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Student writing sample:
The two places I have lived are very different, but they are the same in some ways. First the differences are the population and the climate. My village had only 20,000 people living there while this city has one million people. In my village we knew most people but here there’s mostly strangers. Next, the climate was hotter and wetter as we have two seasons. They are called the rainy and dry seasons. This city has four seasons which are all different, spring, summer, fall and winter. Summer is the same as our dry season but our dry season is way hotter. Winter is different because it is so cold and there is so much snow. The things that are the same are the families and school. In my village families had different numbers of people and not all moms and dads and kids. It’s like that here in this city too. Families may have just a mom or dad or sometimes a grandparent. Another thing that is the same is school. My village school had 250 kids too. We had classrooms, books, papers and teachers. Here there are the same things, more computers and no uniforms! Finally, even though these two places are different, one thing about them is that they are both home to me
Uses a broad range of word forms (different, differences) and words with multiple meanings (ways, like, just, so, papers).
Level 4: Uses a range of grammatical structures and demonstrates more control of word order (even though these two places are different), plurals (places, people, seasons, families, kids), tense (are, knew, was, have, are called, has) and subject–verb agreement (Families may have …, The things that are the same are …).
Approaching Level 5: Writes grammatical structures such as embedded pronouns, irregular plurals, word forms and a variety of verb tenses with increasing accuracy.
Writes complex connected sentences in cohesive, well-developed text with supporting detail (My village had only 20,000 people living there while this city has one million people.).
Uses a variety of strategies to make word choices (as, which) to confirm spelling (population, strangers) and to improve punctuation (there’s, It’s, different).
Produces texts with knowledge of culturally appropriate forms and styles independently. (Writes a descriptive paragraph using a topic sentence, body with detail and a concluding sentence.)
Level 4: Connects sentences into a cohesive paragraph using conjunctions (but, and, because, or), time markers (no evidence) and sequence markers (first, next, another, Finally).
Approaching Level 5: Connects ideas in a three-paragraph narrative using a variety of cohesive devices and some transition words.
Edits paragraphs for common punctuation (,), (!), capitals (The, Here), subject–verb agreement (There are, there is), tense (I have lived) and sequence of ideas.
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