Writing

Writing
In 4th Grade our focus is writing. Our county has issued a rubric that is used when scoring your child's monthly writing prompts. Below you will find the rubric we must use for grades k-5.
*Please visit the Family Resources Page for helpful links with Writing.

*Please scroll down to the bottom of the rubric for information regarding the "Writing Traits" that your child is being taught.

6 Point Writing Rubric Grades K-6
	1 BEGINNING WRITER	2 EARLY WRITER	3 DEVELOPING WRITER	4 PROFICIENT WRITER	5 FLUENT WRITER	6 MATURE WRITER
Focus IS THE PAPER CLEAR AND MAINTAINED?	Minimally addresses the topic Unrelated information my be included	Slightly related to the topic	Generally focused on the topic, may contain some unrelated ideas May lack a sense of completeness or wholeness	Generally focused on the topic, may contain some extraneous information Seems complete or whole	Focus on the topic Demonstrates a sense of completeness or wholeness	Focus on the topic Demonstrates a sense of completeness or wholeness
ORGANIZATION IS THERE A LOGICAL FLOW OF IDEA? WHAT IS THE ORGANIZATIONAL PATTERN?	Does not exhibit an organizational pattern Few, if any, transitional devices	Little evidence of an organizational pattern or use of transitional devices	Organizational pattern attempted Some transitional devices Lapses may occur	Organizational pattern attempted Lapses may occur Transitional devices included	Organizational pattern attempted Lapses may occur Transitional devices included	Logical flow of ideas Includes transitional devices
SUPPORT DOES THE SUPPORT REVEAL THE FOCUS?	Little if any development of supporting ideas Lists, cliches, limited or immature word choice.	Development of supporting ideas inadequate or illogical Word choice is limited or immature	Some supporting ideas or examples may not be developed Word choice generally adequate	Some supporting ideas contain specifics and details; some ideas may not be developed Word choice is generally adequate	Adequate supporting ideas or examples Word choice adequate by may lack precision	Ample supporting ideas or examples Precision word choice Mature command of language
CONVENTIONS DO THE CONVENTIONS IMPEDE UNDERSTANDING?	Frequent errors in conventions Simple sentence convention Sentence structure may impede communication	Frequent errors in basic punctuation and capitalization demonstrated Commonly used words usually spelled correctly Attempt to use a variety of sentence structures; most or simple constructions	Knowledge of basic conventions are demonstrated Commonly used words are usually spelled correctly Attempt to use a variety of sentence structures	Knowledge of basic conventions are demonstrated Commonly used words are usually spelled correctly Attempt to use a variety of sentence structures	Occassional errors in s/v agreement; but doesn't impede communication Most sentences are complete but few fragments may exist Conventions generally followed Various sentence structure	S/v agreement are generally correct Sentences almost always complete unless fragrments are purposeful Various sentence structure Conventions generally followed

Writing Traits: What is a Writing Trait? Writing Traits is not a new curriculum, in fact you probably are already teaching the traits. Writing Traits are the qualities that the teachers look for in good writing. In fact many of the writing skills that are used are the same skills that good readers use. This allows for easy integration between the reading and writing instruction. One of the great things about the writing traits is that it uses a common writing language that is used through out the grade levels.
Writing Trait	What You are Teaching
Ideas	Main idea message, or clarity, detail.
Organization	How to begin, how to end, a sense of order, sequencing, how to link ideas together.
Voice	Putting energy into writing, recognizing voice, selecting personally important topics, connecting to an audience.
Word Choice	Being choosy about words, identifying favorite words, using strong verbs, knowing a verb from a noun or adjective.
Sentence Fluency	Sentence sense what is a sentence?, an ear for variety, different sentence patterns.
Conventions/Layout	A proofreader's eye and ear, awareness of conventions, sense of self as editor.

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