CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.2
The Standard
Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
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 identify the main point of an informational text and explain how specific facts, examples, or explanations support it. They write a brief summary using their own words and leave out personal opinions.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students state the main point in their own words and select details that clearly develop it. Their summary covers the text’s main information without minor details, copied lines, or personal views.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may choose an interesting detail instead of the text’s main point. They may list events or facts without showing how they connect. Summaries often include personal reactions, ratings, or copied sentences.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short article and ask them to state its main point, cite two supporting details, and write a three-sentence neutral summary. Check that no opinions appear.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups sentence strips from an article, then have them sort each strip as main point, supporting detail, or unrelated information.
Ask students to write one sentence explaining how a chosen detail helps readers understand the author’s main point.
Play Detail Detective, where teams earn points by matching evidence cards to the correct main-point card.
Compare two news reports about the same event, then identify the shared main point and write a neutral summary.
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Printable RI.6.2 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.2, 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.
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific detai...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or ...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.2
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.2
Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
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