4 th Grade Parent Writing Workshop

1. 4th Grade ParentWriting Workshop 2013 Dr. Carson Miss Cohron Mrs. Engley Mrs. Ervin Mrs. Johnson Mrs. Williams

2. Agenda • Parent Brainstorming activity • Overview of Florida Writes • What is it? • Types of prompts – narrative or expository • Test date • Student samples/Anchor papers (separate attachment) • Rubric/Holistic Scoring (separate attachment) • Passing score • Parent tips and suggestions

3. What is Florida Writes? • The Florida Writing Assessment was implemented in grades 4, 8, and 10 as required by a law passed by the 1990 legislature. The assessment is designed to measure students' proficiency in writing responses to assigned topics within a designated testing period. The assessment of writing proficiency, by its nature, incorporates the assessment of higher order skills, since students are required to generate and develop the ideas that form the basis for their written responses.

4. What is Florida Writes? • Each student receives a writing folder containing one writing prompt (topic) with two lined pages for the written response. Students are given 60 minutes to read the prompts independently, plan their responses, and write their responses in the folders. A separate sheet is provided for planning or prewriting activities (e.g., outlining, clustering, mapping, and jotting down ideas).

5. Types of Prompts Narrative Expository • Narrative is a type of writing that tells a story based on a real or imagined event • Expository is a type of writing that gives information and explains why or how Students are taught BOTH types of writing. Teachers and students do not know which type of prompt will be given.

6. Examples of prompts Narrative Expository You pass a door every day and it is always locked. Before you begin writing imagine finding that one day the door is open. Now write a story about a day you went through that mysterious door. Most of us have a particular activity that we enjoy doing after school. Before you write, think about what particular activity is your favorite thing to do after school. Now explain why this particular activity is your favorite thing to do after school.

7. The Big Day…. Make sure your child gets a good nights sleep Have your child to school early! Encourage your child with positive words…. YOU CAN DO IT! DO YOUR BEST!! I’M PROUD OF YOU! FEBRUARY 26, 2013

8. Scoring Passing score: 4 Grade level motto: A ‘4’ and maybe more!

9. Changes to FCAT Writing for 2012 • Scoring will include increased attention to the correct use of standard English conventions • Scoring will include increased attention to the quality of details, requiring use of relevant, logical, and plausible support, rather than contrived statistical claims or unsubstantiated generalities. The quality of the support depends on word choice, specificity, depth, relevance, and thoroughness • Rote memorization or overuse of compositional techniques, such as rhetorical questions, implausible statistics, or pretentious language is not the expectation for quality writing at any grade level.

10. Parent tips and suggestions • Completion of any writing homework or classwork not finished • Discuss what your child has written at school and at home • Write letters to friends and relatives • Write notes to your child (lunch, chore lists, letter, poem, remember when story) • Demonstrate the value of writing in real life (applications, letters, recipes, work projects, etc.) • Display student work on refrigerator or bulletin board • Ask questions in 3’s….(What were your 3 favorite things you did at Billy’s house?, list your top 3 TV shows, explain to me 3 reasons why you chose to not do your chores, etc.) • Encourage your child to swap out boring words for $Million Dollar$ words…..(big = massive, enormous, colossal; funny – hilarious, hysterical, jolly) • Tell stories out loud at the dinner table using transitions (As soon as I got to school, the fire alarm went off. Minutes later, a genie appeared on the roof. Suddenly, a strong gust swirled around me…….)