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Common Core ELA3rd GradeReading: Informational

RI.3.5: Use Text Features and Search Tools

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.5 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

All 42 3rd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

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

What RI.3.5 Means in Plain English

Third graders find facts quickly in nonfiction by using what the page offers: headings, bold key words, sidebars, and on a website the search box and links. Asked how often a sloth leaves its tree, they check the sidebar or search “ground” instead of reading every line.

Second graders (RI.2.5) used captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, menus and icons. Third grade adds sidebars, hyperlinks and key words to search with, and asks students to choose the fastest route. Fourth grade (RI.4.5) turns to how a whole text is organized.

RI.3.5 I Can Statements

  • I can use headings and bold words to find facts fast.
  • I can use a sidebar or a link to learn more.
  • I can pick a key word to type in a search box.

RI.3.5 Worked Example

The lines below describe a web page part by part, and the question rewards the student who uses its features instead of reading straight down.

Read the Story
Web page title: Sloths. At the top, a search box. Headings down the page: Life in the Trees, What Sloths Eat, Staying Safe.Under Staying Safe, with the key word algae in bold: A sloth moves so slowly that tiny green plants called algae grow in its fur. The green color helps it hide among the leaves.Sidebar, Fast Facts: Sloths live in the rainforests of Central and South America. A three-toed sloth climbs down to the ground only about once a week. Sloths are good swimmers.Links at the bottom of the page: Rainforest Animals, Watch a Sloth Swim.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: You have one minute to answer two questions. Why can a sloth’s fur look green? How often does a three-toed sloth come down from its tree? Where on the page would you look?
Not Yet“I would start at the top and read the whole page until I found the answers.”It would work eventually, but it ignores every feature built to save time. The student never mentions the heading, the bold word or the sidebar.
Meets the Standard“For the green fur, I’d skip to the heading Staying Safe, because green fur sounds like hiding. The bold word algae is there: tiny plants grow in the fur. For how often it climbs down, I’d check the Fast Facts sidebar, which says about once a week. If I couldn’t find it, I’d type ‘ground’ in the search box.”The student matches each question to the feature most likely to hold the answer, says why, and has a backup plan with a search key word.
Question Stems to Use
Which heading would you check first? Why?What key word would you type in the search box?What does the sidebar tell you that the main text doesn’t?Where would this link take you? Would it help with this question?How did you find that so fast?

Common Mistakes with RI.3.5

Reading every word from the top

Scrolling the whole page to find one fact

Try this: Model it aloud: read the question, pick out its key word, and scan headings and bold words for that word before reading closely.

Skipping the sidebar

Students read only the main text and miss the Fast Facts box

Try this: Ask students to read every sidebar and caption first on a new page, then say one fact each one adds.

Following links off topic

Clicking Rainforest Animals and reading about jaguars for ten minutes

Try this: Have students predict what a link will tell them before clicking, and click only when the prediction answers their question.

Where RI.3.5 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.2.5Use captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, menus and icons to find key facts.
AlongsideW.3.7Do short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.W.3.8Gather information from print and digital sources, take brief notes and sort them into categories.
Comes NextRI.4.5Describe how a text or part of a text is organized: time order, comparison, cause and effect or problem and solution.RI.4.7Interpret charts, diagrams, timelines and interactive web features, and explain what they add to the text.

Practice RI.3.5

Quick Check

  1. Why can a sloth’s fur look green?
  2. Which part of the page tells how often a three-toed sloth climbs down to the ground?
  3. Which link would you click to see a sloth swimming?

RI.3.5: Other Names

RI.3.5CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.5

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.