CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3
The Standard
Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Informational Text
What This Standard Means
Students need to read informational text and explain not just what happened, but why it happened. They should track steps in a process, causes of an event, or how an idea develops. They must point back to exact words, sentences, diagrams, or captions that support their explanation.
Mastery looks like a clear oral or written explanation with text evidence, not a guess from background knowledge. Students often list facts in order but miss the reason behind them. They may also use vague evidence, like “the text says so,” instead of naming the specific detail that proves their thinking.
Ways to Teach It
- Hands-on activity: Give students sentence strips from a science process article and have them sequence the steps, then add a why card for each step.
- Prompt: After reading about a historical event, ask, “What happened, why did it happen, and which sentence helped you know?”
- Quick assessment: Hand students a short technical paragraph and ask for a two-column chart labeled What happened and Why it happened.
- Real-world connection: Use a school fire drill procedure and have students explain each step and the reason it keeps people safe.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.3
Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on sp...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.2
Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.3
Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3
Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that p...