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Common Core ELAKindergartenWriting

W.K.2: Name a Topic and Tell About It

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.K.2 · Cluster: Text Types and Purposes.

Get an Informative PromptAll 41 Kindergarten ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

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

What W.K.2 Means in Plain English

Kindergartners pick something they know about, say what it is, and share a fact or two, mixing a labeled picture, words an adult writes down and their own letters. “Pumpkins grow on vines. They have seeds inside,” beside a drawing of an open pumpkin, does it.

The hard part is keeping to facts: five-year-olds slide into “I like pumpkins” or a story about the pumpkin patch. In 1st grade (W.1.2) children write the piece themselves, give some facts, and wrap it up with an ending.

W.K.2 I Can Statements

  • I can tell what my writing is about.
  • I can share facts I know about a topic.
  • I can draw and label a picture that teaches something.

W.K.2 Worked Example

One topic the class studied, two pages, and the difference is whether the page teaches the reader anything.

Prompt

We have been learning about pumpkins. Make a page that teaches someone about pumpkins. Draw it, then tell or write what you know.

Not Yet(Drawing: a jack-o’-lantern with a big smile.) I like pumpkins.The topic is there, but the only sentence is an opinion. A reader learns how the child feels about pumpkins and nothing about pumpkins themselves.
Meets the Standard(Drawing: a pumpkin cut open, the seeds and the vine labeled.) This is about pumpkins. Pumpkins grow on a vine. They have lots of seeds inside.The first sentence names the topic, the next two give facts the class learned, and the labels on the drawing teach the same facts a second way.
Moves to Use
Name the topic in the first sentence.Tell one fact you learned, then one more.Label the picture with words like seeds and vine.Ask yourself: does this page teach something?

Common Mistakes with W.K.2

Opinions where the facts go

“I like pumpkins. Pumpkins are the best.”

Try this: Ask “What would a friend learn from this page?” and scribe the fact the child says next, under the opinion.

A story about the topic

“I went to the pumpkin patch with my grandma and we got a big one.”

Try this: Sort sentences on a chart into “something that happened” and “something true about pumpkins,” then use only the second kind here.

A label but no information

A drawing of a pumpkin with the single word “pumpkin” under it

Try this: Add the frame “Pumpkins have” under the picture and let the child finish it with something the class learned.

Where W.K.2 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.K.4Describe familiar people, places, things and events out loud, adding detail with prompting.
AlongsideRI.K.2Name the main topic of a nonfiction book and retell its key details, the reading side of the same job.SL.K.5Add drawings to a description to give more detail.
Comes NextW.1.2Name a topic, give some facts and wrap up with some sense of closure, in the child’s own writing.

Practice W.K.2

Writing Prompt GeneratorFree ToolAn informative prompt from the K to 2 bank, with a picture box for the labeled drawing and lines for the facts.InformativeGrades K to 2Picture box
Make a Prompt

Quick Check

  1. Which sentence in the strong response names the topic?
  2. Name the two facts in the strong response.
  3. A child writes “My cat is fluffy. I love my cat.” Which sentence gives information and which gives an opinion?

W.K.2: Other Names

W.K.2CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.K.2

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.