Curriculum focal points at the national level

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has just published curriculum focal points for prekindergarten through grade 8 mathematics (www.nctm.org). Focal points are the most important three mathematical topics for each grade level, as determined by teachers in those grade levels. A focal point is a cohesive cluster of related knowledge, skills, and concepts.

Because of the profusion of curricular goals, different within and across states, NCTM decided through a wide vetting process to provide a framework for curricular expectations and assessments that it hopes will prompt dialogue within and across states and school districts about what is important mathematically at different grade levels. NCTM states, "Organizing a curriculum around a set of focal points, with a clear emphasis on the processes of mathematics, as outlined in NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (i.e. problem solving, reasoning and proof, communication, connections, and representation), can provide students with a connected, coherent, ever expanding body of mathematical knowledge and ways of thinking."

What would focal points for English language arts be in each grade from prekindergarten through grade 8? What three focal points would you suggest for the grade level(s) you teach? Would having focal points help your teaching if they were part of a sequence of focal points across grade levels and valued by your school district and state in curriculum design and assessment?