Our purpose was to gather writing samples to have base-line data for each of our students at the start of the academic year. One of our goals is to continue to develop common language and understandings in regard to the six-traits in writing, as well as to develop common scoring practices. We narrowed our focus upon the two traits of content and organization for this activity. Through staff development opportunities in literacy, we expect to continue to strengthen our understandings of the teaching and learning cycle as it applies to individual student achievement. Our students were given a specific prompt for a cold-write.
Students approach the topic cold , similar to an assessment prompt.
I generated two prompts that I felt would connect with the kids experiences. The intermediate students were given additional information to help generate ideas on their own. As you are aware, classroom space is at a premium this academic year. In adding a new classroom, we moved the music room to the staff room and the new classroom into the music room. Presently, there are not any extra rooms.