Get ready for ReadyGen Writing

Performance Based Assessments

As we mentioned last time, your child will be completing a Performance Based Assessment this month. Their teachers are preparing them daily for this culminating task.

Performance Based Assessments: 3rd Grade

Students will observe a busy area (the library, cafeteria, playground, etc.), just as the characters did in The Case of the Gasping Garbage, and take notes on the people, events, and environment. Students will use their observations to write an original narrative story featuring characters and settings from their world. Although students stories will be based on their observations, some details including specific dialogue and background information may be imagined. a. Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/ or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. b. Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations. c. Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order. d. Provide a sense of closure. Students will share their writing with the class as part of an author celebration.

Performance Based Assessments: 4th Grade

Biographical Spotlight Students will conduct a short investigative project on a scientist/researcher who has made a difference. Students will use effective research techniques, conducting Internet research to find articles about the persons work. Students will write a biography that clearly introduces the subject and develops a main idea about the subject with facts and concrete details. Students will clearly link ideas and use precise language and domain specific vocabulary to document their subjects experiences. Students will organize material logically and provide an effective concluding statement.

Performance Based Assessments: 5th Grade

Students will write a narrative short story or drama with a clear beginning, middle, and end about a character who demonstrates a commitment to the environment. Stories will: a. include real or imagined events b. create and organize a sequence of events c. use narrative techniques such as dialogue to develop experiences and show the response of the character d. use transitional words to depict the sequence of events e. craft an ending that follows the events to a conclusion.

Time to see what your child is learning

We are going back in time. You are now third graders. This is an example of what your child will be doing during their writing block Enjoy!

The Moon Seems to Change

By Franklyn M. Bramley

Performance Based Assessments: Grade 3

Task: In the News!

Students will write an informative/explanatory news article on one living thing. The topics will be selected by the students. a. Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension. b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details. c. Use linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more, but) to connect ideas within categories of information. d. Provide a concluding statement or section. Students will share their writing with the class in the form of a newscast.

Explanatory Writing
Our Writing Goals for today:
Introduce and develop a topic Define a noun as a subject

Review
Remember, writers have different purposes for writing. Sometimes a writers purpose is to tell the reader a story or to share an opinion on a topic. Sometimes a writers purpose is to inform the reader about a topic.

Review
Explanatory writing conveys ideas and information about a topic.
In explanatory writing, the writer: introduces a topic and groups related information together develops the topic with facts, definitions, and details. Explanatory writing is based on facts, or real information.

The Moon Seems to Change

The author presented information about the phases of the moon and why each phase looks different from the others. The author introduced information about the moon, grouped related information together, and developed the topic with facts and details about the phases of the moon.

The Moon Seems to Change

The Moon Seems to Change uses facts to explain the phases of the moon. Look at page 9. Half of the moon is always lighted by the sun. Half is lighted and half is always in darkness. Its the same with Earth. While one half of Earth is having sunshine and daylight, the other half is getting no sunshine. It is night. The author presents facts to explain why the moon appears to be different on different days.

The Moon Seems to Change

When we write an explanatory text, we should convey facts and information using facts, definitions, and details.

Lets Practice!
Brainstorm ideas about a topic you would like to explain. Jot down a few ideas. Use a Web to develop ideas about your topic. Fill in the main circle with a word that describes the topic and then fill in the other circles with facts that develop the topic.

Lets Practice!

Conventions: Nouns
A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea.
A noun can act as the subject of a sentence.

The subject of a sentence is the noun that does or is something in a sentence.

Rebecca ran home. The dog ate the food.

Independent Practice
Open to page 49 in your Readers and Writers Journals. Write a paragraph that uses facts and key details to explain a topic. write a sentence that explains your topic. list three facts that develop and explain your topic. Use models in the text as a guide as you write your paragraph, and use your text-based vocabulary words: waxing (p. 50) and waning (p. 53).

Question Time