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Common Core ELA2nd GradeWriting

W.2.8: Recall and Gather Information to Answer a Question

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8 · Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge.

All 40 2nd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

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

What W.2.8 Means in Plain English

Second graders answer a question with information they did not make up. Some comes from memory, like what they saw on the class trip to the strawberry farm, and some comes from a book or website the teacher hands them.

The 1st-grade version (W.1.8) has the same two paths but adds that adults guide and support. Second grade drops that phrase, so children find the answer more on their own. Third grade (W.3.8) adds brief notes and sorting facts into given categories.

W.2.8 I Can Statements

  • I can use what I remember to answer a question.
  • I can find facts in a book my teacher gives me.
  • I can say where each part of my answer came from.

W.2.8 Worked Example

One question, two answers. The strong one uses what the class saw at the strawberry farm and what the book added.

Prompt

Our question: How does a strawberry plant make strawberries? Use what you remember from our trip to the strawberry farm and the plant book on your table.

Not YetStrawberries are red and sweet. I like them in my cereal. My mom buys them at the store.One true fact, then memories that have nothing to do with the question. It uses neither the farm trip nor the book, and it skips every step between the plant and the berry.
Meets the StandardFirst a strawberry plant grows little white flowers. At the farm, we saw white flowers, hard green berries and ripe red ones all on the same plant. Our book says bees visit the flowers, and then the petals fall off and a tiny green berry starts to grow in the middle. Then the sun helps the berry get bigger and turn white, then pink, then red. Last, it is soft and sweet and ready to pick, like the ones we picked into our baskets.Every sentence helps answer the question. The flowers and berries on one plant come from the trip, the bees and the falling petals come from the book, and the writer says which is which, so the answer is built from both paths the standard names.
Moves to Use
Read the question again before you start writing.List what you remember from the trip first.Look in the book for the steps you did not see.Say where a fact came from: we saw, or the book says.

Common Mistakes with W.2.8

A memory that doesn’t answer the question

“I like them in my cereal.”

Try this: Have students hold each sentence up to the question and ask “Does this help answer it?” before it stays in the answer.

Copying the book word for word

A whole paragraph lifted from the plant book, words like “pollination” and “receptacle” included

Try this: Close the book after reading a page, have students say the fact to a partner, then write it the way they said it.

Stopping where the memory stops

The answer only lists the flowers and berries the class saw, because nobody on the trip watched a flower turn into a berry

Try this: Chart what the class saw and what it still wonders, then send students to the book for the wondering column only.

Where W.2.8 Fits

Comes BeforeW.1.8Recall experiences or gather facts from provided sources to answer a question, with adults guiding.
AlongsideRI.2.3Describe how the steps in a process connect, like each step from flower to ripe strawberry.RI.2.1Ask and answer who, what, where, when, why and how questions about a text, the reading behind the book half of the answer.
Comes NextW.3.8Take brief notes from print and digital sources and sort facts into the categories the teacher provides.

Practice W.2.8

Quick Check

  1. Which fact in the strong answer comes from the field trip, and which comes from the book?
  2. Why does “I like them in my cereal” not belong in the answer?
  3. Could a student who missed the farm trip still meet W.2.8 with this question?

W.2.8: Other Names

W.2.8CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8

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.