Writing Prompt Table for Benchmark Essays / Practice Essays

~ Instructional/Practice Prompts ~

Goal

Completing the practice prompts is key to successfully completing the benchmark assessments.
Focused revisions for each prompt lead to increased scores for each revision.

Students are highly encouraged to complete the following instructional/practice prompts throughout the year to support writing development and performance.

Dates	September - October	November - December	January - February	March - April
Genres	Informative/ Expository	*Narrative*	Persuasive/ Argumentative	*Literary*
MY Access Instruction/Practice Prompts Dates	Prompt #1 – Aug 30-Sept 17 Prompt #2 – Sept 20 – Oct 8	Prompt #1 – Nov 1 – Nov 18 Prompt #2 – Nov 29 – Dec 17	Prompt #1 – Jan 10-Jan 31 Prompt #2 – Feb 1- Feb 25	Prompt #1 – March 28 – April 14 Prompt #2 – April 18- May 6
MY Access Grades 4 & 5	A Remarkable Explorer Benefits of Daily Exercising for Young Children	Fractured Fairy Tales Adventures in a Haunted Mansion	Do Children Need Their Own Cell Phones? Windmills on Drear Bay	A Hard Choice “April Rain Song”
MY Access Grades 6 – 8	Ellis Island Cassowary: Giant Bird of the Rainforest	Fairy Tales from a Different Perspective Duct Tape Saves the Day	Is Napping Beneficial The Clean Machine	“Abuelito Who” by Sandra Cisneros The Interpretation of Maya Angelou’s Human Family
MY Access Grades 9 – 12	Failure Before Success The Poster Boys of WWII	Create your own Fable An Important Change	Genetically-Modified Foods Tiger Farming: Pro or Con	Civil Disobedience Comparison of Two Poems: Wordsworth and Herrick

~ Benchmark Assessment Prompts ~

The mandatory schoolwide benchmark writing assessments take place twice per year in October and March.
Students can only “submit for scoring” once, but may “save and finish later” multiple times within one week and the two-hour revising/editing period.

Grades

4-12

Complete through My Access

Informative/
Expository

Date Range:
Oct 11 - 15

Grades 4 & 5:

Animals and their Surroundings

Grades 6 – 8:

Sleeping and Naps

Grades 9 – 12:

Speeches Discussing

Our Environment

Narrative
No assessment will be administered for these prompts.

May use prompts from curriculum, Benchmark Essay Booklets, Writing Prompt Topics

If needed, use comprehensive instructional resource for grades 6-12 Instructional Writing Support: Collections Based Performance Task Writing Assignments

Informative/ Expository

Date Range –
March 7 - 11

Grades 4 & 5:

Astronauts

Grades 6 – 8:

The Effects of Social Media on Teens

Grades 9 – 12:

Effects of Emotion on

Behavior

Literary
No assessment will be administered.

May use prompts from curriculum, Benchmark Essay Booklets, Writing Prompt Topics

If needed, use comprehensive instructional resource for grades 6-12: Instructional Writing Support: Collections Based Performance Task Writing Assignments

Portfolio & Grading

My Access generated by student; ES to print Assessment essay with grade for Fall sample

ES & parent Rubrics available in: Benchmark Essay Booklets

My Access generated by student; ES to print Assessment essay with grade for Spring sample

ES & parent Rubrics available in: Benchmark Essay Booklets

Grades TK-3

Students may use:, Benchmark Essay Booklets, or Writing Prompt Topics

To develop their writing skills, instruction and practice is strongly encouraged before our TK-3 students respond to a benchmark assessment prompt.

English

Writing Prompt Table for Benchmark Essays / Practice Essays

Connecting Waters Central Valley