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Common Core ELA2nd GradeReading: Informational

RI.2.5: Use Text Features to Find Facts Fast

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.5 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

All 40 2nd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

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

What RI.2.5 Means in Plain English

Second graders use captions, bold words, subheadings, a glossary, an index and the menus and icons on a screen to land on a fact fast. Asked what blubber is, a reader spots the bold word and flips to the glossary instead of starting at page 1.

In 1st grade (RI.1.5) children used headings, a table of contents, a glossary and on-screen menus. Second grade adds captions, bold print, subheadings and the index. In 3rd grade (RI.3.5) sidebars, key words, search boxes and links join the list.

RI.2.5 I Can Statements

  • I can use the index to find the page I need.
  • I can look up a bold word in the glossary.
  • I can read captions and subheadings to know what a part is about.

RI.2.5 Worked Example

Five parts of a short book about polar bears, laid out the way a child meets them, and one question that asks where to look.

Read the Story
Page 8, subheading “Staying Warm,” with one word in bold: Under its thick fur, a polar bear has a layer of blubber that keeps out the cold.Page 9, a photo of a bear swimming between chunks of ice, with the caption: “Polar bears can swim for hours to get from one piece of ice to the next.”Page 10, subheading “Hunting Seals”: A polar bear waits beside a hole in the ice. When a seal comes up to breathe, the bear grabs it.Glossary, page 22: blubber: a thick layer of fat under an animal’s skin that keeps it warm.Index, page 24: blubber, 8; cubs, 14, 15; seals, 10, 12; swimming, 9.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: You want to know what blubber is and which pages tell about seals. Where do you look?
Not Yet“I’d start at the front and read the whole book until I find them.”It would work in the end, but it ignores every tool the book offers. The standard is about getting there efficiently, and this reader could pass the answer on page 8 without noticing it.
Meets the Standard“Blubber is in bold, so it’s in the glossary: a thick layer of fat under an animal’s skin that keeps it warm. For seals I’d check the index. It says pages 10 and 12, so I’d go straight to page 10, where the subheading says Hunting Seals.”The child picks the right feature for each job, a glossary for a meaning and an index for a topic, then uses a subheading to confirm the page.
Question Stems to Use
Which feature would get you there fastest?Why is this word in bold? Where can you find out more?What does the caption tell you that the photo alone does not?Which pages does the index send you to?What will this section be about? How do you know before reading?

Common Mistakes with RI.2.5

Reading from page 1 every time

A child hunting for one fact reads the whole book from the start

Try this: Give a scavenger hunt of three facts and one minute, so the glossary and index become the only way to finish.

Mixing up the glossary and the index

Looking in the index to find out what blubber means

Try this: Teach a rule of thumb: the glossary tells what a word means, and the index tells which page to turn to.

Skipping captions

Looking at the photo but never reading the words under it

Try this: Ask what the caption adds after every photo, like why the bear is swimming, until reading it becomes a habit.

Where RI.2.5 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.1.5Use headings, a table of contents, a glossary and on-screen menus to find facts.
AlongsideRI.2.4Work out the meaning of subject words, then check them in the glossary.W.2.7Gather facts from several books on one topic for a class research project.
Comes NextRI.3.5Add key words, sidebars and links, and search for the information a topic needs.

Practice RI.2.5

Quick Check

  1. What does the glossary say blubber is?
  2. Which pages tell about seals?
  3. What does the caption on page 9 tell you?

RI.2.5: Other Names

RI.2.5CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.5

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.