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Common Core ELA2nd GradeReading: Informational

RI.2.10: Read Grade 2 and 3 Nonfiction

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.10 · Cluster: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity.

All 40 2nd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2-3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 2, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.2.10 Means in Plain English

By year’s end, second graders read history, science and how-to texts written for grades 2 and 3, with help on the hardest ones. A passage on Sequoyah’s writing system for Cherokee sits at that high end, and its idea of one symbol per syllable may need help.

In 1st grade (RI.1.10) children read nonfiction written for 1st grade, with prompting and support. Second grade moves into the grades 2 to 3 band. In 3rd grade (RI.3.10) students read the hard end of that same band on their own, without the scaffolding.

RI.2.10 I Can Statements

  • I can read a science or history text written for my grade.
  • I can stop and reread when a part does not make sense.
  • I can ask for help on a hard idea and keep reading.

RI.2.10 Worked Example

A history passage at the hard end of the grades 2 to 3 band, one question that needs its hardest idea, and two answers: one from a reader who got the facts and one from a reader who got the idea.

Read the Story
About two hundred years ago, the Cherokee people spoke their own language, but they had no way to write it down.A Cherokee man named Sequoyah wanted to change that. At first he tried making a different picture for every word, but there were far too many words to remember.Then he had a better idea. Every word is made of small sound parts called syllables, and the same syllables come back again and again in different words.Sequoyah made one symbol for each syllable in the Cherokee language. He needed only 86 symbols in all.Once people learned the symbols, they could write any word they could say. Within a few years, thousands of Cherokee people could read and write, and in 1828 they started their own newspaper.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Why could so many Cherokee people learn to read and write so quickly?
Not Yet“Because they started a newspaper in 1828.”The reader found a fact in the last line and named it, but the newspaper came after people learned to read, not before. The words were read, and the big idea in the middle of the passage was missed.
Meets the Standard“Because Sequoyah made one symbol for each syllable instead of one picture for each word. Syllables come back again and again, so people only had to learn 86 symbols, and then they could write any word they could say.”The answer comes from the hardest part of the passage, the switch from words to syllables, and explains it in the reader’s own words. That is what reading at the high end of the band looks like.
Question Stems to Use
What is this part mostly about? Tell me in your own words.Which part was hard? Let’s reread it together.What does syllables mean here? What clue does the text give?Why was Sequoyah’s second idea better than his first?What do you still wonder about Sequoyah?

Common Mistakes with RI.2.10

Reading smoothly without understanding

A fluent read-aloud followed by “I don’t know” when asked why the symbols worked

Try this: Stop after each paragraph of a hard text and ask for one sentence about it in the child’s own words before reading on.

Grabbing a fact from the last line

“Because they started a newspaper.”

Try this: Ask “Did that happen before or after people learned to read?” so the child checks whether the fact could be a cause.

Keeping hard texts out of reach

Only easy leveled books all year, so the high end of the band never comes up

Try this: Read one harder science or history text together each week, teaching its hardest idea first, so children practice the top of the band with support.

Where RI.2.10 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.1.10With prompting and support, read informational texts written for 1st grade.
AlongsideRF.2.4Read grade 2 text accurately and smoothly, rereading when a word does not make sense.RL.2.10Read stories and poems in the same grades 2 to 3 band.
Comes NextRI.3.10Read the hard end of the grades 2 to 3 band on their own.

Practice RI.2.10

Quick Check

  1. What did Sequoyah try first?
  2. What did each of Sequoyah’s symbols stand for?
  3. What did the Cherokee people start in 1828?

RI.2.10: Other Names

RI.2.10CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.10

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.