Virginia SOL 2.RI.2.B
The Standard
Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Craft and Style
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students decide why a writer created an informational text. They use text clues to tell whether the writer responds to a question, explains something, or describes a topic.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students correctly state whether a text responds to a question, explains how or why, or gives a description. They support their choice with details, headings, pictures, or examples from the text.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may name the topic instead of the writer’s purpose. They may choose a purpose from one interesting detail or confuse what they learned with why the text was written.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: “Bees collect nectar from flowers, carry it to the hive, and turn it into honey.” Ask students to name the writer’s purpose and underline one clue.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Run a Purpose Sort with short passages and three labeled mats: answers a question, explains how or why, and describes a topic.
Read a short animal article, then ask, “What did the writer want us to understand, and which sentence proves it?”
Play Purpose Detective by revealing one sentence at a time while pairs predict the writer’s purpose and revise after each clue.
Examine a recipe, museum sign, and weather report, then have students explain why each one was written.
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Printable 2.RI.2.B Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 3.RI.2.C
Identify the author’s purpose for writing, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
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