5.12.B
The Standard
compose informational texts, including brief compositions that convey information about a topic, using a clear central idea and genre characteristics and craft
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students write a short informational piece that explains a focused idea about a topic. They organize relevant facts and use features such as headings, transitions, precise words, and a clear ending.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student writes a focused piece with a clear central idea and relevant supporting facts. The writing uses logical order, headings when useful, transitions, precise words, and a fitting conclusion.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may name a broad topic, such as sharks, instead of stating a central idea about it. They may list facts without explaining connections or include details that do not support the main point. Some shift into opinion or storytelling instead of informing the reader.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Use these facts to write a four-sentence paragraph about bees: bees pollinate plants, many crops need pollination, and bees carry pollen between flowers. State a central idea, use all three facts, and add a heading and one transition.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give students fact cards about an animal; they sort them under headings, choose a central idea, and draft a short article.
Read two short introductions and ask, “Which one states the topic and central idea more clearly, and why?”
Play Central Idea Match: teams pair topic sentences with supporting facts, then reject one fact that does not belong.
Students write a one-page guide explaining a school routine to a new student, using headings, facts, and precise words.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- 4.12.B
The 4th Grade version of this standard.
- 3.12.B
The 3rd Grade version of this standard.
- 6.11.B
compose informational texts, including multi-paragraph essays that convey information about a topic, using a clear controlling idea or thesis statement and genr...
- 8.11.B
compose informational texts, including multi-paragraph essays that convey information about a topic, using a clear controlling idea or thesis statement and genr...
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