5th grade State Writing Assessment Review {Freebies}

How do you prepare for the upcoming STATE writing assessment? My plan this week:

• Discuss the types of writing -- the parts of each piece - have discussion about each
• Discuss what a good writing piece looks like (for each type of writing)
• Discuss the six traits and how they can be used to spice up their writing
• Discuss which graphic organizers would best be used during pre-writing for each type of writing

• Discuss & practice breaking down various writing prompts... really asking ourselves, "What is it they are asking me to do, exactly?"

**When I say discuss, students will have discussions about each defending their responses**

To assist in the first part, I made a few graphic organizers to keep the kiddos focused!! Hope you can use this FREEBIE! Click the picture to grab a copy (all 6 included in the download):

Follow me on TpT

All of my earlier creations are listed on my site by grade level. All my newest creations will be posted on my TpT site. Please follow along, if you wish. Again, thank you for your support! Click image or click TpT link above.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/2-Fulbright-Hugs

Show What I Know Menu

I have seen some menus out there, but I really needed a menu with a technological twist. I created this menu and changed it up a bit to try to fit others. The one I created for myself has actual quotes and information from the text Out of the Dust that we are reading (such a great book, so far)! After reading a bit, I will give the students a few days to work on the tasks. We will use menus occasionally, so they can show what they know or do not know. This way, I can adjust instruction to meet their needs. What I love about these menus is that students can be as creative as they wish (use an app, online program, the typical paper/pencil way, etc.). I just hope that children will enjoy "showing what they know" in creative ways!

Here is a little peek. Please go to the 5th grade link above to purchase. Thanks! If you need a different one, let me know.

*This menu has 6 activities for students to complete:

Figurative Language, Vocabulary, Inferencing,

Textual Evidence, Text Structure, and Sentence Structure -

all with a technology twist or complete typical way*

Quality, not Quantity

It has been some time since I have posted. 5th grade is going GREAT! In the past, I have posted more often, but I am one who wants to try things out first, see how they work, and then give you all the best I have... quality, not quantity is important to me... you? Over the past couple of months, I have reflected on my lessons, tweaking things here and there, and having fun while learning! Of course, there is ALWAYS room for improvement, so I always consider that each day.

I wanted to give you a few things I have used lately.

During our first quarter of school, we worked relentlessly on Opinion Writing. Many of my students had difficulty with generating ideas and keeping those ideas organized. For this reason, I created this organizer to assist them. In addition, MODELING for students is HUGE, and I do this constantly. I am a visual learner, so I feel it is very important that they SEE what it is they will be responsible for doing on their own. I have included a sample with this organizer.

You can get these here!

In addition to this organizer, some had a tough time getting this information into detailed paragraphs, using transitions. For this reason, I created another organizer. It was really an eye opener for many (even my gifted students), as they THOUGHT they had enough detail until they began placing their rough draft into this organizer.

One last thing I want to share is my revising/editing sheet that students used during the writing process:

Hope to share some more quality items with you during Thanksgiving Holidays (when I have a little time...haha)!

Formative Assessment - Before you go, "tweet" what you know...

I am loving 5th grade, the curriculum and the conversations I have with the students about learning! Although I have been extremely busy teaching and learning the new curriculum, I wanted to share what my professional development goal is this year: use more of Marazano's Nine in my classroom. I have found a ton of resources online (mostly digital tools) that can enhance and engage student learning. Of course one way to assesses the knowledge of my students it to conduct frequent, on-going formative assessments, which drives my instruction. Differentiating for our students is critical, so I must know what they know and do not know and adjust accordingly.


Although I always formatively assess, I would like something tangible from time to time to show parents. There are a ton of formative assessment techniques out there, but this week I want to focus on Exit Tickets. I have asked higher-order questions at the end of lessons to check for understanding or have given a sample skill for students to perform, but I want to know what they are thinking as well - to see if they know whether or not they get it! Here is a little exit ticket I will be using this week: I tried to incorporate hash tags and twitter.

You can get these here!

SMART Goals for Data Folders

I want to post a lot more about this during the school year, but I wanted students to have something to place in their Data Folder (click here for the Data Folder sheets) about how to set SMART Goals.

 S
You can get these here!

Writing Process Sheets

Okay, I promised these after my vacation, but I had a little time before packing...


You might want to use some of these in a writer's notebook and some as needed. There are 10 sheets:

• 2 Brainstorming sheets (one for boys, one for girls)
• 1 Graphic Organizer for writing ideas for a topic
• 1 Planning sheet for ideas
• 1 Revising Checklist
• 1 Self-Editing Checklist
• 1 Peer-Editing Checklist
• 1 Teacher Conference sheet (can use Post-Its with it)
• 1 Writing Reflections sheet
• 1 Publishing Plan sheet

You can get these here!

Writing Process Posters Colorful Chevron

My new rug inspired the design of these Writing Process Sheets. Will be making some checklists and graphic organizers to accompany this after my vacation... For now, enjoy these colorful chevron-inspired writing process posters.

You can get these here!

Teacher Feedback from Students ...aka Teacher Report Card

Each quarter, I would like for my students to assess me, so I can grow and get better. I am excited to see their responses and hope they take it seriously (and be truthful with me). Click below for a copy of the Teacher Report Card:

You can get these here!

Tracking Student Data

Here are a few sheets that I plan on having my 5th graders use to set goals and track their progress in reading and writing. In this set, they can track which genres they are reading (so they can read a variety), their comprehension (based on AR tests), their Lexile reading level (which was one of our school goals last year), and their scores on the 6 traits of writing. Hope this is helpful to someone else!

You can get these here!

Back to making teacher goodies...

I have spent the past few days working on my new adventure, but time to take a break with that and get back to my real love... creating teaching items!! Next year, I want my students to keep track of the types of texts they are reading. Why? It is important that students read a wide-variety of material, especially some material that is sometimes a little more challenging, like informational/non-fiction texts. With this goal/tally sheet, they can set their goal each quarter and work toward meeting that goal. Setting goals and self-assessing is also one of the Assessment for Learning strategies that I have and continue working on with my students.

You can get these here!