Transcript Grade 8 Week 1 Daily SOL Writing Practice

Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 1
Alaska
Liz’s Geography teacher has asked the class to write about the place that they would most
like to visit. Liz has decided to write about Alaska. Use the outline below to answer
questions 1 and 2.
A. Nature
1. Largest bald eagle population in the world
2. Untouched wilderness
3. Whale watching
4. Nice people
B. Fishing
1. Incredible fishing opportunities
2. Salmon, halibut, and cod
3. A view of Alaska from the water
1
Which item needs to be removed
from the outline?
2
What is the purpose of Liz’s
outline?
A
A view of Alaska from the
water
F
to decide what to write
about
B
Whale watching
G
to write an outline
instead of an essay
C
Nice people
H
to plan what she will
include in her essay
J
to start her rough draft
D
Untouched wilderness
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Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 1
Answer Sheet – For Teacher Use
Question
Correct Answer
VA SOL Essential Understanding Correlation
1
C
8.7ab – Use prewriting strategies to generate and
organize ideas.
2
H
8.7ab – Organize details to elaborate the central
idea.
Notes to Teacher:
The writing subtest of the Grade 8 English test will have a series of brief scenarios, each of which defines a
writing task for a specified audience. Items following the statement of the writing task will address planning
or prewriting activities relevant to the specified task and will be coded to the Planning, Composing, and
Revising reporting category. A rough draft of a response to the specified writing task will follow the
planning/prewriting test items. The rough draft will be divided into sections. The first section will have errors
which require revision such as the inclusion of a sentence that does not belong or two sentences that need
to be combined. Items following the first section of the rough draft will require the student to correct these
errors by choosing the correct revision from the answer choices provided. These items will also be coded to
the Planning, Composing, and Revising reporting category.
The second section of the rough draft will contain embedded errors in usage or mechanics. Items following
this section will refer to underlined words or groups of words in the second section of the rough draft and will
require students to choose the answer which represents correct usage or mechanics. These items will be
coded to the Editing reporting category. In some cases, the underlined words will contain no errors and the
correct answer will be "as it is." Following the expanded blueprint is a list of usage and mechanics skills
which are addressed in the Editing reporting category.
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Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 1
Read the first part of Liz’s rough draft. Use it to answer the questions below.
(1)I know if I could travel anywhere in the world, I would want to go to Alaska. (2)My dad
went to Alaska last year. (3)He brought back so many great pictures and told awesome
stories about his fishing trips. (4)I can only imagine seeing bald eagles flying free and
whales surfacing. (5)I would really love to fly in an airplane.
3
Which sentence does not belong in
this part of Liz’s essay?
A
sentence 2
B
sentence 3
C
sentence 4
D
sentence 5
4
Which sentence could best be
added to this portion of the letter?
F
Traveling is a true passion of
mine.
G
My dad loves to travel all
over the world.
H
Alaska is the place to see
nature at its best.
J
Sometimes I think I’d like to
go to New York City.
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 1
Answer Sheet – For Teacher Use
Question
Correct Answer
VA SOL Essential Understanding Correlation
3
D
8.7bc – Organize details to elaborate a central
idea.
4
H
8.7dd – Revise writing for word choice, sentence
variety, and transitions among paragraphs.
Notes to Teacher:
During the revising stage of the writing process students will revise for focus, organization, and
elaboration.
To assist students in developing these skills direct instruction must take place on including important
details, deleting unnecessary information and varying sentences.
The Standards of Learning writing assessments will ask students to use their revising skills to identify
ways to improve a passage that is provided. To be successful on this section of the test, students must
be able to suggest the best way to combine provided sentences, choose a more descriptive way to write
provided sentences and locate unneeded information.
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 1
Read the next part of Liz’s rough draft. Use it to answer the questions below.
(6)The first reason I would love to travel to Alaska would be to experience nature at its
purest. (7)By the inside passage in Alaska is a beautiful way to travel my dad says. (8)We
would also visit the Denali National Park and Preserve. (9)It is located in the Alaska Range.
(10)There we could fish and camp and wake up to a view of Muldrow Glacier and Mount
McKinley.
5
How should sentence 7 best be
written?
A
B
C
D
Alaska’s inside passage is a
beautiful way to travel through,
my dad says.
6
How can Liz best combine
sentences 8 and 9 without changing
their meaning?
F
We would also visit the Denali
National Park and Preserve
located in the Alaska Range.
My dad says that the most
beautiful way to travel through
Alaska is by the Inside Passage.
G
My dad says that Alaska’s Inside
Passage is the most beautiful way
to travel through.
We would also visit the Alaska
Range by going to the Denali
National Park and Preserve.
H
We would visit the Denali
National Park and Preserve and
the Alaska Range also.
My dad says that traveling
through the Inside Passage of
Alaska is the most beautiful way.
J
Also, we would visit the Denali
National Park Preserve and the
Alaska Range.
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Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 1
Answer Sheet – For Teacher Use
Question
Correct Answer
VA SOL Essential Understanding Correlation
5
B
8.7dc – Revise writing for word choice, sentence
variety, and transitions among paragraphs.
6
F
8.7dd – Revise writing for word choice, sentence
variety, and transitions among paragraphs.
Notes to Teacher:
During the revising stage of the writing process students will revise for focus, organization, and
elaboration.
To assist students in developing these skills direct instruction must take place on including important
details, deleting unnecessary information and varying sentences.
The Standards of Learning writing assessments ask students to use their revising skills to identify ways
to improve a passage that is provided. To be successful on this section of the test, students must be
able to suggest the best way to combine provided sentences, choose a more descriptive way to write
provided sentences and locate unneeded information.
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 1
Read the next part of Liz’s rough draft. Use it to answer the questions below.
(11)When my dad was fishing in Alaska, each fisherman came home with their own catch.
(12)I would love to have the chance to land a huge King Salmon or halibut, or even a
codfish. (13)In fact, if I did catch the big one, I would have if mounted to display in my
room. (14)Fishing is my passion. (15)My dad says there ain’t no better fishing than in
Alaska.
7
In sentence 11, how is their best
written?
8
In sentence 15, how is ain’t best
written?
A
they’re
F
was
B
his
G
weren’t
C
one’s
H
is
D
as it is
J
as it is
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 1
Answer Sheet – For Teacher Use
Question
Correct Answer
VA SOL Essential Understanding Correlation
7
B
8.8ad – Use a variety of graphic organizers,
including sentence diagrams, to analyze and
improve sentence formation and paragraph
structure.
8
H
8.8aa – Use a variety of graphic organizers,
including sentence diagrams, to analyze and
improve sentence formation and paragraph
structure.
Notes to Teacher:
During the editing stage of the writing process students will edit for correct grammar, punctuation,
capitalization, spelling and sentence construction.
Students should be provided with many opportunities to edit and correct punctuation in their writing and
the writing of their classmates.
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 1
Read the next part of Liz’s rough draft. Use it to answer the questions below.
(16)A trip to Alaska would be a dream vacation for me. (17)I would cherish every part of
my Alaskan experience. (18)The bald eagles are so common there that it is seen as
often as we see robins. (19)I would take a whale watching tour to view the awesome
blue whales and killer whales. (20)I hope I can go there someday. (21)Maybe my mom
will surprise my dad and I with a trip to Alaska for our next Christmas gift.
9
In sentence 18, how is it is
correctly written?
10 In sentence 21, how is my dad and I
correctly written?
A
it’s
F
B
they are
G I and my dad
C
they were
H my dad and me
D
as it is
J
me and my dad
as it is
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 1
Answer Sheet – For Teacher Use
Question
Correct Answer
VA SOL Essential Understanding Correlation
9
B
8.8ad – Use a variety of graphic organizers, including
sentence diagrams, to analyze and improve sentence
formation and paragraph structure.
10
H
8.8ce – Choose correct case and number for pronouns in
prepositional phrases with compound objects.
Notes to Teacher:
During the editing stage of the writing process students will edit for use of language, capitalization,
punctuation and spelling. Students can earn 14 multiple choice points and 8 possible score from the
direct-writing component by accurately editing.
On Standards of Learning writing assessments students will edit for the use of:
Grade 6
•Subject-verb agreement with
intervening, phrases and clauses
•Pronoun-antecedent agreement to
include indefinite pronouns
•Maintain consistent tense inflections
across paragraphs
•Choose adverbs to describe verbs,
adjectives, and other adverbs
•Use correct spelling for frequently
used words
Grade 7
•Choose pronouns to agree with
antecedents
•Subject-verb agreement with
intervening phrases and clauses
•Edit for verb tense consistency
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Grade 8
•Use and punctuate correctly varied
sentence structures to include
conjunctions and transition words.
•Choose the correct case and number
for pronouns in prepositional phrases
with compound objects.
•Maintain consistent verb tense across
paragraphs
•Use comparative and superlative
degrees in adverbs and adjectives