Kentucky Reading and Writing RI.5.8
The Standard
Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular claims in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which claim(s).
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 the claims in an informational text and name the reasons the author gives for each one. They match facts, examples, or numbers to the reasons they support.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a short article with two claims, a student marks each claim and matches its reasons and evidence. They explain why a detail supports one claim rather than the other.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may call an opinion evidence because the author states it confidently. They may match a fact to the nearest claim, even when the fact supports a different one.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: 'Our school should plant trees because trees cool the playground; last June, the shade was 10 degrees cooler than the blacktop. Our school should add benches because students need seats.' Ask which claim the temperature reading supports and which reason it backs up.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Print strips reading 'Our school should plant trees,' 'Trees cool play areas,' and 'Shade was 10 degrees cooler'; have pairs build a claim-reason-evidence chain.
Ask, 'Does the temperature reading support planting trees or adding benches?' Have students explain their choice in two sentences.
Play claim match: read facts such as 'shade is 10 degrees cooler,' then have students hold up a tree or bench card and explain.
Show two bottle ads, one citing 100 disposable bottles saved and one saying 'best bottle'; students choose the better-supported claim and explain why.
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Printable RI.5.8 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- RI.3.8
Describe how reasons and evidence support specific claims the author makes in a text.
- RI.2.8
Describe how reasons support specific claims the author makes in a text.
- 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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