South Dakota ELA 3.RI.3

ELA3rd GradeReading Informational Text

The Standard

Explain the relationship between events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical procedures text.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students read a nonfiction passage and explain how two events, ideas, or steps connect. They tell how one leads to another or helps a process work.
What Mastery Looks Like: After reading about a plant, a student explains how roots take in water and the stem carries it to the leaves. They use details from the passage to show the connection.
Common Misconceptions: Students may list events in order without explaining how they connect. They may say one event caused another just because it happened next. Some rely on what they already know instead of checking the text.
How to Assess It: Read: “Heavy rain raised the river, which spilled onto fields, so farmers built levees to protect their crops.” Ask students to explain why farmers built levees, using two details from the sentence.

Lesson moves

Give pairs cards showing rain, a rising river, and a flooded field; have them arrange the cards and label the arrows between them.
Read a paragraph about seed growth, then ask, “How does water help a seed sprout?” Have students point to a supporting sentence.
Play a match game with cards reading “sun warms a puddle” and “water evaporates,” plus “water vapor cools” and “droplets form”; explain each match.
Read a local weather report about flooding; ask students how the rain affected road closures, using details from the report.

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