South Dakota ELA 7.W.8.a

ELA7th GradeWriting

The Standard

Use search terms effectively.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students turn a research question into a few useful search terms. They scan the results and change their terms if the results miss the question.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student searching for how tornadoes form uses terms such as 'tornado formation' instead of just 'weather.' If the results show safety tips, they revise the search and explain why.
Common Misconceptions: Students may search a broad word like 'weather' and expect results about tornado formation. They may keep the same terms when the results miss their question, or add words that do not help narrow it.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Your question is 'How do tornadoes form?' Your search results show tornado safety tips. Write a revised search and explain why its terms should work better.

Lesson moves

Give pairs tablets and the question 'How do tornadoes form?' Have them compare results for 'tornadoes' and 'tornado formation.'
Show results for 'jaguar' and 'jaguar animal habitat.' Ask which search would help answer where jaguars live, and why.
Put research questions on cards. Pairs write two searches for each card, then trade cards and choose the more focused search.
Ask students to find their town's weekend forecast, then revise their search terms to find the National Weather Service forecast.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 7.W.8.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.