Student Work 1

ELA	Performance Task	K-3 final
(Content Area)		(Grade Level-Task Number)

Standard(s):

E2c.2-Vocabulary and Word Choice:

By the end of the year, we expect kindergarten students to:

· use words in their writing that they use in their conversation, usually represented phonetically.

· make choices about which words to use on the basis of whether they accurately convey the child's meaning.

E2c.3-Spelling:

By the end of the year, we expect kindergarten students to:

· independently create text with words that an adult can decipher;

· leave space between words;

· control for directionality(left to right, top to bottom);

· represent words frequently with the initial consonant sound.

The Task:

After an extended study of the community or neighborhood, including a trip to the postal center, students discuss with the teacher why mail is important. One of the issues that will arise is the fact that mail allows people to keep in touch with one another.

With this purpose in mind, each student will be given a "postcard" (included in task) to write a message to their parents. This reinforces the purpose that mail allows people to keep in touch.

On the message side of the postcard the students are asked to write a message about their trip to the postal center. Students will also close their postcard with a signature. On the reverse side of the postcard, where one would normally find a picture of the place visited, students would be asked to draw a picture of what they wrote about on their postcard. (Click here for a copy of a blank postcard form).

The teacher addresses the postcards and mails them.

Circumstances of Performance

The student work is produced under the following conditions:

X	alone	X	in a group
X	in class		as homework
X	with teacher feedback		with peer feedback
	timed		extended project
	no opportunity for revision	X	opportunity for revision

Criteria for Success:

• Writes a message
• Creates a picture congruent to the message
• Contains one or more printed words with the correct initial consonant
• Demonstrates spacing between words

Related Standard(s):

E2a. Habits and Processes:

By the end of the year, we expect kindergarten students to:

· generate content and topics for writing;

· write without resistance when given the time, place and materials;

· use whatever means are at hand to communicate and make meaning: drawings, letter strings, scribbles, letter approximations and other graphic representations, as well as gestures, intonations and role-played voices.