Florida B.E.S.T. ELA.3.C.1.4
The Standard
Write expository texts about a topic, using one or more sources, providing an introduction, facts and details, some elaboration, transitions, and a conclusion.
Florida B.E.S.T. Standards for English Language Arts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students gather useful information from at least one source and write an organized explanation in their own words. They guide readers from a clear opening through connected facts and explanations to a fitting ending.
What Mastery Looks Like
- The student selects accurate facts, puts them in their own words, and arranges them in a clear order. The opening names the focus, explanations clarify facts, transitions connect ideas, and the ending wraps up the piece.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may copy source sentences instead of paraphrasing them. They often list facts without explaining how those facts help readers understand the topic. Some add a closing sentence that introduces new information.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short source card and ask: “Write six sentences that teach about this topic. Include an opening, two facts with explanations, a transition, and a closing.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups sentence strips from a model article to sort into opening, facts, explanations, transitions, and closing, then assemble the article.
Ask students to explain the difference between a fact and elaboration, then add an explanatory sentence after a sample fact.
Play Source Detective by having partners match paraphrased fact cards to supporting lines in two short texts.
Students create a new-student recess guide using the school rules and a playground map as sources.
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Related Standards
- ELA.1.C.1.4
Write expository texts about a topic, using a source, providing facts and a sense of closure.
- ELA.5.C.1.4
Write expository texts about a topic using multiple sources and including an organizational structure, relevant elaboration, and varied transitions.
- ELA.4.C.1.4
Write expository texts about a topic, using multiple sources, elaboration, and an organizational structure with transitions.
- ELA.2.C.1.4
Write expository texts about a topic, using a source, providing an introduction, facts, transitions, and a conclusion.
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