Kentucky Reading and Writing RI.3.8
The Standard
Describe how reasons and evidence support specific claims the author makes in a text.
Kentucky Academic Standards for Reading and Writing (2025) · Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students find a claim an author makes in an informational text. They identify a reason and a fact or example the author uses to support it. They explain the connection in their own words.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can point to a claim, name the author's reason, and find a detail that backs it up. The student can explain why that detail helps the author's point.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may pick a detail from the text just because it is nearby, even when it does not support the claim. They may give their own reason instead of the author's. Some name a fact but do not explain what it shows.
How to Assess It
- Put this on an exit ticket: "Our school should plant trees. Trees give shade. On Tuesday, it was 8 degrees cooler under a tree than in the sun." Ask students to underline the claim, circle the reason, and explain how the temperature reading supports the claim.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs sentence strips from a short article about playground shade and have them sort the claim, reason, and supporting detail.
Read a paragraph arguing for longer recess and ask, "Which detail supports the author's claim, and how?"
Play Evidence Match: teams pair claim cards with reason and fact cards, then explain each match aloud.
Show a cafeteria poster claiming students prefer apples and a lunch survey tally, then ask which tally supports the claim.
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Printable RI.3.8 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- RI.2.8
Describe how reasons support specific claims the author makes in a text.
- RI.5.8
Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular claims in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which claim(s).
- RI.1.8
Identify the claim and the reasons an author gives to support the claim in a text.
- RI.4.8
Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular claims the author makes in a text.
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