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Common Core ELA2nd GradeWriting

W.2.7: Shared Research and Science Observations

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.7 · Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge.

Get the KWL ChartAll 40 2nd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations).

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

What W.2.7 Means in Plain English

Second graders research as a class, not alone. The class might read five books about insects and write one report together, or keep a log of what the mealworms do each week. Each child adds a part, and the finished piece belongs to everyone.

First grade (W.1.7) does the same with how-to books turned into a set of steps. Second grade adds the science notebook: recording observations as they happen, with dates, drawings and measurements. Third grade (W.3.7) drops the word shared, and students begin running short research projects.

W.2.7 I Can Statements

  • I can add my part to a class research project.
  • I can write down what I see, with the date.
  • I can draw and measure what I observe, not guess.

W.2.7 Worked Example

Two groups looked at the same cup of mealworms on the same morning. Only one entry would help the class write its report.

Prompt

Add to our class book, The Mealworm Log. Look at your group’s mealworm cup with the hand lens, then write today’s entry: the date, what you see, a drawing and one measurement.

Not YetThe mealworms are gross. They are wiggly. I like the big one.Feelings instead of observations. There is no date, nothing a reader could check, no drawing or measurement, and the next group cannot tell what changed since the last entry.
Meets the StandardTuesday, March 4. We counted six mealworms crawling in the oats. One was curled up, white and not moving, and Ms. Ruiz said it is a pupa now. We measured it with a ruler, and it was about 2 centimeters long. We drew it next to this entry so the next group can check if it changes.Everything in the entry is something the group saw, counted or measured, it is dated, and it names the change (a pupa) the class report will need. The last sentence hands the observation on to the next group, which is what makes the project shared.
Moves to Use
Write the date at the top of every entry.Write only what you can see, count or measure.Draw it and label the parts you notice.Read the last group’s entry first to see what changed.

Common Mistakes with W.2.7

Feelings in place of observations

“The mealworms are gross. I like the big one.”

Try this: Post the rule “If you can’t see it, count it or measure it, it doesn’t go in the log” beside the observation station.

Entries nobody can line up

Five pages of notes with no dates, so nobody can tell which came first

Try this: Stamp or write the date at the top of every log page before groups start, and keep the entries in order in one binder.

Twenty separate projects

Every child writes a whole mealworm report alone, and nobody reads anyone else’s notes

Try this: Assign each group one job, such as counting, measuring or drawing, and build the class report from all the groups’ entries together.

Where W.2.7 Fits

Comes BeforeW.1.7Shared research and writing with how-to books, turned into a sequence of instructions.
AlongsideW.2.8Recall information from experience or gather it from provided sources to answer a question.2.MD.1Measure length with a ruler or meter stick, the skill behind the 2 centimeters in a log entry.
Comes NextW.3.7Short research projects that build knowledge about a topic, no longer described as shared.

Practice W.2.7

Writing Prompt GeneratorFree ToolAn informative prompt from the K to 2 bank for the report the class writes together once the log is full.InformativeGrades K to 2On screen
Make a Prompt

Quick Check

  1. What makes the strong entry useful to the next group?
  2. Why is “The mealworms are gross” not an observation?
  3. How is W.2.7 different from W.3.7?

W.2.7: Other Names

W.2.7CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.7

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.