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Common Core ELA1st GradeReading: Informational

RI.1.3: Describe How Two Ideas Are Connected

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.3 · Cluster: Key Ideas and Details.

All 41 1st Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 1, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.1.3 Means in Plain English

First graders explain how two things in a nonfiction text go together: a cause and what it leads to, two steps in order, or two animals that need each other. A clownfish and a sea anemone each keep the other safe, and children say how.

In kindergarten (RI.K.3) the teacher prompts the link with questions like “What made that happen?” Now children find it and describe it themselves, using words like because, so and both. In 2nd grade (RI.2.3) they connect a whole series of events, ideas or steps.

RI.1.3 I Can Statements

  • I can tell how two things in a text go together.
  • I can use because and so to explain a connection.
  • I can find the sentences that show the connection.

RI.1.3 Worked Example

A five-line text about a clownfish and the sea anemone it lives in, one connection question, and two answers.

Read the Story
A clownfish lives inside a sea anemone.An anemone looks like a soft, wiggly plant, but it is an animal. Its arms sting fish that swim too close.A clownfish has a slimy coat, so the stings do not hurt it.Bigger fish stay away from the stinging arms, so the clownfish is safe inside.The clownfish helps too. It chases off little fish that would nibble the anemone’s arms.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: How are the clownfish and the anemone connected?
Not Yet“They both live in the ocean.”True, but so do whales and crabs. It names a place the two animals share, not the link the text describes: what each one does for the other.
Meets the Standard“They help each other. The anemone’s stings keep big fish away from the clownfish, and the clownfish chases off fish that would eat the anemone.”It names the connection, helping each other, and backs up both halves of it with a fact from the text, one for each animal.
Question Stems to Use
How do these two go together?What does the anemone do for the clownfish?What happens because of that?Which sentence shows the connection?Can you say it with because or so?What would happen if one of them were gone?

Common Mistakes with RI.1.3

Naming what the two have in common

“They both live in the ocean.”

Try this: Ask “What does the anemone do for the clownfish?” then flip it, so the child explains the link in both directions.

Describing each thing on its own

“The anemone stings. The clownfish is slimy.” Two facts, no link between them

Try this: Join the two facts with because or so on a sentence strip: “The clownfish is slimy, so the stings do not hurt it.”

Getting the connection backward

“The clownfish stings the big fish.”

Try this: Reread the line about the stinging arms and ask “Who does the stinging?” Then draw an arrow from the anemone to the fish.

Where RI.1.3 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.K.3Describe how two people, events or ideas connect, with the teacher’s prompting.
AlongsideRI.1.2Name the main topic and retell key details, the facts a connection is built from.RL.1.3Describe the characters, setting and major events in a story, using key details.
Comes NextRI.2.3Describe how a series of historical events, science ideas or steps in a procedure connect.

Practice RI.1.3

Quick Check

  1. Why don’t the anemone’s stings hurt the clownfish?
  2. How does the anemone help the clownfish?
  3. How does the clownfish help the anemone?

RI.1.3: Other Names

RI.1.3CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.3

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.