Friday, October 31, 2014

Example of written response


Here is an example of what we are looking for on the written portion of the test:

Unit 2, Week 1-
Explain the messages that are presented in these passages.  Support your answer with clear text evidence from the passages.


Example of student response:
         There was a different message presented in each passage.  In Help, Please! the message was you can’t expect a reward if you do not help.  An example from the passage that supports this is found on page 61 in the fifth paragraph.  The Raccoon, who is trying to pick apples for a baked apple dessert, asks Bear to help her pick a juicy apple from the apple tree.  The Bear says, “I’d be glad to, Raccoon, but I need to save my energy for my long winter nap.”  Later, Bear watched hungrily as Raccoon and Bee ate the delicious baked apple with honey. Bear and the other animals made excuses for not helping, but they still wanted to eat the apple dessert.  If you are not willing to help, you should not expect to get anything. 
         In Visitors in the Woods, the message was people should resect the animals that live in nature.  In this passage, people were walking on a nature path, enjoying watching a deer and her fawn when a loud family came along.  An example from the text that supports the theme is found on page 67, in the last paragraph.  After telling the loud family to be quiet, Gwen’s father tells the father and son that they are the visitors because it’s the animals that live there.  They should walk quietly to be respectful of the animals.