ela-2026:RI.3.3ela-2026:RI.3.3aela-2026:RI.3.3b
ela-2026:RI.3.3 Explain how the text structure contributes to the meaning of the text.
ela-2026:RI.3.3a Describe how a series of historical events, the development of scientific concepts, and/or a series of steps support the meaning.
ela-2026:RI.3.3b Use language that pertains to time, sequence, or cause and effect when writing or discussing text structure.
Learning goal: This lesson teaches Ohio's 2026 standard for explaining how text structure contributes to the meaning of an informational text, first implemented in 2027-28. You will describe how a series of historical events, the development of a scientific concept, or a series of steps supports what a text means, and you will use language about time, sequence, and cause and effect when you write or talk about a text's structure.
What text structure means. Text structure is the way an author organizes the information in a whole text or a whole section. The structure is not decoration. It carries part of the meaning. When an author puts events in time order, the order itself tells you how something changed. When an author lists steps, the order tells you what to do first so the next step can work. When an author explains causes and effects, the connections tell you why something happens. If you mixed up the sentences, the facts would still be there, but the meaning would be damaged.
Read three short original texts. Each one uses a different structure.
Original article — How Our Town Got Its Library (a fictional town)
The town of Maple Crossing had no library when it was founded. People who owned books lent them to neighbors, and a borrowed book might travel from farm to farm for months. Many years later, a teacher named Ruth Hale began keeping a shelf of donated books in her schoolroom and lending them on Saturdays. After more families began borrowing, the shelf became too small, so the town voted to rent a room above the general store. Later still, when that room was crowded with readers every afternoon, the town built a brick library on Main Street. Today the brick building is still there, and it now has computers as well as books.
Original article — Where Does a Puddle Go?
After a rainstorm, a puddle can shrink and disappear even though nobody mops it up. The water does not soak away only into the ground. Some of it evaporates. Evaporation happens when liquid water changes into water vapor, an invisible gas that mixes into the air. Because the sun warms the puddle, the water evaporates faster. Wind also speeds evaporation, because moving air carries the water vapor away from the puddle's surface. As a result, a puddle on a warm, windy afternoon usually disappears sooner than a puddle of the same size on a cool, still morning. The water has not been destroyed. It has changed form and moved into the air.
Original article — Make a Simple Rain Gauge
A rain gauge measures how much rain falls. First, find a clear plastic container with straight sides and a flat bottom. Next, stick a strip of masking tape up the outside and, with a ruler, mark centimeters on the tape, starting with zero at the inside bottom. Then place the container outdoors in an open spot, away from roofs and trees that could block or add water. After a rain, read the water level at eye level and record it with the date. Finally, empty the gauge so it is ready for the next rain.
Series of events: time order that shows change. The library article is organized as a series of historical events in time order. Signal words such as when it was founded, many years later, after, later still and today mark the passing of time. The order supports the meaning: a library grew step by step from a lending shelf to a brick building because more and more people wanted to read. A reader who sees only the last sentence would miss that main idea about growth over time.
Development of a scientific concept: cause and effect. The puddle article develops one scientific concept, evaporation. It starts with a puzzle (the puddle disappears), defines the concept, and then explains causes and effects: the sun warms the water, so it evaporates faster; wind carries vapor away, so evaporation speeds up; as a result, warm and windy puddles disappear sooner. The article signals the connections with because and as a result; when you explain it, you can add so. Each sentence builds on the one before, so the concept develops from a question into an explanation.
A series of steps: sequence that makes something work. The rain gauge article is a procedure. First, next, then, after and finally tell the order. Here the order matters: the water level must be read and recorded before the gauge is emptied, or the measurement is lost. Marking the scale first, with zero at the inside bottom, is the preparation that makes the gauge ready to read as soon as the rain stops. The steps support the meaning, which is how to measure rain accurately.
A misconception to avoid. Some readers decide the structure by spotting one signal word. The word then appears in stories, directions and histories alike. The library article uses because-type thinking (the shelf became too small, so the town rented a room), but its whole organization is time order, because the text is about how the library changed over the years. Ask what the whole text is doing: showing change over time, explaining why, or telling how to do something. A long text can use more than one structure in different sections, so name the structure of the part you are discussing.
Talking and writing about structure. When you explain structure, use time, sequence and cause-and-effect language yourself: "The article is in time order. First the town had no library, later a teacher lent books, and today there is a brick building." Or: "Because the author explains causes and effects, I understand why the puddle disappears faster on a windy day."
Worked example 1 — Historical events. Question: How does the structure of "How Our Town Got Its Library" help you understand its meaning? Step 1: find the signal words: when it was founded, many years later, after, later still, today. Step 2: name the structure: a series of historical events in time order. Step 3: connect order to meaning. Answer: "The article tells the events in time order, from no library, to a lending shelf, to a rented room, to a brick building. Because the events are in order, I can see that the library grew as more people wanted to borrow books."
Worked example 2 — A scientific concept. Question: How does the puddle article develop the idea of evaporation? Answer: "First it asks where a puddle goes, then it defines evaporation, and then it explains causes and effects. The sun warms the water, so it evaporates faster. Wind carries the vapor away, so evaporation speeds up. As a result, a warm, windy puddle disappears sooner. The cause-and-effect structure explains why, not just what happens."
Worked example 3 — Steps and a test of order. Question: What would go wrong if a reader followed the rain gauge steps out of order? Suppose someone did the last step first and emptied the gauge before reading it. The rain would be gone, and there would be nothing to measure. Answer: "The sequence matters because each step prepares for the next. Marking the tape first gets the gauge ready, and reading and recording the level before emptying it keeps the measurement."
Structure map (record task): For each of the three texts, make a box with four lines: the structure, three signal words from the text, a one-sentence summary, and one sentence that begins "The structure helps me understand that..." Use at least one time word, one sequence word and one cause-and-effect word across your three boxes.
Scramble test: Your teacher cuts the rain gauge steps into strips and mixes them. Put them back in order, then explain in two sentences why one step must come before another, using because.
Independent performance: Read a new informational text from science or social studies chosen with your teacher. Write or tell a short explanation that (1) names the text's structure (historical events in time order, development of a scientific concept, or series of steps), (2) quotes or lists three signal words or phrases, (3) explains how the structure helps the text make its meaning, and (4) uses your own time, sequence or cause-and-effect language. Success criteria: the structure you name matches the whole text or section, not one word; your explanation connects the order of ideas to the meaning; you use at least two signal words in your own sentences; and you do not change the facts of the text.
An adult may read the prompts aloud. Answer independently with words, objects, drawings or a demonstration before opening the answer guide. Award 1 point for a correct result or claim and 1 point for a matching explanation or demonstration; where a question asks only for a result (a corrected sentence, a spelling, a count), a fully correct result earns both points, and the answer guide shows what a complete response contains. Record prompting separately. The total (two points per question) is local practice feedback, not an Ohio proficiency level.
What is text structure, and why is it more than decoration?
It is how an author organizes information in a text or section. The order carries meaning: time order shows change, steps show what to do first, and cause and effect shows why something happens. Mixing up the order would damage the meaning.
Name the structure of "How Our Town Got Its Library" and give two signal words.
A series of historical events in time order. Signal words include "many years later," "after," "later still" and "today."
How does the time order of the library article support its main idea?
Because the events go from no library to a lending shelf, a rented room and then a brick building, the reader sees that the library grew step by step as more people wanted to read.
Use cause-and-effect language to explain why a puddle dries faster on a warm, windy day.
Because the sun warms the water, it evaporates faster, and because wind carries the water vapor away, evaporation speeds up. As a result, the warm, windy puddle disappears sooner.
Why must the water level be read and recorded before the gauge is emptied, and why does the article have you mark the tape before the container goes outdoors?
Emptying the gauge removes the rain, so the level must be read and written down first or the measurement is lost. Marking the tape before the rain, with zero at the inside bottom, is preparation: the scale is ready to read as soon as the rain stops, and each reading measures only the rain.
A classmate says the library article is cause and effect because it uses "so." Is that right? Explain.
Not for the whole text. One sentence shows a cause ("the shelf became too small, so the town voted"), but the whole article is organized in time order to show how the library changed over the years. Name the structure of the whole text, not one word.
This sentence about the puddle article is too vague: "The article talks about evaporation." Write a clearer sentence that tells how the article is organized, using a sequence word and a cause-and-effect word.
For example: "First the article asks where a puddle goes, and then it explains that the puddle shrinks because the water evaporates into the air." First and then are sequence words; because is a cause-and-effect word. Any sentence that tells the order of the article and one cause it explains earns credit.