2024). Bluebonnet learning: K–5 reading language arts program and implementation guide. https://tea.texas.gov/academics/instructional-materials/bluebonnet-learning

Texas State Board of Education. (2026, January 28). Committee of the full board: Item 4, proposed new 19 TAC chapter 110. https://sboe.texas.gov/state-board-of-education/sboe-2026/sboe-2026-january/january-28-2026-committee-of-the-full-board-item-4

Texas Education Agency. (2026). Draft rule text for agency recommendations to the SBOE for literary works list. https://tea.texas.gov/academics/instructional-materials/house-bill-1605/draft-rule-text-for-agency-recommendations-to-the-sboe-for-literary-works-list.pdf

Texas Education Agency. (2026). State Board of Education TEA proposed literary works list: Pre-read to support review. https://tea.texas.gov/academics/instructional-materials/house-bill-1605/sboe-tea-proposed-literary-works-list-pre-read-to-support-review.pdf

The Speaker Lab. (2023). What is the average speaking rate? How to find your pace. The Speaker Lab.

University of Oregon. (2021). DIBELS 8th edition eighth edition: Benchmark goals and composite score. Center on Teaching and Learning.