Common Core LiteracyGrades 6–8Science & Technical

RST.6-8.7: Connect a Science Text with Its Graph or Diagram

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.7 · Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

Get the T-Chart All 29 Grades 6–8 Literacy Standards

The Official Wording

Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).

Common Core State Standards, Grades 6-8, Reading: Science & Technical Subjects · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RST.6-8.7 Means in Plain English

Students in grades 6 to 8 put a text’s words and its graph, table or diagram together and check one against the other. When an article claims doubling wind speed gives eight times the power, the turbine’s power curve should show it in numbers.

Fifth graders (RI.5.7) drew on several print and digital sources to answer a question quickly. This strand, which begins in grade 6, joins words and visuals inside one text. In ninth and tenth grade (RST.9-10.7) students translate between them, turning words into a table and an equation into words.

RST.6-8.7 I Can Statements

I can find the numbers in a graph that match the text.
I can check a claim in the text against a graph or table.
I can explain what the words add that the visual cannot.

RST.6-8.7 Worked Example

The words give the reasons and the graph gives the numbers, and the weak answer describes the line’s shape without using either.

Read the Story

A wind turbine’s blades spin a generator, but how much electricity it makes depends heavily on wind speed. The power carried by moving air rises with the cube of its speed, so doubling the wind speed gives about eight times the power.Below about 3 meters per second, the cut-in speed, the blades cannot turn the generator usefully. Above about 12 meters per second, the rated speed, the controls angle the blades to spill extra wind, holding output steady at its maximum.At 25 meters per second, the cut-out speed, the turbine turns its blades edge-on to the wind and stops to protect itself from damage.Graph: the power curve for the school district’s turbine. The horizontal axis shows wind speed from 0 to 30 meters per second, and the vertical axis shows power output from 0 to 1,500 kilowatts (kW).The line sits at 0 until 3, rises slowly and then steeply, and levels off at 1,500 kW from 12 to 25 before dropping straight to 0. Two points are labeled: 70 kW at 4 meters per second and 560 kW at 8.

A short passage written for this page.

Question: The text says doubling the wind speed gives about eight times the power. Use the graph to check that claim, then explain why the line stops rising at 12 meters per second and falls to 0 at 25.

Not Yet“The graph goes up, then it goes flat, and then it goes down. Wind turbines need wind to work.”It describes the shape of the line without a single number from the graph and without connecting any part of it to what the text explains.

Meets the Standard“The graph backs up the text. At 4 meters per second the turbine makes 70 kW, and at 8, double the speed, it makes 560 kW, which is exactly eight times as much. The text explains the flat part: above the rated speed of about 12 meters per second the controls angle the blades to spill extra wind, so output holds at the 1,500 kW maximum. The drop to 0 at 25 is the cut-out speed, when the turbine stops to protect itself. The words give the reasons, and the graph shows the numbers.”It reads exact values off the graph, does the arithmetic to test the text’s claim, and matches each change in the line to the reason the text gives for it.

Question Stems to Use

What does the text say in words that the graph should show?Which numbers on the graph match this sentence?Does the graph agree with the text? Show it with numbers.What does the text explain that the graph cannot?What does the graph show that the text never says?

Common Mistakes with RST.6-8.7

Describing the shape with no numbers

“It goes up, then flat, then down.”

Try this: Require two values read off the graph, with units, in every answer before students may describe the overall shape.

Reading the text and the visual separately

One paragraph about the article, a second about the graph, and no link between them

Try this: Have students draw a line from each sentence of the text to the part of the graph that shows the same thing.

Skipping the axes

Reading 25 on the wind speed axis as a power output

Try this: Make students say each axis label and unit aloud before reading any point, then name both coordinates of that point.

Where RST.6-8.7 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.5.7Draw on several print and digital sources to find an answer or solve a problem quickly.

Alongside8.F.5Describe a relationship between two quantities from its graph, such as where it increases or levels off.RH.6-8.7Put a chart, graph, map or photograph together with the words of a history text.

Comes NextRST.9-10.7Translate technical information from words into a table or chart, and from a graph or equation into words.

Practice RST.6-8.7

Fill-in-the-Blank GeneratorFree ToolPaste the article and blank out its numbers, so students have to read each missing value off the graph to fill it in.Blank the numbersScience article

Make a Worksheet

Quick Check

What is the cut-in speed, and how does the graph show it?
About 3 meters per second, below which the blades cannot turn the generator usefully. The line sits at 0 until 3.
How does the graph show that doubling the wind speed gives about eight times the power?
The turbine makes 70 kW at 4 meters per second and 560 kW at 8, and 560 is eight times 70.
Why does the line drop to 0 at 25 meters per second?
That is the cut-out speed, when the turbine turns its blades edge-on to the wind and stops to protect itself from damage.

RST.6-8.7: Other Names

RST.6-8.7CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.7