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Common Core LiteracyGrades 6–8Writing

WHST.6-8.10: Write Often in Every Subject

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.10 · Cluster: Range of Writing.

Make a Writing PromptAll 29 Grades 6–8 Literacy Standards

The Official Wording

Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

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

What WHST.6-8.10 Means in Plain English

Writing is a regular part of history, science and technical classes, not a once-a-term event. Some pieces take weeks of drafting and revising, like a research paper; others take one sitting, like a lab notebook entry, an exit ticket or a design log written before the bell.

Fifth grade (W.5.10) sets this routine across long and short time frames, with research time built into the longer ones. Grades 6 to 8 carry it into every subject class, for that discipline’s tasks and readers. Grades 9 to 10 (WHST.9-10.10) keep the routine as tasks grow more technical.

WHST.6-8.10 I Can Statements

  • I can write a short entry in one sitting about today’s work.
  • I can keep revising a longer piece over several weeks.
  • I can adjust my writing to each subject’s task and reader.

WHST.6-8.10 Worked Example

Both entries were written in the last ten minutes of the same tech class; only one would help the next person at the bench.

Prompt

Engineering notebook, 10 minutes before the bell: Your breadboard circuit (a battery pack, a 220-ohm resistor and a red LED) did not light at first. Explain what went wrong, how you found it and what you will check first next time. Write for a classmate who will build the same circuit tomorrow.

Not YetOur LED didn’t work at first. We messed with it for a while and then it worked. Next time I will be more careful.The entry records that something happened but not what. A classmate building the circuit tomorrow learns nothing about the cause, the test that found it or the fix, and “be more careful” is not a check anyone can run.
Meets the StandardOur red LED did not light when we first connected the battery pack, even though the 220-ohm resistor and every wire were in the right rows. We tested the battery pack with the multimeter (6.1 volts, so not the problem), then swapped in a second LED, which also stayed dark. That pointed to the way we had placed the LEDs, not to the parts themselves. An LED lets current flow only one way, and we had put the shorter leg, the cathode, toward the positive side. When we turned the LED around, it lit right away. Next time, check that the longer leg, the anode, faces the positive side before testing anything else.In ten minutes the writer records the problem, the tests in the order they ran, the cause and a check the next builder can use. Cathode and anode are used correctly, the evidence (6.1 volts, a second dark LED) rules out other causes, and the last line is written for the classmate who reads it tomorrow.
Moves to Use
Name the problem in the first sentence.List the tests in the order you ran them, with any readings.State the cause and the evidence that pointed to it.End with one check the next reader can run.

Common Mistakes with WHST.6-8.10

Writing only for big assignments

Three long reports a year in science and no other writing in between

Try this: Build a five-minute notebook entry into the end of every lab or build day, with one question that changes each time.

Entries that record feelings, not findings

“We messed with it for a while and then it worked.”

Try this: Give students a three-part frame for short entries: what happened, what evidence we found, and what to check next time.

Long projects written in one night

A research paper assigned three weeks ahead and drafted entirely the night before it is due

Try this: Set checkpoints across the weeks, a question, notes, a draft and a revision, and collect each one so reflection happens along the way.

Where WHST.6-8.10 Fits

Comes BeforeW.5.10Write routinely over long and short time frames, with time for research, reflection and revision.
AlongsideRST.6-8.3Follow a multistep procedure exactly, the work a lab or build notebook records.W.7.10The same routine of long and short writing in English class.
Comes NextWHST.9-10.10The same routine of extended and short writing for the discipline-specific tasks of grades 9 and 10.

Practice WHST.6-8.10

Writing Prompt GeneratorFree ToolA fresh short prompt for the last ten minutes of class, on screen for the notebook entry, so routine writing never waits for a big assignment.Quick writeGrades 6-8
Make a Prompt

Quick Check

  1. What two tests did the writer run before finding the cause?
  2. What was the cause, and how does the entry explain it?
  3. Why does this entry count as routine writing under WHST.6-8.10?

WHST.6-8.10: Other Names

WHST.6-8.10CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.10

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.