Transcript Daily SOL Writing Practice

Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 6
The Pros and Cons of Playing on a School Team
Parker has been asked to write a paper explaining both what is good and what is
bad about playing on a school sports team.
1
The form of writing Parker has be
assigned is best described as –
A
B
C
D
2
The audience for this essay
would most likely be –
narrative
F
soccer moms
G
middle school students
H
preschoolers
J
teachers
persuasive
expository
informational
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 6
Answer Sheet – For Teacher Use
Question
Correct Answer
VA SOL Essential Understanding Correlation
1
C
8.7ba – Organize details to elaborate the central idea.
2
G
8.7bc – 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 error 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 6
Below are two lists Parker made before writing his rough draft. Use them to
answer questions 3 and 4.
Pros
1.
2.
3.
4.
3
Cons
You get lots of exercise.
You meet many new friends.
You gain self-confidence.
You’re motivated to do better in
school.
Which of the following ideas could
not be added under Pros?
A You have to compete in long
games.
1.
2.
3.
4.
You have less free time.
You have to work hard.
You feel stress.
You lose sometimes, and
that is not fun.
4
While writing his essay, Parker
would want to include all of these
except –
F
the friends he has made while
playing sports
G
a difficult experience he has had
on a school team
H
statistics about professional
athletes’ income
J
his academic success because of
his athletic involvement
B You win medals and trophies.
C You get to travel to other schools.
D You can earn college scholarships.
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 6
Answer Sheet – For Teacher Use
Question
Correct Answer
VA SOL Essential Understanding Correlation
3
A
8.7bb – Organize details to elaborate the central idea.
4
H
8.7bc – Organize details to elaborate the central idea.
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 6
Read first part of Parker’s rough draft. Use it to answer the questions below.
(1)Athletics is a huge part of student life. (2)Every day we hear of the school teams’
successes and failures on the field. (3)Participating on a school team can be very
rewarding. (4)It can also be very stressful. (5)Football is my favorite sport. (6)What
ever the sport, school teams offer many rewards and a few disappointments.
5
How are sentences 3 and 4 best
combined without changing their
meaning?
A
6
Which of these sentences does not
belong in this portion of the essay?
F
sentence 6
Participating on a rewarding
school team can be very
stressful.
G sentence 2
B
Participating on a school team
can be very rewarding but also
very stressful.
J
C
Participating can be very
stressful but also very rewarding
on a school team.
D
Participating can be very
rewarding but also very stressful
on a school team.
H sentence 1
sentence 5
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 6
Answer Sheet – For Teacher Use
Question
Correct Answer
VA SOL Essential Understanding Correlation
5
B
8.7dd – Revise writing for word choice, sentence variety,
and transitions among paragraphs.
6
J
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 6
Read the next part of Parker’s rough draft. Use it to answer the questions below.
(7)I have been playing baseball for the Junior Varsity team since last September. (8)I have
made many new friends. (9)We hang out even when it is not baseball season. (10)Two of
my best friends plays on the team with me. (11)We love practicing together. (12)Our
workouts are great exercise, and our games are tremendous fun. (13)However, our losses
are so disappointing.
7
In sentence 10, how is plays best
written?
A
played
B
does play
C
play
D
8 How is sentence 13 best written?
F
However our losses are so
disappointing.
G
However our losses, are so
disappointing.
H
However, our losses are so,
disappointing.
J
as it is
as it is
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 6
Answer Sheet – For Teacher Use
Question
Correct Answer
VA SOL Essential Understanding Correlation
7
C
8.8ac – Use a variety of graphic organizers, including
sentence diagrams, to analyze and improve sentence
formation and paragraph structure.
8
J
8.8bi – Use and punctuate correctly varied sentence
structures to include conjunctions and transition words.
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.
The Standards of Learning writing assessments ask students to edit a given passage for
punctuation, correct case and number, verb tense, and comparative and superlative
degrees. Students will be expected to understand the use of conjunctions and transitional
words.
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 6
Read the next part of Parker’s rough draft. Use it to answer the questions below.
(14)Playing on the school baseball team has helped me maintain a B average. (15)If my
grade point average drops below a C, I am suspended from the team. (16)Until I bring my
grades back up. (17)Maintaining good grades can be stressful. (18)I have less free time
due to studying so much. (19)In some classes, like English, I have to work very hard to
maintain my grade. (20)If it wasn’t for sports, however, I would not be so successful in
school.
9
Which is not a complete sentence?
10
In sentence 20, how is wasn’t correctly
written?
A
sentence 14
F
was’nt
B
sentence 15
G
was not
C
sentence 16
H
weren’t
J
as it is
D
sentence 17
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
Daily SOL Writing Practice
Grade 8
Week 6
Answer Sheet – For Teacher Use
Question
Correct Answer
VA SOL Essential Understanding Correlation
9
C
8.8aa – Use a variety of graphic organizers, including
sentence diagrams, to analyze and improve sentence
formation and paragraph structure.
10
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 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 the Grade 8 Standards of Learning writing assessments students will edit for the use of:
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
•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
•choose pronouns to agree with
antecedents
•subject-verb agreement with
intervening phrases and clauses
•edit for verb tense consistency
provided by Simply Achieve, Inc.
•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