CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.5
The Standard
Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic 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 headings, captions, sidebars, bold words, indexes, and digital search tools to find facts about a topic. They choose the feature most likely to lead to the needed information.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students quickly choose a useful heading, caption, sidebar, index entry, key word, or link. They locate an accurate fact and explain how the chosen feature helped.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may read the whole page instead of using features to jump to useful sections. They may treat captions and sidebars as decoration. They may click every link or search with a full question instead of choosing focused key words.
How to Assess It
- Give students a one-page animal article and ask, “What does a pangolin eat?” Have them write the answer and circle the feature that helped them find it.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a printed article, sticky notes, and three questions, then have them mark the feature that led to each answer.
Ask students to write which would help more for finding an animal’s diet, a heading or a sidebar, and explain why.
Play Feature Match by pairing question cards with heading, caption, index, sidebar, key word, or hyperlink cards.
Use the school website to find the date and location of an upcoming event through menus, links, and search terms.
Free download
Printable RI.3.5 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.5, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetLearning progression
Where This Standard Sits
See the whole path on the Reading: Informational Text progression map.
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.5
Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.8
Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in ...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.8
Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of ...
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