Students are asked to create and answer Think-and-Search and Author-and-You questions and to provide answers or possible answers, which requires them to use text information and prior knowledge to support responses. A discussion prompt asks students to agree or disagree with Juana and explain why, prompting students to justify a claim about a character using textual details. The Wants activity asks students to judge each character's desires (good, evil, self-centered, thoughtful) and record reasoning, which requires evaluative judgment tied to character evidence.

Students are asked to prepare and conduct a mock trial for Kino, assigning roles and using evidence from the book to argue the case. Students write speeches defending or prosecuting Kino and are instructed to use persuasive techniques and evidence from the story. Students respond to short-answer prompts that require supporting claims about Steinbeck's stylistic devices with textual evidence, and students are prompted to identify and trace an author's point of view and draw conclusions based on evidence in the skills list.

Students read Chapters 5–7 about a cholera epidemic and are asked discussion questions that prompt them to explain why villagers thought a witch caused the disease and why they lacked scientific explanations. The Wrapping Up asks students to consider why survival rates would be lower in the village than in a city, prompting comparison of explanations and consequences. The Investigator activity asks students to gather background information (geography, culture, history) that could inform their understanding of causes and responses.

Students read Chapter 1 and answer questions that require them to identify Tolkien's characterization of Bilbo and to restate Gandalf's claim that Bilbo has more in him than he knows. Students are asked to summarize Thorin's explanation for the mission in their own words, which requires tracing the reasons given within the text. Students are prompted to discuss whether Bilbo should go on the mission and to give reasons for their opinion.

Students are asked to provide explanations for characters' actions, for example Question #2 asks why Gandalf introduces the dwarves two at a time and expects students to answer that Gandalf knows Beorn is short-tempered. The parent/discussion prompts ask students to explain whether Beorn will be a good friend and to justify Bilbo's nonphysical advantages, requiring students to make claims and give supporting reasons. The lesson also asks students to verbally summarize events, which asks them to recount claims about what happened in the text.

Students are asked to "construct essays/presentations that respond to a given problem by proposing a solution that includes relevant details," which requires making a claim and supporting it. Activity 2 has students list solutions, identify pluses and minuses, and select the best solution, which asks them to evaluate options and justify a choice. Discussion prompts ask students to explain how Bilbo has changed and to evaluate whether Bilbo's escape plan and leadership are good, inviting students to give reasons from the chapter.

The Parent Plan lists the skill "Identify, analyze, and critique persuasive techniques (e.g., promises, dares, flattery, glittering generalities)," which asks students to examine how messages persuade. In Activity 2 Option 1 students collect advertisements and "classify them according to how much each ad preys on people's greediness and need for power," and in Option 2 students find and rank historical and current events motivated by greed, describing each example in two- or three-sentence entries. The Wrapping Up and discussion prompts ask students to analyze how wealth and power motivate behavior, linking claims about greed to consequences like violence and economic control.

Students are asked discussion questions that require them to state positions and reasons (e.g., "Do you respect the Master? Why or why not?", "Do you think the townspeople should be upset with the dwarves for angering Smaug? Why or why not?", and "Do you think the townspeople deserve some of Smaug's treasure? Why or why not?"). The wrapping-up paragraph notes that "there is justice in Bard's words and that the Lake-men and Bard himself do have claim to some of the treasure," which presents a claim from the text that students can refer to. Question #2 and #4 ask students to identify townspeople beliefs and plans, which highlights specific claims and motives in the story.

Students are asked to justify and explain character choices and motivations (e.g., Question #2 asks whether Bilbo should have admitted giving the Arkenstone and why). Students discuss and explain how elements of the story contribute to themes and the mood (Quest Cube activity and parent discussion prompts asking how power and change operate). Students answer comprehension questions that require connecting plot events to outcomes (e.g., why the dwarves did not battle the elves and men).

Students read early literary reviews of The Hobbit and are asked to summarize each critic's response in two or three sentences, identify whether the response is positive or negative, and explain the major points the critic makes. Students are instructed to describe any literary elements the reviewer alludes to and to read aloud their summaries and identify literary elements discussed in the reviews. The parent notes explicitly prompt discussion about how one review focuses on themes and another on characters and plot.

Students are asked to construct a personal response with three body paragraphs that present arguments or opinions and provide support from the text (examples, figurative language, direct quotes). The rubric specifically assesses 'Textual Evidence' and directs students to use direct quotes and references to the text. The outline and prewriting web require students to identify ideas and list supporting details for each paragraph.

The Parent Plan lists a skill to "Evaluate information from different sources about the same topic," and Activity 3 directs students to read multiple websites about Korea and record information on an "Elements of Korean Culture" chart. Students are asked to decide whether each piece of information belongs in the "Today" or "Centuries Past" column, which requires comparing and sorting claims from different texts. The map and culture chart activities require students to locate, label, and categorize information from external sources.

Several comprehension questions ask students to explain motivations and events (e.g., "Why do you think Min laughs...?") requiring written explanations. The parent notes explicitly instruct parents to ask the child to "defend his answer with a logical explanation" and to "provide evidence from the text to support his conclusions." The Tree-Ear mini-book activity asks students to list opportunities and "record at least one way the opportunity benefited Tree-ear," which requires making claims about the text and supporting them.

The Parent Plan lists skills that ask students to "write responses to literature," "organize interpretations around several clear ideas," and "develop and justify the interpretation of literature through sustained use of examples," which asks students to support claims with examples. The Reading and Questions and "Questions to Discuss" prompt students to give reasons for opinions (e.g., whether Min should teach Tree-ear, whether Crane-man's warning will be correct) and to explain why Tree-ear undertakes the journey. The Student Activity Page asks students to explain Crane-man's quotes in their own words, requiring them to interpret claims and articulate supporting explanations.

Students are asked to "justify interpretations of literature through sustained use of examples and textual evidence" in the Skills section. In the Relationship Web and Relationship Words activities, students must write at least two sentences describing each relationship and support those descriptions with examples from the text, including characters' thoughts, words, and actions. Discussion prompts ask students to state a position (e.g., whether Tree-ear is dishonorable or whether Min is admirable) and to explain why, encouraging use of textual support.

Students are instructed to "provide support from the text for each similarity and difference" on the essay organizer and brainstorming activities, requiring them to cite textual evidence for claims about relationships. The Comparison and Contrast Essay Rubric includes an "Ideas and Support" category that specifically rewards papers that provide specific examples and notes when supporting information is insufficient. The Parent Plan Skills explicitly tell students to "Support all statements and claims with anecdotes, descriptions, facts, and specific examples" and to "revise writing ... after checking the logic of the ideas," which directs students to consider the logic and support for their claims.

Students read a multi-perspective article (the CNN Dakota Access Pipeline piece) and complete a Point of View chart that asks them to list reasons each stakeholder would support or oppose the pipeline. The Steps to Independent Study require students to find sources, record information to answer research questions, and write an argumentative essay, and the parent-plan skill statement explicitly asks students to explore and analyze argumentative works by summarizing an author's purpose and stance and drawing inferences. The Argumentative Essay Rubric evaluates the clarity, focus, and effectiveness of students' own arguments (Ideas) and the Research Process rubric asks students to formulate a big question and use note-taking methods.

Students read two contrasting news articles about Sir Sam Hughes and complete a Detecting Bias handout asking how Hughes is portrayed and to identify bias techniques (selection/omission, word choice, headlines, statistics). Students read a news article about U.S. leaflets in Afghanistan and answer questions about the types of propaganda used, the government's purpose, and whether the leaflets were convincing. In Activity 3 students watch advertisements, identify propaganda techniques, determine intended audiences, and judge whether each ad is effective.

Students practice evaluating sources using Activity 4, where they rate websites on purpose, authority, currency, and objectivity using a 1–4 rubric and record notes about bias and sponsorship. Students gather multiple perspectives in Activity 5 by finding at least three stakeholders' opinions and locating at least three supporting details for each. Students collect and organize evidence for and against a position in Activities 1, 6, and 7 using gathering grids or note cards and document sources on a Works Cited page.

Students are directed to develop arguments with explicit reasons and multiple types of evidence (facts, statistics, research, expert opinions, examples, quotes) in each body paragraph. Students are required to include a counterarguments paragraph where they acknowledge opposing views and briefly state reasons for disagreeing. Students are asked to evaluate their own draft using an "Argumentative Essay Rubric" and to prioritize revisions for "Ideas" and "Organization," which includes checking connections between research and claims using transitional language.

Students are asked to write a book review that discusses themes and historical accuracy, which requires judging claims about a text. Students must answer essay prompts that require summarizing content and giving examples from the books (for example, describing what Alyce learned with examples). Students also summarize "European Transformations" and review the "Things to Know" section for the unit test, which has students state claims about historical changes and their impacts.

The Skills section directs students to identify, analyze, and critique persuasive techniques (promises, dares, flattery, glittering generalities) and to recognize effective arguments in oral presentations and media messages. Activity 2 (Media Awareness) has students collect advertisements, label the persuasive technique used, provide real-world examples, and write their own ads, requiring practice in identifying claims and rhetorical strategies. The curriculum also asks students to distinguish between fact and opinion, which supports initial analysis of claims.

Students read Chapters I–VI and answer several 'why' questions (Questions #1–#4) that ask them to explain characters' motives and the narrator's intent (e.g., why the prince wants the sheep to eat baobabs; why the narrator shows his drawing). The Parent Plan asks the student to 'look beyond the text to the main messages and ideas' and to think about what the narrator says he talks to adults versus children. The Venn diagram activity has students extract and compare the narrator's claims about what children and adults want to know.

Students answer comprehension questions that require them to identify claims and give reasons (Question #1 asks which inhabitant could be a friend and why; Question #2 asks which inhabitant the little prince compares to the businessman and what he thinks of him). Students plan and write persuasive letters to a planet inhabitant (Option 1 and Option 2) and are prompted to choose and discuss persuasion techniques. The parent guide and Option 2 explicitly ask students to include facts and figures for an adult viewpoint, prompting use of evidence to support a claim.

Students are asked to explain what the fox and the little prince mean by being "tamed" and to justify why the prince says his rose has tamed him, which requires identifying claims and supporting details. Students are asked whether the fox's secret ("Anything essential is invisible to the eyes") is true and to explain why or why not, prompting evaluation of a claim. The Parent Plan lists paraphrasing major ideas and supporting evidence as a skill, and the wrap-up asks students to explain why friendship prevents activities from becoming monotonous, asking for reasoning that links claim and support.

Students are asked to list two ways the narrator says he knows the little prince made it home (Student Activity Page question 5), which requires identifying the narrator's specific claims and supporting details. In the Persuading the Fox activity students must create a poem or drawing plus an explanation that convinces the fox the little prince made it home, which asks them to offer evidence to validate a claim. The Wrapping Up prompt asks students to explain why they agree or disagree with the narrator, prompting students to use reasons and evidence in support of a position.

Option 2 asks students to choose an original-text passage that deals with persuasion and to write a paragraph summarizing how the passage deals with persuasion, which requires analyzing a character's attempt to influence others. The parent discussion question asks students to decide whether Demetrius's love for Helena is real or only caused by the magic flower and to give reasons, prompting evaluation of a specific claim and its support. The Skills section directs students to summarize author's purpose and stance in oral presentations, which aligns with identifying an author's or character's claims or position.

Students are prompted to develop a thesis and provide persuasive evidence and important quotes about a chosen couple (Play Cupid and Strongest of All pages). The Outlining page directs students to list reasons and 2–3 pieces of evidence (observations, examples, quotations) to support each reason. The Classics Rubric includes an Ideas and Support section that asks students to assess the strength and evidence of their ideas when evaluating their writing.

Students are asked in Question #1 to identify who convinced Newton to publish and to state what arguments that person made, which requires locating and recounting specific claims and supporting actions. The Headliners activity asks students to describe an event as presented in the text and to write or perform two opposing perspectives, prompting students to summarize and contrast claims from different viewpoints. The listed skills include summarizing and determining the importance of information, which supports identifying key claims in an informational text.

Students are asked to read Chapter 21 and take notes on important information and unfamiliar words, and then answer comprehension questions that compare Bernoulli and Newton. The skills list explicitly asks students to "monitor comprehension" and "deliver an oral summary with inferences and conclusions," which require students to restate and infer from a text. Parent discussion prompts ask students to consider whether people thought science was a closed field and whether Bernoulli believed that, which asks students to consider claims in the historical account.