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Common Core ELA2nd GradeWriting

W.2.3: Write a Story with Actions, Thoughts and Feelings

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.3 · Cluster: Text Types and Purposes.

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The Official Wording

Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

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

What W.2.3 Means in Plain English

Second graders tell one small event, or a few in a row, and stretch it out. Along with what they did, they write what went through their head and how they felt, use order words like first, then and after that, and finish with a real ending.

First grade (W.1.3) asks for two or more events in order with some details. Second grade wants one moment or a short run of them, told slowly, with thoughts and feelings. Third grade (W.3.3) adds dialogue and an opening that sets the scene and introduces the characters.

W.2.3 I Can Statements

  • I can tell about one small moment in order.
  • I can write what I did, thought and felt.
  • I can use first, then and after that, and write an ending.

W.2.3 Worked Example

One prompt, two stories about the same case of the hiccups, and only one of them lets the reader inside the writer’s head.

Prompt

Write about a time you got the hiccups, or another small moment that felt big to you. Tell it in order, and write what you did, what you thought and how you felt.

Not YetI got the hiccups. It was in music class. Then they stopped.Three events in order, but each one is a single flat fact. The reader never learns what the writer thought or felt, and the story just stops when the hiccups do, without closing the moment.
Meets the StandardIn music class, we were practicing our song for the spring show when I got the hiccups. Every time I opened my mouth, a squeaky hic came out instead of a note. First I thought, “Maybe nobody heard that,” but then Bram giggled and my cheeks got hot. After that I held my breath and counted to ten while Mr. Abara brought me a cup of water. The hiccups stopped right before the last verse, and I sang it louder than anyone, proud instead of embarrassed.The writer slows one moment down: the actions (opened, held, counted), a thought (maybe nobody heard that) and feelings (hot cheeks, proud instead of embarrassed). First, then and After that keep the order clear, and the last sentence closes the moment.
Moves to Use
Pick one small moment and start right before it.Add a thinking sentence that starts with I thought or I wondered.Show a feeling through the body, like cheeks getting hot.End with how you felt or what changed afterward.

Common Mistakes with W.2.3

The whole day instead of one moment

“I woke up. I ate cereal. I went to school. I got the hiccups. I went home.”

Try this: Have students circle the one event that matters most, then rewrite only that part, stretched to five sentences.

Actions with no thoughts or feelings

“I got the hiccups. I drank some water. They stopped.”

Try this: Give each child two colored pencils to underline thoughts in one color and feelings in the other, then add whichever color is missing.

And then, and then, and then

“And then I hiccuped and then Bram laughed and then I drank water.”

Try this: Post a strip of order words (first, next, then, after that, at last) and have students use each one no more than once.

Where W.2.3 Fits

Comes BeforeW.1.3Recount two or more events in order with some details, time words and a sense of closure.
AlongsideSL.2.4Tell a story or an experience out loud with relevant facts and descriptive details, the rehearsal before writing it.RL.2.5Describe how a story’s beginning introduces it and its ending concludes the action, the same shape a narrative needs.
Comes NextW.3.3Add dialogue, an opening that sets the scene and a clear sequence of events, in real or imagined stories.

Practice W.2.3

Story Starter GeneratorFree ToolAn opening line that drops the writer into one moment, so the story starts close to the action instead of at breakfast.NarrativeGrade 2Opening line
Get a Starter

Quick Check

  1. Find a thought and a feeling in the strong story.
  2. Which words in the strong story signal the order of events?
  3. The weak story says where the hiccups started and that they stopped, in order. Why doesn’t it meet W.2.3?

W.2.3: Other Names

W.2.3CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.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.