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Common Core ELA2nd GradeReading: Literature

RL.2.3: How Characters Respond to Events

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3 · Cluster: Key Ideas and Details.

All 40 2nd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

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

What RL.2.3 Means in Plain English

Second graders explain how a character deals with a big event or problem: what they feel, what they do and whether that changes. A child stomping off and then coming back to try again is two responses, and both count.

In 1st grade (RL.1.3) children described characters, settings and major events using key details. Second grade connects the two: the event happens, and the character reacts. In 3rd grade (RL.3.3) students explain a character’s traits and motives and how their actions move the story along.

RL.2.3 I Can Statements

  • I can tell the big event or problem in a story.
  • I can tell how a character feels and what they do.
  • I can tell when a character’s response changes and why.

RL.2.3 Worked Example

A story with one big upset in the middle, and two answers about how the main character responds to it.

Read the Story
Kofi spent the whole morning standing up two hundred dominoes in a long, curvy line.He was setting down the very last one when his baby brother crawled in and swatted it. Click, click, click… every domino fell.Kofi’s face got hot. He stomped to his room and slammed the door.After a while he heard giggling. Baby Ezra was knocking over one domino again and again, laughing every time.Kofi sat down beside him and started a new line. “This time,” he said, “you get to push the first one.”
A short passage written for this page.
Question: How does Kofi respond when his brother knocks down the dominoes?
Not Yet“He is mad.”It names one feeling and stops. It leaves out what Kofi does, and it misses that his response changes by the end.
Meets the Standard“First Kofi is angry: his face gets hot, and he stomps off and slams the door. Then he hears Ezra giggling at the dominoes. He comes back, starts a new line and lets Ezra push the first one.”It shows both responses, the angry one and the kind one, with what Kofi feels and does, and it names what made him change.
Question Stems to Use
What big thing happened to the character?How did the character feel? Which words show it?What did the character do next?Did the character change? What made them change?At first… but then…

Common Mistakes with RL.2.3

One feeling word and done

“He is mad.”

Try this: Ask two follow-ups every time: “What did he do?” and “Did that change by the end?” Write both answers under the feeling.

Retelling the plot instead of the response

“He made dominoes, his brother knocked them down, he made new ones.”

Try this: Have the child start the answer with the character’s name and a feeling or action word, like “Kofi felt” or “Kofi stomped.”

Judging the character instead of describing

“Kofi is mean because he slammed the door.”

Try this: Ask what made Kofi slam the door, and point back to the fallen dominoes so the response is tied to the event.

Where RL.2.3 Fits

Comes BeforeRL.1.3Describe the characters, setting and major events of a story using key details.
AlongsideRL.2.6Notice that characters see things differently, and read each one’s lines in a different voice.W.2.3Write a story with details about what characters did, thought and felt.
Comes NextRL.3.3Describe a character’s traits, motives and feelings, and explain how their actions shape the plot.

Practice RL.2.3

Quick Check

  1. What big event happens in the story?
  2. What does Kofi do right after the dominoes fall?
  3. What makes Kofi change how he responds?

RL.2.3: Other Names

RL.2.3CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3

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.