Introducing constructed response questions to your 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade student is necessary for their success on the STAAR reading test . .

So last week, I shared an idea I'm trying out in my writing classroom. My students and I used a paragraph through the whole week to work on...

This exciting resource makes reviewing fun. Prepare for the Writing STAAR by making your room an escape room. Students will have to solve STAAR formatted revising and editing questions in order to unlock the codes to 4 different stations. *PLEASE NOTE THIS INCLUDES THE SAME QUESTIONS AS THE REVISING AND EDITING SET OF 20 TASK CARDS. This resource REQUIRES technology. Please do not purchase if you do not have access to tablets in your classroom. I play this with my students in pairs, so I need at least 12 iPads for my class of 24 students. This resource includes: -google forms link where students will be inputting codes (completely setup for you) -20 task cards (5 for each station) -student recording sheet -teacher answer key -presentation with timer and student directions -station labels -decoder EVERYTHING you need to create your STAAR test review escape room.

RACES Writing Strategy Passages Practice 3rd 4th Grade Upper Elementary Students: Improve your student's writing skills with this writing strategy.

Test, test, test, blah, blah, blah. It seems like that's all we hear this time of year. Underline your evidence. Mark out unlikely choices...

The STAAR Genre Structures

This product includes anchor charts for each Reading Literature and Informational Standard for Grades 3-5 that provide skills and strategies at your students' fingertips. Why Reading Notebook Anchor Charts?The charts in this product are meant to be used inside students’ reading or writing notebooks. This is why they are shown two on a page. I don’t know about you, but the budget on copies has always been an issue we are always trying to find ways to save paper and copies! More importantly, as ELA teachers we tend to use a lot of anchor charts in our classroom. With the number of charts we make- it would be impossible to keep all of them up throughout the year and sometimes students probably forget they are even there. Having them right in their notebooks allows easy accessibility to help during independent Reading or Writing. You might also find these useful for parents to use at home. Since I began using anchor charts inside our Reading and Writing Notebooks, I have noticed my students are able to work better independently. They have the tools they need to support their learning. The charts have also been helpful in planning and presenting lessons. For example, when talking about “theme,” you have examples and ways to find it by using the chart. This helps to bring a large and broad topic down to a concrete idea.This set also includes a variety of graphic organizers for both fiction and nonfiction. What is included? >>> READING LITERATURE CHARTS <<< The following charts are included aligned to the 3 clusters of the Reading Literature Standards for Grades 3-5. Key Ideas & Details Wise Readers ask Questions Who… What…When…Where…Why…How Using Text Evidence Inference Character Feelings Character Traits Recount Stories (Somebody Wanted But So Then) Recount Stories (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?) Summarize Stories (Somebody Wanted But So) Think FAST about the Characters FAST Chart (3 Versions) 5 Elements of a Story Story Mountain Crafting a Theme Statement Theme THEMEssage Common Themes Craft & Structure Literal vs. Nonliteral Language Figurative Language Idioms 1 (blank) Idioms 2 (blank) Idioms 1 Idioms 2 Allusion Poetry, Drama, & Prose Point of View Point of View (blank) Integration of Knowledge & Ideas The Quest Movie vs. Text (Blank) Movie vs. Text (Filled in) Comparing Themes, Topics, & Patterns of Events Good vs. Evil Thinking about Theme Revealing the Theme Extra Reading Charts & Tools The Story in a Nutshell Graphic Organizer (1 per page) The Story in a Nutshell Graphic Organizer (2 per page) Main Idea & Details Boxes & Bullets (2 per page) What's the Big Idea?! Boxes & Bullets Graphic Organizer for Text Writing a Summary (1 per page) Let's Talk Genre! (Genre Notebook Chart) Traditional Literature Notebook Chart My Reading Log (2 per page) Words We Should All Spell Correctly Transitions Responding to Fiction 1 Responding to Fiction 2 Responding to Nonfiction Readers Choose Just Right Books My New Year's Reading Resolutions Ways I Can Help Myself Grow as a Reader Parts of Speech Reading is Thinking (boy) Reading is Thinking (girl) >>> READING INFORMATIONAL NOTEBOOK CHARTS <<< Key Ideas & Details Super Star Partnerships Wise Readers Ask Questions Using Text Evidence Types of Informational Texts Main Ideas and Supporting Details Inference Talking about the Text Main Idea and Key Details (Graphic Organizer) Main Idea and Key Details (Graphic Organizer) Summarizing Nonfiction (Somebody Wanted But So) Summarizing Nonfiction (Notes with Example) Summarizing Nonfiction (Notes with Example) cursive font Determining Importance Determining Importance (Interesting or Important) Sentence Starters for Main Idea See, Think, Wonder (Blank) Craft & Structure Alpha Boxes Context Clues Firsthand vs. Secondhand Account Primary vs. Secondary Sources Description Sequence Compare & Contrast Cause & Effect Problem & Solution Cause & Effect Graphic Organizer Nonfiction Signal Words 1 Nonfiction Signal Words 2  Integration of Knowledge & Ideas Reasons & Evidence Text Features 1 Text Features 2 Text Features 3 Combining Texts Combining Texts Combining Texts (Graphic Organizer) Bonus* Readers Gonna Read (My To-Read List) 🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.If you ever find that you are looking for a specific chart that is not included, please let me know at [email protected]. I am ALWAYS looking for ways to improve the quality of my resources. :)  Let’s connect! The Literacy Loft Blog The Literacy Loft on Instagram The Literacy Loft on Pinterest The Literacy Loft on Facebook

Test, test, test, blah, blah, blah. It seems like that's all we hear this time of year. Underline your evidence. Mark out unlikely choices. Check your bubbles. Blah, blah, blah. Tests are boring. Ther

➤ If a digital download is purchased you will be able to access it under your profile icon >> Purchases and Reviews ➤ This is for personal use and not commercial. If you would like a commercial license to be able to reproduce the item please reach out. ➤ If you purchase a hard item, you will receive the following: ➤You will receive a printed and laminated educational poster based on the size purchased. ➤ Please allow 1-3 business days for processing and 1-7 days for shipping. ➤ Currently, we only ship to the contiguous United States. ➤ Items packaged and shipped out in rigid tubes and have plastic end caps that fit tight - to protect your shipment. ➤If you want a custom design feel free to message me.

This is a STAAR Revising and Editing Daily Practice. The objective is Transition Words. Since transitions seem to be difficult for students, they need as much practice as possible. I hope you find this freebie with a revising passage and 4 questions useful. If you enjoyed my product, please leave me feedback! Check out my other daily practices at: Daily Practice 1 Daily Practice 3 Daily Practice 2 Daily Practice Bundle

65+ slides on how to transform your classroom into an a Basketball/March Madness adventure OVERNIGHT! Everything you need for an addition and subtraction themed math day! Detailed directions with pictures and links to purchase supplies are provided.

Do your students need something more hands on to help them move through the writing process for the STAAR Redesign ECR? Why not try a foldable? This package of foldables comes with 4 ready to print foldables. Informative, Single Passage Foldable Informative, Paired Passage Foldable Argumentative Foldable Generic Foldable (can use with any literary/argumentative/informative essay). Each foldable includes 4 flaps that walk students through entire writing process. My focus in creating these was to have students focus on the most important bits of their writing before writing things out entirely. For example, they can write their thesis by itself, and then put it together with a full introduction. Before they write a full body paragraph, they will need to select their quotations from the passage and then show how that connects to their thesis. Only then are they ready to write the body paragraph. Here's how it works: They will start on the front flap and write out the key portion of their prompt. Then, they have a segment for brainstorming ideas or outlining on the back. From there, they have a space to write a thesis. Then the introduction (or you can come back to this after the "kernel" parts are done). For body paragraph 1, they note just their quotation and explain how it proves their thesis. They can then write the full body paragraph or come back to it. Body paragraph 2 works the same. Then, the conclusion, of course. Each portion has a guide reminding them what goes into writing that section. These guides go along perfectly with my STAAR GAZING mini-course, btw. Finally, when everything looks as it should and all the sections are filled out, there is a Checklist segment. This is modeled on the notes STAAR gives them in their prompt (clearly state your thesis / organize your writing / develop your ideas, etc), only I've added questions to each one to aid students in revising their writing or for use in peer revision exercises. You'll also get an instruction document on how to fold and a short video of me going over the folding/explaining how to use as well. I recommend checking out either my STAAR-Gazing mini course if you want to go really in depth with your students on ECR writing.

➤ If a digital download is purchased you will be able to access it under your profile icon >> Purchases and Reviews ➤ This is for personal use and not commercial. If you would like a commercial license to be able to reproduce the item please reach out. ➤ If you purchase a hard item, you will receive the following: ➤You will receive a printed and laminated educational poster based on the size purchased. ➤ Please allow 1-3 business days for processing and 1-7 days for shipping. ➤ Currently, we only ship to the contiguous United States. ➤ Items packaged and shipped out in rigid tubes and have plastic end caps that fit tight - to protect your shipment. ➤If you want a custom design feel free to message me.

This is a everything you need to make the perfect flip book study guide to prepare for the STAAR Writing test. Intended for teacher to guide students in completing notes on each individual page. I print mine in bright florescent colors! (The essay page is left blank for students to create thei...

Help your students expand their writing skills with these teaching ideas on writing a paragraph before they need to know how to write a multi-paragraph.

Teachers of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students looking for STAAR revise and edit practice can check out this blog post full of resources . . .

Are you a Texas teacher curious about changes made to the STAAR reading test? Check out the latest information on the STAAR redesign

7th Grade STAAR Bundle of Resources - Practice Revising and Editing Writing Tests and Games - Improve 7th Grade STAAR Writing scores with these practice revising and editing tests and games bundle. Includes 2 writing prompts with planning paper, 8 original multi-page informational and narrative writing passages with 60 "STAAR style" test questions, and 2 Writing Test Prep Review Games with 50 game questions. The tests and games cover ALL of the Texas writing standards for this grade level (Reporting Categories 1 - 3) All answer keys are included. The 8 practice tests are printable, but can also be assigned in Google Classroom as Self-Grading Google Forms. Perfect for distance learning using laptops, Chromebooks, desktops, ipads, etc. The games can be played in PowerPoint, or uploaded to Google Classroom as Google Slides! Included: 2 expository writing prompts - Printable Only -planning page -lined response paper 8 original passages with embedded writing errors - Printable AND Self-Grading Google Forms 60 multiple choice writing questions - Printable AND Self-Grading Google Forms ALL ANSWER KEYS These are NOT released tests. They are originally written passages and question sets using the same style, formatting, and rigor for the STAAR Writing Test for grade 7. Use this test simulation as a mock test session, or break up the bundle as separate test prep materials. Writing Test Prep Games Included: 2 - 7th Staar Writing games covering ALL of the Reporting Category 3: Editing Standards: 19.A.i Verbs and Participles 19.A.ii Appositive Phrases 19.A.iii Adverbial and Adjectival Phrases and Clauses 19.A.iv Conjunctive Adverbs 19.A.v Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases 19.A.vi Relative Pronouns 19.A.vii Subordinating Conjunctions 19.A.viii Transitions 19.B Complex Sentences 19.C Complete Sentences Why am I qualified to write these passages, writing prompts, and Common-Core aligned questions? Not only have I worked as a Language Arts Teacher for 30 years with a Highly Qualified Status, but I also have spent 15 years writing state and national assessments, such as the SATs, ACTs, and individual state assessments that align with the Common-Core standards and others. This includes grading, item writing, and passage writing for these assessments.

This Free Grammar Pacing Guide will help you implement all the grammar TEKS 4.11 D (i-xi) into any writing curriculum. Grammar is so important in 4th grade in order to prepare your students for STAAR Writing revise and edit questions. Just drop your information in the box below and this FREE Grammar Pacing Guide will ... Read more

This is a STAAR-like personal narrative writing prompt. The prompt is formatted in the same way as the 7th grade STAAR prompts. It is similar to the 4th grade STAAR personal narrative. If you like this prompt, check out my STAAR personal narrative writing prompts as well.

➤ If a digital download is purchased you will be able to access it under your profile icon >> Purchases and Reviews ➤ This is for personal use and not commercial. If you would like a commercial license to be able to reproduce the item please reach out. ➤ If you purchase a hard item, you will receive the following: ➤You will receive a printed and laminated educational poster based on the size purchased. ➤ Please allow 1-3 business days for processing and 1-7 days for shipping. ➤ Currently, we only ship to the contiguous United States. ➤ Items packaged and shipped out in rigid tubes and have plastic end caps that fit tight - to protect your shipment. ➤If you want a custom design feel free to message me.

Students in Texas all have to face and endure the STAAR Test at almost all grade levels. The STAAR Writing Test is no exception. The test has two parts: REVISING AND EDITING (which counts as 60% of the total score.) WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS: Expository and Narrative (which counts as 40% of the total score.) ***The first two writings are very easy. They can be used to "model" answering the questions and finding the errors in the passage. The last two stories are more challenging. Students need to be exposed to the format before they can have success on this kind of test. This unit was designed to teach students how to perform successfully on the STAAR Writing Test. I encourage this unit to also be taught in the earlier grades to expose students to the format of the test and help build their endurance for such an extensive assessment. This unit includes: -4 stories with multiple choice questions which reflect the revising and editing portion of the test. -a written composition prompt for an Expository Writing -a written composition prompt for a Narrative Writing -planning sheets -lined paper for written compositions (exactly 26 lines) -Answer Key for all multiple choice answers The key to passing this test is early intervention and practice! Help your students "shine bright" on the STAAR Writing Test!

Creating mood in writing is a lot easier than it sounds. Find out how to help your students with this important skill with this post!

I'm a teacher with 20+ years' experience, who created these Revision and Editing Cards to give students practice for the revising and editing portion of the 4th grade STAAR Writing Test. With 60% of the STAAR Writing Test score coming from the revision and editing portion, I decided to be proactive ...

This is another of my STAAR Daily Practices on topic sentences. I hope you enjoy. This includes two mini passages with questions. I have used this recently in my own classroom. The students learned and enjoyed it. If you purchased the Daily Practice Bundle, please do not purchase this item, as ...

When it comes to teaching, one of the most beneficial things I try to do for all of my students in every lesson is provide layers of differentiation and scaffolding so that I reach as many kids as I can. When it comes to teaching writing, one way I scaffold instruction comes in the form of sentence frames. But first, an anecdote. I’ll never forget my first teaching job. It was a long-term substitute position teaching ninth grade English to students who were severely behind grade-level. I was still in my pre-service teaching days, and I was completely unprepared. The first couple of weeks were awful. My classroom management skills were abysmal, the kids were not cooperating, and I was beginning to second-guess my career choice as an educator. Yes, it was THAT bad. It wasn’t until one day when I had, at the time what I perceived to be, a crazy idea. I was going to get those kids to work whether they wanted to or not….and like I said, my classroom management wasn’t something to brag about. After reading a short passage with the students, I wanted them to write a brief paragraph responding to the text. I was desperate. All earlier attempts of assigning a writing prompt in the class failed. And it failed because of me. These students were not at the level, both language wise and ability wise, for what I was assigning earlier. However, at the time, I didn't realize this. So, in response to this situation, I wrote a fill-in-the-blank paragraph on the board before class started. After reading the selection, I slowly read the fill-in-the-blank paragraph aloud to the kids and modeled different types of responses that were appropriate for the blanks. Then I asked my students to copy the example from the board onto their papers and fill in the blanks with their thoughts. And let me tell you something: it worked! Not only did it work, but the students ALL sat quietly and wrote their responses. They were working. They were engaged. They were demonstrating their understanding, and they were trying their best. Afterward, I had them take turns reading their responses aloud in the classroom. Again, I had 100% participation. However, this strategy only worked because I experienced a complete failure before this victory. I wasn’t meeting my students’ needs, and I wasn’t giving them appropriately differentiated material that matched their ability levels. I just expected these ninth graders to be able to sit in their seats and write because after all, that is what I was able to do when I was in the ninth grade. That failure is one-hundred percent on me, and I own it. I was expecting work that did not match their capabilities. And, as a direct result of that, I created an environment in which the students didn’t feel comfortable. They weren’t comfortable with the work, nor were they comfortable with me. And that was a big problem! This was one of the most significant learning experiences of my teaching career. And I am very thankful that it’s a lesson I learned early on. We can’t just teach and expect grade-level, common core work from high school students if they aren’t there. There are so many outside factors that we must take into consideration when it comes to students’ learning equations, and as teachers, we have to acknowledge and accept that sometimes things are out of both our hands and our students’ hands. So, this is where sentence frames come into play. A student won’t know how to properly craft an argumentative claim about a piece of nonfiction text if he or she doesn’t understand how the parts of speech work together. Students can’t learn, and study, and work on mastering nouns and verbs and prepositions if outside forces, forces in which they have absolutely no control of, are working against them. There are students who are hungry, anxious, homeless, victims of neglect and abuse, responsible for the care of their siblings, and doubting their existence. We owe it to our all of our students to understand this. We have to go back to the basics and build our middle school and high school students up, even if that means teaching concepts and skills at the beginning of the year that are five grade-levels below what we teach. By teaching to our students’ needs rather than to what the grade-level standards dictate, we can then begin to move toward grade-level skills as the year progresses. Afterall, we can't teach the quadratic equation to kids who don't understand simple multiplication. One of the biggest reasons why I use sentence frames in my classroom is because they help every student. Sentence frames are not just for our EL and below-grade-level students; they benefit every single learner in the classroom. And yes, I even use them with my college-bound juniors and seniors because sentence frames model concise writing and help reinforce academic writing. As educators, we are more well-read than our students. We’ve read works by many different authors of varying abilities and have seen how authors craft their stories and arguments. Our students, not so much. It is our job to teach them how to engage with, understand, and respond to a text. Some teachers may shy away from providing students with sentence frames because they may believe that in doing so, the work is becoming “too easy” or “too watered down.” However, if it is what our students need, shouldn’t we be doing it? Giving our students structure and sentence frames isn’t diluting the work. It’s not watering it down, and it certainly isn’t making it too easy. It is teaching them how to respond. A sentence frame provides our students with the structure they need to help them get their thoughts from their brain onto their paper. Sentence frames don’t tell students what or how to think, they show them how to structure their ideas logically. As time goes on and students utilize sentence frames in class, you’ll begin to notice that students stop using the frames verbatim and start adding their own style to the frame. This is progress. As even more time goes on, you’ll notice that some of your students won’t use the frames you provided them with, but that they were able to write loosely within the structure entirely on their own. This is learning! FREE WRITING DOWNLOAD As a result of this learning experience, I created my differentiated writing responses for literature. For each writing topic, I created two handouts -each with a different level of differentiation. The level with less scaffolding guides students through the response and helps students organize their thoughts. The handout with more scaffolding provides a series of sentence frames to help students learn how to write academically about the literature they read. These organizers were game-changers in my classroom. Not only did I create generic scaffolded writing prompts for every piece of literature, but I also created some for specific works of literature: Romeo and Juliet, Of Mice and Men, and Lord of the Flies. I believe so much in sentence frames and providing students with differentiated writing scaffolds that I am sharing this differentiated writing task with you. Click HERE to download a sample writing assignment that you can use in your classroom with any piece of fiction. This is a direct excerpt from my Differentiated Writing Tasks for Any Text resource, and I know it will help all of your writers, not just the struggling ones. Here are some of my favorite sentence frames to use in the classroom. These can be used menu style where students create their paragraphs by selecting which frames to use, or you can use them for specific responses. Sentence Frames to Talk about a Text: According to _________, one reason why _____________. Furthermore, __________ argues that ___________ because ___________. As stated in the text, _________________. Sentence Frames to Talk about Literature: In the short story, the author describes ____________. After ____________, the main character then _______________ which ____________. The theme of the story is fully developed when __________________. Sentence Frames to Agree with Evidence: Confirming with ______________, further evidence shows ________________. Similar to _____________, __________ also suggests _______________. Likewise, ____________ also states ______________. Sentence Frames to Argue or Disagree: Even though __________________, there is evidence to believe that _____________. While __________ states that ____________, contradicting evidence from __________ proves that _______________. Despite ____________, _____________ argues that ________________. Additional Resources for Scaffolding Writing Sentence Fluency by Stacey Lloyd Narrative Writing by Addie Williams Back to School Creative Writing Video by Presto Plans Literary Quote Analysis by Nouvelle ELA

Expository writing is used to present reasons and explanation about a topic in a step-by-step process. The expository essay should contain a main idea (thesis), supporting details (with transitions…

Teachers of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students looking for STAAR revise and edit practice can check out this blog post full of resources . . .

An Army-themed Poster for your classroom inviting your STAAR writers to be STRONG! This classroom decoration goes with my series, Writer Strong. It is related to the 4th grade STAAR Writing Assessment for the State of Texas.

No planning needed! You'll have everything you need boost student writing confidence and mastery with daily writing bell ringers. Six weeks of standards-based practice. Students revise and edit sample narrative texts while they practice key writing skills -- great for test prep! It makes sense that your warm ups reinforce your writing lessons! These warm ups go hand-in-hand with your narrative unit, so your students are working on the same skills! Here's what teachers are saying about my warm ups: "Love this! I was looking for new ideas to incorporate into my warm ups and this is just what I needed! Thanks so much!" "This is a very helpful resource to use with struggling writers, and with students who like to get to the point with a minimum of fuss and detail. It strategically shows students how to add extra, relevant information to stretch a sentence." "Awesome resource! It gets students writing everyday!" This is what you'll get with this editable print and digital resource: six weeks of standards-based narrative warm ups 30 student warm up activities printable response sheets for the week a teacher guide with scope & sequence chart so you can target the skills your students need week 1: strengthen introduction, revise sentence, use precise words & description, revise for organization & sentence structure, punctuation week 2: create a thesis, use subordinating conjunctions, description with figurative language, topic of paragraph, correct wordiness & punctuation week 3: communicate important reasons/actions, sentence variety with prep phrases, sensory detail, internal coherence, spelling & usage week 4: thesis statement, sentence variety, improve verb choice, provide closing sentence, use of commas week 5: develop details, use adverbial phrases, incorporate detail, remove unnecessary information, use semicolon week 6: develop introductory paragraph, internal coherence, use adjectives, external coherence, past perfect verb tense suggested answer key - please note that your student answers will vary. The answer key provides you an idea of how your students might address the task. You'll love having: teacher guide with chart of skills for each day and week student response form you can use when you project the warm ups on your white board the digital file to share with students narrative-based writing practice 30 student warm ups to use for mini lessons support in helping students understand how to write a narrative suggested answer key student warm ups alternated with answer key - so you can project the warm up and then a suggested response editable to meet your students' needs! These are focused and deliberate! Each day addresses a different skill. organization sentence structure word choice revision proofreading This resource takes students through six weeks of narrative writing skills where they have the opportunity to practice specific writing standards. Reasons to ♥ this resource: ready to use -- project or print or share through your digital classroom perfect for daily warm up, review, writing centers, test prep, or mini lessons students can work independently or with a partner daily reinforcement of narrative writing skills standards based Please see the preview for all the goodies. If you have any questions, please let me know in the Q&A section below. I will get right back to you! Please note: You'll find the links to the digital resource in the PDF that says "Print & Digital" ♥♥♥ This product works well with: Set 1: Narrative Writing Warm Ups Set 3: Expository Writing Set 4: Persuasive Writing: Daily Editing Warm Ups 21 Mini Lessons for Teaching Narrative Writing ♥♥♥ I'd love to have you follow my store and be the first to learn about new products, freebies, and sales. Just click on the green star by my store name. I can't wait to hear from you! I truly appreciate you taking time to leave feedback! Happiness always ♥ Marypat

If you are looking for some high-interest activities, try using animated shorts to teach inference. Free handouts focus on student learning.

Classroom tips,teaching ideas, and resources for the upper elementary classroom. Teacher Giveaways

The STAAR is quickly coming for 2016. It is a rigorous state test for Texas students. One of the best things Texas has done is allowed students