Explore Rhode Island

Explore Rhode Island through place-connected readings

Rhode Island’s reading map brings together stories, informational texts, a historical account, and an opinion piece about places across the state. Choose a place or reading level, then use the passages and questions to explore how communities and coastal environments connect.

Visit the capital and its rivers

In Avery Visits the State House, Avery learns how state government works and thinks about a problem near home. Providence: A Capital Shaped by Water follows the city’s rivers from their role in its growth to the work of protecting them today. Compare what the two readings reveal about Providence as a place where people live and make decisions.

Read about Providence’s beginnings

Providence and the People Who Were Already There discusses the 1636 settlement alongside the leadership and continuing history of Indigenous peoples. Readers can identify how different perspectives and agreements shaped the account. The Wampanoag: Then and Today provides broader regional context and describes Wampanoag communities today.

Explore the harbor, island, and rocky shore

In A Walk by the Harbor, Josie notices boats and the wind at Newport Harbor. Coastal Habitats of Block Island introduces beaches, dunes, ponds, and wildlife. At Beavertail, Explore a Tide Pool gives steps for observing safely, while Beavertail Lighthouse: A Light on Narragansett Bay explains how a light has helped mariners.

Consider how to care for a shoreline

Keep Colt State Park’s Shore Open and Natural makes a case for protecting a public shoreline while keeping it accessible. Ask students to identify a claim and the reasons supporting it, or compare its approach with the habitat reading.

Explore the pictures and word games on this page, or return to the United States reading map.