Text evidence for young readers: "How do you know?"
What text evidence means in Grade 2 and 3 reading, and easy ways to help children support answers with the text.
Teachers increasingly ask children to support answers with evidence from the text. For young readers this simply means: show me where it says that.
Start with pointing
For Grade 2, the first step is physical. After answering a question, your child points to the sentence that helped. No writing needed.
Then underline
On a printed passage, ask your child to underline the words that prove their answer. This works well with worksheets and printed texts.
Then use a sentence starter
By Grade 3, children start writing evidence in their answers. Sentence starters help:
- "The text says ..."
- "I know because ..."
- "On page 2, it says ..."
Right there or think and search?
Some answers are right there in one sentence. Others need children to put together clues from different parts. Point out the difference, so children know when to look in more than one place.