Maryland ELA RI.2.1

ELA2nd GradeReading Informational Text

The Standard

Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key ideas in a text.

Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students ask who, what, where, when, why, and how questions while reading or listening to nonfiction. They find answers in the words or pictures, not just from memory.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student asks a question about a key idea and points to the sentence or picture that answers it. They can explain why something happened or how it works when the text gives that information.
Common Misconceptions: Students may answer from what they already know instead of checking the text. They may mix up where and when, or give the same answer to why and how.
How to Assess It: Read aloud, “Bees visit flowers to collect nectar. They carry it to the hive and make honey.” Ask, “Why do bees visit flowers, and how does nectar reach the hive?” Have students point to the words that support both answers.

Lesson moves

Give pairs a short article about turtles and sticky notes labeled who, where, and why; have them mark sentences that answer each question.
After reading a page about rain, ask, “Why do puddles disappear?” Have partners answer using a sentence from the page.
Play a question-card match: students pair who, what, where, when, why, and how cards with answer sentences from a penguin article.
Post a mock field trip notice with a date, destination, and packing list; students ask and answer when, where, and what questions.

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