CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.1

ELA4th GradeKey Ideas and Details

The Standard

Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

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

What This Standard Means

Students need to answer questions about an informational text by pointing to exact details that support their thinking. They should explain both what the text says directly and what they can figure out from clues in the text.

Mastery looks like a student saying, “I think this because the author says...” and choosing evidence that truly matches the answer. Many students can give an opinion or a correct answer, but forget to back it up. Others copy a random sentence that includes a keyword but does not prove their idea.

Ways to Teach It

Give pairs a short article and sticky notes, then have them tag one explicit fact and one inference with matching evidence.
Ask students to write: What can you infer about the topic, and which sentence helped you figure that out?
Use a three-question exit ticket: one literal question, one inference question, and one line for text evidence.
Show a product review or weather report, then ask students what it says directly and what they can infer from the details.