Which academic standard helps kindergarten students understand the relationship between letters and sounds?

The third choice, which focuses on the knowledge that letter sequences correspond to phoneme sequences, is relevant because it directly relates to phonics, a foundational component of early literacy education. Phonics instruction teaches students how to link sounds, or phonemes, with their corresponding letters or letter combinations. This understanding is essential for young learners as they begin to decode written language and develop their reading skills. By grasping that specific letters or groups of letters represent specific sounds, kindergarten students can start to blend sounds together to form words, leading to greater reading proficiency.

In contrast, while the first option touches on how sounds change with letters, it is somewhat less direct regarding the clear connection between letters and their specific sounds. The second option about matching letters to vowel sounds may limit the understanding to only vowels, whereas phonics encompasses both consonants and vowels. The fourth option states that all words have the same sound, which is incorrect as words are highly varied in their phonetic structure, making this concept misleading and not suitable for developing literacy skills in young learners.