Sample ELA Sets

1. Sample ELA Sets • Passage • Item • Rubric • Exemplar • Student Responses with annotations • Grade 3 • Grade 6 • Grades 9/10

2. ELA Grade 3

3. Passage – “Healthy Cookies” Please read the selection below and then answer the questions that follow.HealthyCookies Mom bought healthy cookies. It says so on the box. Does she think I’m going to fall for that, Like my head is full of rocks? Mom bought healthy cookies, And I won’t touch those things. I want my Choco-Wonder-Treats And goo-filled Tasty Rings. Mom bought healthy cookies. She says it’s them or fruit. I say, “That’s a rotten choice! I’d rather eat tree roots!”Vitamins and fiber, with no sugar to be found I bet these cookies taste like dirt scraped right up off the ground!Mom bought healthy cookies,And now it’s after school.I need a snack or I will starve.How can she be so cruel?Mom bought healthy cookies.Oh, poor, poor, hungry me!I’m going to have to sneak some outWhen she’s not there to see. Mom bought healthy cookies,And worse, they’re not half bad.I’ll have to use my secret weapon.I like to call him “Dad.”Low fat and no preservatives – how can that be good?If Mom buys other healthy snacks, I bet they’ll taste like wood!“Mom bought healthy cookies!”I say when Dad walks in.“If we admit to liking them,She’ll buy those things again!”“Mom bought healthy cookies?”Dad asks, while looking grim.“Oh no! You might grow up to beAthletic, fit, and slim!”Mom bought healthy cookies,And Dad is just no help.What’s next, cake with lima beans,Or ice cream made from kelp?1Mom bought healthy cookies.I guess that’s not so bad.And now we’ve learned to say goodbyeTo junk food we once had. • 1 kelp—a brown seaweed

4. Extended Response ItemR.3.2; L.3.1; L.3.2 Write a paragraph that begins with a sentence stating the main message of the poem. Add many specific details from the poem that support this as the main idea. Answer with complete sentences, and use correct punctuation and grammar.

5. Rubric

6. Exemplar Response The main message of this poem is that it is best to try new things. You can see this when the speaker tries the cookies. Rather than tasting like “dirt scraped right up off the ground,” the girl finds that the cookies are “not half bad.” She also learns from her father that the healthy cookies will help keep her “Athletic, fit, and slim!” You can tell that she gets an open mind when she admits that it is time to say goodbye to junk food.

7. Student ResponseScore 3 Mom bought healthy cookies. It says so on the box. Vitamins and fiber,with no sugar to be found. There is no preservatives and it is low fat. Now no more junk food can be found. The student demonstrates a clear understanding of the question and the text, generally identifying the main message of the poem (Mom bought healthy cookies) and providing a few relevant details from the poem that support this message (Vitamins and fiber, with no sugar to be found, . . . no preservatives. . . low fat. . . no more junk food). The student provides a fairly complete answer. The student uses complete sentences as well as correct punctuation and grammar in most of the writing.

8. Student ResponseScore 2 Her mom bought healthy cookies.She does not like healthy food.She thinks her dad will help her.When she came back from shcool she was hungry. She did not whant to eat the cookies. The student demonstrates a basic understanding of the question and the text by identifying the main message of the poem (Her mom bought healthy cookies. She does not like healthy food); however, the student offers minimal support (she thinks her dad willhelp her. . . she was hungry). The student uses complete sentences as well as correct punctuation and grammar in most of the writing.

9. Student ResponseScore 2 Mom bought healthy cookies! I bet they'll taste bad. Low fat, no preservatives, and no sugar to be found.I know I'm not going to like those gritty old things, so why am I trying them? Well,here goes nothing.Yum!You know, these aren't half bad! The student demonstrates a minimal understanding of the question and the text. Even though the student correctly identifies the main message of the poem (Mom bought healthy cookies) and uses many specific details from the poem that support that message (Low fat, no preservatives, no sugar. . . aren’t half bad), the student only restates the story and does not address the main idea. The student uses complete sentences and correct punctuation and grammar.

10. Student ResponseScore 1 You need to taste it befor you no you do not like it!!!!!!!!!!! The student demonstrates some understanding of a message in the poem but it’s not the main message (You need to taste it befor you no you do not like it!!!), and the answer is not complete. The student offers no support. The student response has significant errors in constructing complete sentences and in using correct punctuation and grammar.

11. ELA Grade 6

12. Passage – “The Tall Rock”

13. Extended Response ItemW.6.3; RL.6.6; W.6.3b; W.6.4; L.6.1 Write a conclusion to the story, told from the narrator’s point of view twenty years later. Your narrative should describe the narrator’s conclusions about the childhood experiences with Mountain Rock, but now from the perspective of an adult. Use details from the text to support your answer. Answer with complete sentences, and use correct punctuation and grammar.

14. Rubric

15. Exemplar Response It was a long time ago the last time I visited Mountain Rock. My grandparents sold their house about ten years ago and moved to an apartment. Even though I am now an adult, I still like to think about the fun I had on Mountain Rock. Of course I got taller and taller until finally I could just step on top of the rock without any help. It was cool to think that when I was just a little kid I needed Grandpa to help me climb the rock. Even when the rock didn’t seem like a big mountain, Grandpa still had to lift me to the top for a long time. One summer when I was a teenager we took our five-year-old cousin Tracy with us to visit my grandparents. On the way there I shouted “I get to climb first.” Nick thought that was hilarious and said, “You kids and your rock!” just like our mom used to say. I’ll always have happy memories of Mountain Rock.

16. Student ResponseScore 4 The response presents the narrator’s conclusion in a way that logically relates to events from the story and that refers to many specific details from the story. While on the surface this response may appear to summarize the story, the way in which the student handles the language and retelling makes it clear that the narrator truly is reliving fond childhood events twenty years later. The student demonstrates a thorough command of the conventions of standard English. Though there are a few minor errors, primarily typographical, meaning is clear throughout the response. Twenty Years later,I still remember those olden days we used to vist my grandparent's big white house right up the hill on summer days. when i was little he'd swing me up through the air.the whole hill spun me around the sky was blue and bright.and, the tree's everywhere looked green and enormus.I used to climb the mountain rock.Oh how we loved mountain rock.everytime my brother said" I get to climb first. my mother would say "you kids and your rock.When we reached their house my brother would run and start to climb the rock my arents would just smile put their hands around each other and watch.And i'd just watch looking down.after my grandpa welcolmed us for a second i thought the rock got smaller but it was just that i was getting taller.But all at once i had a though no matter how big,tall or the older i got this would always be the tallest place.I sure do love those memories and i will always keep them!!

17. Student ResponseScore 3 20 years later, I had grown into a full grown, mature adult. When we would visit my grandparents i would travel with my mom, dad, and brother. Now that I am an adult I travel with my wife and two girls. I still climb on the "Mountain Rock" just mot as much as I did when I was a kid. Now that I am grown I help my kids climb the wall. They love climbing the wall even more than I did when I was their age. They are always arguing on the trip to my grandparent's house. The main argument is "Who is going to get to clim bthe wall first." Maybe, I will be a grandparent someday and have a "Mountain Rock" for my grandkids to climb on. The response includes a few relevant details from the story. In order to achieve a higher score, the student needs one or two additional specific details from the story. The student demonstrates command of the conventions of standard English. There are a few distracting errors in grammar and usage but meaning is clear.

18. Student ResponseScore 2 I used to enjoy the climb on the boulder at grandpa's house and how tall i used to feel , and i would anticapate all six hours of the ride there. The rock used to be like a mouantian to me, but now when I revisit I can tell that I have grown alot throughout the years. But I will always remember the thrill of being so high, and to this day it is still the tallest place in the world to me. The student does not plausibly establish the narrator as an adult. While the student appears to show the narrator reflecting on the past, it is difficult to determine whether or not he or she places the narrator twenty years later or merely summarizes the narrator’s feelings in the story provided. The student uses a few details from the article, but, in order to achieve a higher score, he or she needs to more clearly show that the setting is twenty years later. The student demonstrates an inconsistent command of the conventions of standard English. There are a few distracting errors in grammar and usage, but they do not impede understanding.

19. Student ResponseScore 1 I realized it was the rock that made it worth while,even thought the rock was not big to my eyes it was big to my mind,which made the whole trip alot more memorible,andicouldnt wait to come back next year. The student demonstrates a minimal understanding by writing a conclusion that does not address the narrator’s childhood experiences but rather continues where the story leaves off. While the student does include support from the story, his or her approach is not acceptable for a higher score. The student demonstrates an inconsistent command of the conventions of standard English. There are a few errors in grammar and usage, but they do not impede understanding.

20. Student ResponseScore 0 The twenty-year old later was confuse about what was going on because the way he saw the mountain. As the big thing but as he got older he was get taller. So now the mountain is now smaller than it really.Is of whaen he was a little boy. This response is incorrect. While the student opens with a reference to twenty years, he or she merely follows that phrase with a summary of the narrator’s view of the mountain in the story, not twenty years later. In addition, the errors in the conventions make it even more difficult to determine the student’s intent in the response.

21. ELA Grade 9-10

22. Paired Passage #1: Informational Essay Today in science class, our teacher showed photographs of her trip spent exploring the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. This underwater seascape of bizarrely shaped corals was like a city drawn by an artist with a fistful of crayons scribbling wildly over a page, forming mushrooms and brains, horns and antlers, roses and cabbages, bacon and light bulbs. Like the world of Alice in Wonderland, nothing seemed as it should. I learned that most coral reefs exist in a belt around the globe 30 degrees north and south of the equator. A few reefs occur outside the tropics in the far colder and deeper waters off Norway and Ireland. A fleeting hope for a field trip was dashed. I contented myself with the videos and pictures of my teacher. Many surprises were in store though. Although coral looks like a rock and acts like a plant, it’s really a collection of animals, closely packed together. The animal is called a polyp and is related to the jellyfish. When these polyps group together and attach to already existing coral, they form a reef. Individual polyps are homes to colorful single-celled algae. Although I would not want to harbor algae, polyps and algae get along quite well. Their relationship is symbiotic, or beneficial to each organism. Algae absorb sunlight through the water and produce oxygen and sugar the polyp consumes to survive. In return, polyps produce a hard calcium carbonate shell that protects the algae from harm. What we see is a hard and colorful coral reef. The brilliant scarlet reds, amethyst purples, emerald greens, and sapphire blues are caused by a combination of the coral’s shade and whatever hue the single-celled algae brings to the mix. Sunlight is essential to the survival of coral and explains its choice of home in the shallowest waters of the tropics. Sunlight beats down year-round in these regions. In addition, shallow water is clearer, allowing a maximum amount of sunshine to penetrate. Coral is rarely if ever found at depths below 490 feet unless it is the type that does not house algae. Reefs of coral not dependent on algae can exist at greater depths and in the cooler waters such as those off Norway and Ireland. Unexpectedly, coral can sting with tentacles in the same way jellyfish can. What appears as inert and lifeless as rock quickly protects itself from what ventures too close. Coral is not entirely able to defend itself though. Divers regularly take pieces and sell them as ornaments and jewelry or decoration for coffee tables. It’s illegal in many places to take, sell, or buy coral. Despite coral’s other defense mechanisms like secreting mucous, coral is fragile and sensitive. It often dies from damage caused by garbage, nets, anchors, boats, flippers, hooks, traps, pollution, hands, sand, changes in temperature, and even washed-off suntan oil from divers and swimmers. Bleached coral is the result, and as its name implies, it looks like its colors have been sucked dry. Besides the importance of saving coral so humans can enjoy it, coral reefs are essential to other life in the ocean. Just as reefs are attractive to humans, they are also very popular homes for marine life. A quarter of all marine creatures live in coral reefs, making them great places to view many species of marine life. Paradoxically, coral reefs make up less than one percent of ocean real estate. Photographs my teacher shared showed not only corals but an explosion of colorful fish swimming amongst them. Considering the length of time it takes for a coral reef to form—thousands to millions of years—taking or damaging this popular home for fish seems especially unjust. I went home that evening and enjoyed my own Great Barrier Reef vacation by sharing the dozens of pictures I found online with my parents and sister. What a special place. My teacher was very fortunate to visit there in person!

23. Paired Passage #2--Poem An Aquarium by Amy Lowell Streaks of green and yellow iridescence, Silver shiftings, Rings veering out of rings, Silver—gold— Grey-green opaqueness sliding down, With sharp white bubbles Shooting and dancing, Flinging quickly outward. Nosing the bubbles, Swallowing them, Fish. Blue shadows against silver-saffron water, The light rippling over them In steel-bright tremors. Outspread translucent fins Flute, fold, and relapse; The threaded light prints through them on the pebbles In scarcely tarnished twinklings. Curving of spotted spines, Slow up-shifts, Lazy convolutions: Then a sudden swift straightening And darting below: Oblique grey shadows Athwart (across) a pale casement. Roped and curled, Green man-eating eels Slumber in undulate rhythms, With crests laid horizontal on their backs. Barred fish, Striped fish, Uneven disks of fish, Slip, slide, whirl, turn, And never touch. Metallic blue fish, With fins wide and yellow and swaying Like Oriental fans, Hold the sun in their bellies And glow with light: Blue brilliance cut by black bars. An oblong pane of straw-coloured shimmer, Across it, in a tangent, A smear of rose, black, silver. Short twists and upstartings, Rose-black, in a setting of bubbles: Sunshine playing between red and black flowers On a blue and gold lawn. Shadows and polished surfaces, Facets of mauve and purple, A constant modulation of values. Shaft-shaped, With green bead eyes; Thick-nosed, Heliotrope-coloured; Swift spots of chrysolite and coral; In the midst of green, pearl, amethyst irradiations. Outside, A willow-tree flickers With little white jerks, And long blue waves Rise steadily beyond the outer islands.

24. Extended Response ItemRI.9.4; RL.9.4; L.9.3; L.9.5; L.9.1 Part A Identify an example of a simile and/or metaphor used in the article. Provide the sentence from the article that contains the simile and/or metaphor and explain the effect of this figurative language. Part B Identify an example of a simile and/or metaphor used in the poem. Provide an excerpt from the poem that contains the simile and/or metaphor and explain the effect of this figurative language. Part C Consider the authors’ use of figurative language throughout the article and poem. Explain how the authors’ use of figurative language helps the reader to more fully comprehend the underwater worlds described in the texts. Be sure to complete ALL parts of the task. Use details from the text to support your answer. Answer with complete sentences, and use correct punctuation and grammar.

25. Rubric

26. Exemplar Response Part A “This underwater seascape of bizarrely shaped corals was like a city drawn by an artist with a fistful of crayons scribbling wildly over a page, forming mushrooms and brains, horns and antlers, roses and cabbages, bacon and light bulbs.” The figurative language in this sentence brings to life the dazzling colors and shapes all mixed together in the coral reef. Part B “Metallic blue fish With fins wide and yellow and swaying Like Oriental fans…” The figurative language in these lines helps the reader to picture the curved shape and back-and-forth motion of the fish’s fins. Part C The authors’ use of figurative language in the article and poem helps the reader to better understand how the underwater landscape and its creatures look and move. It also gives the reader a sense of fascination about the underwater world. In the article, the coral seascape is described as brains, horns, antlers, roses, cabbages, bacon, and light bulbs to show its bizarre shapes and wild colors. “Explosions of colourful fish” make a fascinating scene. The underwater world is compared to “the world of Alice and Wonderland.” The figurative language helps the reader see that it is a wonderful place where “nothing seemed as it should.” In the poem, shiny blue fish “hold the sun in their bellies/And glow with light.” Light ripples through the water and over fish in “steel-bright tremors.” Some form of marine life becomes “an oblong pane of straw-coloured shimmer.” Overall, the use of figurative language gives the reader the sense that there is more to these underwater worlds than simply what meets the eye. We don’t simply see the fins of a blue fish, but rather “Oriental fans,” swaying on “metallic blue fish.” We don’t simply see a reef of coral, but rather “a city drawn by an artist with a fistful of crayons.” This language helps engage our imaginations in seeing the true wonder of these worlds

27. Student Response Score 1 Part A: This underwater seascape of bizarrely shaped corals was like a city drawn by an artist with a fistful of crayons scribbling wildly over a page, this shows how the author would imagine the coral was created. It shows how beautiful it must be if it looked as if someone painted it. Part B: Metallic blue fish, with fins wide and yellow and swaying, like oriental fans, hold the sun in their bellies, and glow with light: This describes how the fish are moving (like oriental fans), It also holds the attention that the fish's belllies are glowing, but in reality they are a very bight color. Part C: The figurative language gives the reader examples of what everything looks like and how it seems to the author. The student demonstrates a clear understanding of the article and poem by correctly identifying an example of a simile in the article (This underwater seascape of bizarrely shaped corals was like a city drawn by an artist with a fistful of crayons scribbling wildly over a page) and a simile and metaphor in the poem (Metallic blue fish, with fins wide and yellow and swaying, like oriental fans [and] hold the sun in their bellies). The student also mostly explains their effect ( It shows how beautiful it must be if it looked as if someone painted it; This describes how the fish are moving [like oriental fans]; It also holds the attention that the fish's belllies are glowing, but in reality they are a very bight color). The student attempts to explain how the authors’ use of figurative language helps the reader to more fully comprehend the underwater worlds described in the texts, but does not include any support from the text. The response demonstrates a command of the conventions of standard English. There are a few errors, but meaning is clear. In order to receive a higher score, in Part C, the student would need to provide specific details from the texts to support the response.

28. Student ResponseScore 1 part A: a simile "this underwater seascape of of bizarrely shaped corals was like a city drawn by an artist with a fistful of crayons scribbling wildly over a page..." part B: a simile "metallic blue fish/ with fins wide and yellow and swaying/like oriental fans.." part C:it helps because the author gives alot of detail about what it looks like and uses very descriptive words. The student demonstrates little understanding of the article and poem. Although the student identifies an example of a simile in both of the texts, there is no explanation of the effect of this figurative language ("this underwater seascape of of bizarrely shaped corals was like a city drawn by an artist with a fistful of crayons scribbling wildly over a page..." [and] "metallic blue fish/ with fins wide and yellow and swaying/like oriental fans.."). The student attempts to explain how the author’s use of figurative language helps the reader to more fully comprehend the underwater worlds described in the texts, but uses no support from the texts. The response is too brief to demonstrate more than an inconsistent command of the conventions of standard English.