Dear Parents:
At the end of February, your child will be taking the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Writing assessment. FCAT Writing is a statewide assessment that measures students’ writing skills in grades 4, 8, and 10.
The FCAT Writing testing date is February 28, 2012 for all students in grades 4, 8, and 10. It is important for your child to be present for the testing session. Therefore, this notice is being sent home so that you can note this date and avoid making appointments for your child that might conflict with testing.
I know we are all working together towards the same goal of seeing your child succeed. I am asking for your continued help and support at home to ensure we reach our goal for FCAT Writes. Attached is a rubric used to score the FCAT Writes papers. Your child is very familiar with this rubric, as we use it often in class. Please look over the rubric when you are helping/reviewing your child’s writing with them. This tool can assist you in providing effective feedback to your child.
It is also important you encourage your child to write. The main objective is to encourage your child to write as often as possible. Try to help them see the fun in writing. Here are some ways they can write on a daily basis:
Make it real. Your child needs to do real writing. It's more important for the child to write a letter to a relative than it is to write a one-line note on a greeting card. Encourage the child to write to relatives and friends. Perhaps your child would enjoy corresponding with a pen pal.
Suggest note-taking. Encourage your child to take notes on trips or outings and to describe what (s)he saw. This could include a description of nature walks, a boat ride, a car trip, or other events that lend themselves to note-taking.
Brainstorm. Talk with your child as much as possible about his/her impressions and encourage the child to describe people and events to you. If the child's description is especially accurate and colorful, say so.
Encourage keeping a journal. This is excellent writing practice as well as a good outlet for venting feelings. Encourage your child to write about things that happen at home and school, about people (s)he likes or dislikes and why, things to remember or things the child wants to do. Especially encourage your child to write about personal feelings--pleasures as well as disappointments. If the child wants to share the journal with you, read the entries and discuss them--especially the child's ideas and perceptions.
Write together. Have your child help you with letters, even such routine ones as ordering items from an advertisement or writing to a business firm. This helps the child to see firsthand that writing is important to adults and truly useful.
Use games. There are numerous games and puzzles that help a child to increase vocabulary and make the child more fluent in speaking and writing. Remember, building a vocabulary builds confidence. Many of these educational games can be .
Suggest making lists. Most children like to make lists just as they like to count. Encourage this. Making lists is good practice and helps a child to become more organized. Boys and girls might make lists of their records, tapes, baseball cards, dolls, furniture in a room, etc. They could include items they want. It's also good practice to make lists of things to do, schoolwork, dates for tests, social events, and other reminders
I understand it can sometimes be challenging to explain the areas of writing to our children. I have attached other ways to help guide your child to better writing using the Six Trait Writing Model. You will also be reinforcing what they are learning at school.
Working together, we can ensure your child experiences success!
Six Trait Writing Model
Ideas and Content
- Know your topic, and when someone else reads it, they'll find out some information.
- Show what was happening ("The wildly spiraling tornado aimed straight for our barn") rather than telling what happened. ("It was scary”). We refer to this as “Show, Don’t Tell in the classroom.
- Fill the paper with interesting information that make reading it fun and lively. Can you easily answer the question, "What is the point of this paper?"
Organization
- Get the reader's attention and give clues about what is coming.
- Add details to build on the main idea or story.
- Put details in the right place; everything fits like a puzzle.
- End at a good spot and don't drag on too long. Leave your reader with something to think about.
Word Choice
- The words are appropriate for the paper and each one seems just right.
- Try to use colorful, snappy, vital, brisk, and fresh words.
- Don't over do your words.
- Use energetic/strong verbs.
- Some of the words and phrases are so vivid that the reader won't be able to forget them.
Sentence Fluency
- Keep your paper easy to read. You should love the sound of it.
- Sentence beginnings vary; they show how ideas connect.
- Try to use good "sentence sense" by letting your paper flow.
- Cut all the excess baggage.
Voice
- Use your personal stamp in your writing. It should sound like you.
- Write with confidence and sincerity.
- Fill your paper full of feelings and let your reader feel what you feel.
- You can tell that you wrote this. No one else sounds like this.
Conventions
- Use capitals correctly.
- Periods, commas, exclamation marks, and quotation marks are in the right places.
- Spelling is accurate. (Use spell check, dictionary, etc...)
- Every paragraph is indented to show where a new ideas begins.
- Grammar/usage is consistent and shows control.
