South Dakota ELA 7.RI.2.a

ELA7th GradeReading Informational Text

The Standard

Analyze their development over the course of the text.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify the main ideas in an informational text. They track how facts, examples, and explanations build each idea from beginning to end.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can name a main idea without confusing it with a single fact. They can point to details from different parts of the text and explain what each one adds.
Common Misconceptions: Students may name a broad topic, such as recycling, instead of an idea about that topic. They may list facts in order without explaining how those facts build an idea.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Read, “Unopened milk cartons often end up in school trash. On Monday, one cafeteria counted 40 unopened cartons. The school added a share table for sealed cartons.” Explain how the idea about milk waste develops across the three sentences, using two details.

Lesson moves

Give pairs a printed article about cafeteria waste and three sticky notes to mark where one idea starts, gains evidence, and changes.
Ask students which paragraph changed their understanding of the article's main idea and what detail caused that change. Have them write two sentences.
Cut a short article into four numbered paragraphs. Teams label how each paragraph introduces, supports, or qualifies one idea, then defend their choices.
Use a school recycling flyer to trace how its message moves from a problem, to a statistic, to an action students can take.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 7.RI.2.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

Keep exploring

Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.