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Common Core ELA5th GradeReading: Informational

RI.5.10: Read Grade 5 Nonfiction Independently

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.10 · Cluster: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity.

All 43 5th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 5, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.5.10 Means in Plain English

By year’s end, fifth graders read history chapters, science articles and technical directions at the hard end of the grades 4 to 5 range on their own. A dense passage on the heart’s four chambers is one they follow, reread when lost and explain in their own words.

In fourth grade (RI.4.10) the same band is expected with scaffolding at the high end. Fifth grade removes the scaffolding. Sixth grade (RI.6.10) moves up to the grades 6 to 8 band, with scaffolding again at its high end, and names literary nonfiction such as memoirs.

RI.5.10 I Can Statements

  • I can read a grade 5 science or history text on my own.
  • I can notice when I am lost and reread to fix it.
  • I can explain a hard passage in my own words.

RI.5.10 Worked Example

The passage is the kind of technical text this standard means, and the question checks whether the reader followed it or only copied from it.

Read the Story
Your heart is a muscle about the size of your fist, divided into four chambers. The two upper chambers are the atria, and the two lower chambers are the ventricles.Blood coming back from the body has dropped off oxygen along the way. It enters the right atrium, passes down into the right ventricle and is pumped to the lungs.In the lungs, the blood releases carbon dioxide and picks up fresh oxygen. It then returns to the heart, entering the left atrium and passing into the left ventricle.The left ventricle has the thickest wall of any chamber, because it must squeeze hard enough to send blood to every part of the body.Flaps called valves let blood pass in only one direction and snap shut behind it. The closing valves make the “lub-dub” sound a doctor hears through a stethoscope.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Trace one trip of blood through the heart, starting when it comes back from the body. Explain it in your own words.
Not Yet“Blood goes into the heart and gets pumped to the lungs and the body. The left ventricle has the thickest wall.”Every fact is from the passage, but the order is gone. The answer never says which side sends blood to the lungs and which sends it to the body, a sign the reader skimmed the hard middle sentences.
Meets the Standard“Blood that has dropped off its oxygen comes into the right atrium, then down to the right ventricle, which pumps it to the lungs. There it gets rid of carbon dioxide and picks up oxygen. It comes back to the left atrium, goes down to the left ventricle, and that chamber, the strongest one, pumps it out to the whole body.”All four chambers are in the right order, the lungs sit in the middle of the trip, and the reader knows why the left ventricle needs its thick wall. That is comprehension, not copying.
Question Stems to Use
What did that paragraph say, in your own words?Which sentence lost you? Read it again, slowly.Can you sketch the path as you read?What does this new word mean here? What clue explains it?How would you explain this to a third grader?

Common Mistakes with RI.5.10

Reading past confusion

Finishes the passage on time but cannot say where blood goes after the lungs

Try this: Teach a stop sign: after each paragraph, students say the gist in one sentence, and reread before moving on if they cannot.

Copying sentences as answers

An answer lifted word for word from the second and third lines, in the wrong order

Try this: Have students close the text and explain or sketch the process from memory, then open it again to check their version.

Reading only at the easy end

A year of leveled articles that never reach the top of the band

Try this: Schedule hard texts every week, with shorter passages and a clear purpose, so students build stamina before the scaffolds come down.

Where RI.5.10 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.4.10Read grades 4 to 5 informational texts proficiently, with scaffolding at the high end of the range.
AlongsideRL.5.10The same expectation for stories, plays and poems.RF.5.4Read grade-level text accurately and fluently, rereading to fix words that did not make sense.
Comes NextRI.6.10Read literary nonfiction in the grades 6 to 8 band, with scaffolding at the high end of the range.

Practice RI.5.10

Quick Check

  1. Which chamber pumps blood to the lungs?
  2. Why does the left ventricle have the thickest wall?
  3. What makes the “lub-dub” sound a doctor hears?

RI.5.10: Other Names

RI.5.10CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.10

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.