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Common Core ELA2nd GradeReading: Literature

RL.2.1: Ask and Answer Who, What, Why and How

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1 · Cluster: Key Ideas and Details.

All 40 2nd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

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

What RL.2.1 Means in Plain English

Second graders ask their own who, what, where, when, why and how questions about a story and answer them from the details on the page. Why and how are the hard ones, because the answer often sits across two sentences.

In 1st grade (RL.1.1) children asked and answered questions about key details. Second grade names the six question words, so why and how get practiced as often as who and what. In 3rd grade (RL.3.1) every answer must point to the exact words that prove it.

RL.2.1 I Can Statements

  • I can ask who, what, where and when questions about a story.
  • I can answer why and how questions with details from the story.
  • I can show the words in the story that help me answer.

RL.2.1 Worked Example

A summer-night story, one why question, and two answers: one built from a guess and one built from the story.

Read the Story
On a hot summer night, Nico caught six fireflies and put them in a bug box with a mesh lid.He set the box by his bed so the fireflies could be his night-light.But one by one, the tiny lights stopped blinking.Nico jumped out of bed, ran into the yard in his pajamas and opened the lid.The fireflies floated up, blinking again, and Nico watched them until they reached the trees.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Why did Nico open the lid of the bug box?
Not Yet“Because his mom told him to let them go.”His mom is not in the story at all. The answer is a guess from real life, not a detail from the page.
Meets the Standard“Because the fireflies ‘stopped blinking’ in the box. Nico was worried, so he ran outside and let them go, and then they were ‘blinking again.’”It answers why with a detail from the story, then adds what Nico did and what happened next, which shows the answer is right.
Question Stems to Use
Who is in the story?Where and when does it happen?What happened when…?Why did…?How did… feel? How do you know?Which words in the story tell you?

Common Mistakes with RL.2.1

Answering from real life instead of the story

“Because his mom told him to.”

Try this: Reread the page together and ask the child to point to the sentence that holds the answer before saying it.

Only asking who and what

“Who caught the fireflies?” “What did he put them in?”

Try this: Post the six question words on cards and have partners draw one each, so why and how get asked as often as who.

Answering a why question with what happened

“He opened the lid and they flew away.”

Try this: Teach the word because as the signal of a why answer, and ask “What made him do that?” when it is missing.

Where RL.2.1 Fits

Comes BeforeRL.1.1Ask and answer questions about key details in a story.
AlongsideRI.2.1The same six question words, asked about the facts in an informational text.SL.2.3Ask a speaker questions to clear up something confusing or to learn more.
Comes NextRL.3.1Answer questions about a story by pointing to the exact words that prove the answer.

Practice RL.2.1

Quick Check

  1. Who is the story about, and when does it happen?
  2. Where did Nico put the fireflies?
  3. How do you know the fireflies were all right at the end?

RL.2.1: Other Names

RL.2.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1

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.