CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1
The Standard
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literature
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students ask clear questions about characters, events, and ideas in a story. They answer using specific words, actions, or events from the text.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students answer both direct and inference questions accurately. They point to a specific sentence, action, or event and explain how it supports the answer.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may answer from memory or personal experience instead of using a detail from the story. They may copy a sentence that does not support their answer or give only a page number.
How to Assess It
- After reading the day’s story, ask: “Why did the main character make the key choice?” Students write an answer and copy one supporting sentence.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs sticky notes to mark one question and one supporting detail while reading a short story.
Ask students to write: “What surprised you about the character, and which story detail explains it?”
Play Evidence Match by having teams pair question cards with answer cards and supporting detail cards.
Read a library book review, then have students check whether one claim about the plot is supported by the book.
Free download
Printable RL.3.1 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1, 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: Literature 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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