CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.5

ELA2nd GradeCraft and Structure

The Standard

Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Informational Text

Teacher's field guide

What This Standard Means

What Students Need to Do

Students use features such as captions, headings, bold words, glossaries, indexes, menus, and icons to find facts. They decide which feature will lead to the needed information fastest.

What Mastery Looks Like

Students choose the right feature for a specific question and use it to find an answer quickly. They can explain why a caption, heading, glossary, index, menu, or icon helped.

Common Misconceptions

Students may read every page instead of using a feature to find information quickly. They may confuse captions with labels, or expect a glossary and index to serve the same purpose.

How to Assess It

Give students a short nonfiction book and ask, “Where would you look to find what the word habitat means?” Have them name the feature and locate the answer.

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

  1. Give pairs a nonfiction book and feature cards, then have them place each card beside a matching caption, heading, glossary, or index.

  2. Ask, “Which text feature would help you find an animal’s diet fastest, and why?” Students write two sentences, then compare answers.

  3. Play a text-feature scavenger hunt where students earn a point for correctly finding facts with headings, captions, bold words, glossaries, and indexes.

  4. Open a child-friendly museum webpage and have students use menus and icons to locate exhibit hours, ticket prices, and one animal fact.

Learning progression

Where This Standard Sits

See the whole path on the Reading: Informational Text progression map.

Keep exploring

Related Standards

Turn this exact standard into a lesson

Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.