South Dakota ELA 5.RI.8

ELA5th GradeReading Informational Text

The Standard

Identify and explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students find a point an author makes in an article. They identify the reason for that point and the facts or examples used to support it. They explain the connection in their own words.
What Mastery Looks Like: In an article arguing for a school garden, a student names fresh food as a reason and cites a harvest total as evidence. They explain how the total shows the garden produces food.
Common Misconceptions: Students may call the author's point evidence or confuse a reason with a fact that supports it. They may copy a number from the text without explaining what it helps prove.
How to Assess It: Give students this exit ticket: “Our school should keep its water refill station because it reduces plastic trash. After it opened, students used 300 fewer disposable bottles each month.” Ask them to identify the point, reason, and evidence, then explain how the evidence supports the point.

Lesson moves

Give pairs a printed article about school gardens; have them highlight one point, its reason, and a supporting fact in three colors.
Ask students to write: “Does a garden harvest total support the point that a school garden provides fresh food? Explain why.”
Put point, reason, and evidence cards from a short article in envelopes; have teams match each set and explain their choices.
Show a reusable bottle ad; have students underline its main point and check whether a cited waste statistic backs it up.

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A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 5.RI.8, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

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