Common Core ELA3rd GradeReading: Informational

RI.3.1: Answer Questions with Proof from the Text

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1 · Cluster: Key Ideas and Details.

The Official Wording

Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 3, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.3.1 Means in Plain English

Third graders answer questions about nonfiction and show where in the text each answer comes from. A student who says a camel’s hump stores water is answering from memory, and the passage says otherwise. The habit to build: “The text says…” followed by the line itself.

Second graders (RI.2.1) answered who, what, where, when, why and how questions about key details. Third grade adds the proof: every answer points back to the words on the page. Fourth grade (RI.4.1) uses details and examples to support inferences, not just what the text states.

RI.3.1 I Can Statements

I can answer a question using facts from the text.
I can point to the sentence that proves my answer.
I can ask questions that the text can answer.

RI.3.1 Worked Example

The question tempts students to answer from what they think they already know, and only the strong answer goes back to the passage.

Read the Story

Many people think a camel’s hump is a tank full of water. It is not. The hump is full of fat.When food is hard to find, the camel’s body uses that fat for energy. A camel that has gone a long time without eating has a hump that is small and floppy.Camels save water in other ways. A camel hardly sweats, even on a hot day. Instead, its body slowly warms up during the day and cools off at night.When a thirsty camel finally finds water, it can drink more than 20 gallons in one visit.

A short passage written for this page.

Question: How can a camel go so long without drinking? Use the text to prove your answer.

Not Yet“Camels store water in their humps, so they can drink from them when they get thirsty.”It answers from memory, and the memory is wrong. The passage says the hump is full of fat, not water, and the answer never points to a single line.

Meets the Standard“The text says a camel ‘hardly sweats, even on a hot day,’ so it does not lose much water. Its body warms up in the day and cools off at night instead. When it does find water, it can drink ‘more than 20 gallons in one visit.’ The hump doesn’t hold water. The text says it is ‘full of fat.’”Every part of the answer comes from a sentence the student can point to, and the student uses the text to correct the common belief instead of repeating it.

Question Stems to Use

What does the text say about that? Read me the sentence.How do you know? Where did you find it?Is that from the text or from something you already knew?Which sentence answers the question best?What question could you ask that this passage answers?

Common Mistakes with RI.3.1

Answering from memory

“Camels keep water in their humps.”

Try this: Ask “Where does the text say that?” every time, and accept an answer only when the student can read the sentence aloud.

Pointing to the whole page

“It’s somewhere in there,” with a finger on the passage, not on a line

Try this: Have students underline the exact words that prove the answer and number the line, so the proof is one sentence, not a page.

Questions the text can’t answer

“How many camels live in the world?” asked about a passage that never says

Try this: Teach students to check that the passage holds the answer before they ask, and park other questions on a wonder list.

Where RI.3.1 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.2.1Ask and answer who, what, where, when, why and how questions about key details in a text.

AlongsideRL.3.1The same move with stories: answers that refer explicitly to the text.SL.3.3Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says, adding detail to the answers.

Comes NextRI.4.1Refer to details and examples when explaining what a text says and when drawing inferences.

Practice RI.3.1

Quick Check

According to the passage, what is inside a camel’s hump?
Fat. The passage says “The hump is full of fat,” and the camel’s body uses that fat for energy when food is hard to find.
Which sentence shows that a camel saves water on hot days?
“A camel hardly sweats, even on a hot day.”
What happens to a camel’s hump when it goes a long time without eating?
It becomes small and floppy, because the camel’s body has used up the fat for energy.

RI.3.1: Other Names

RI.3.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1