1st-Grade ELA Assignment
Overview
First-grade students read a story, then respond to a prompt in writing. The text, which is about a frog and a rabbit in competition, is not adequately complex or worthwhile, and the writing prompt is not text-dependent. While the task references a story, it does not require students to read carefully and answer a question based on the text.
About the Text
Title
"Frog and Rabbit Compete"
What is the Lexile Level of this text?
Based on Lexile, which grades is this text intended for?
Is the text qualitatively complex enough for the grade?
Is this text fiction or non-fiction?
Is this text authentic or was it written for educational purposes?
Does the text provide sufficient detail to build knowledge of a worthwhile topic and/or is it worth reading closely and re-reading?
Why is this assignment weakly aligned?
This assignment is weak because it does not require that students read carefully or answer questions based on the text:
The writing prompt is not text-dependent. While the task references a story, it does not require students to read carefully and use key details from the text to answer questions. In fact, students could answer this question having never read the text at all.
The task does not require students to determine the central message of a text. Students are not asked to analyze the moral of the story or determine key messages using evidence from the text. Instead, it asks students to offer an opinion and support their opinion with details from their personal experience.
The task allows students to apply their developing language skills to their writing. Practicing the correct use of grammar and spelling is important for improving both reading and writing skills. (In this task, however, this opportunity appears to be incidental rather than intentional, as the directions do not include clear expectations for use of grammatical conventions beyond writing in complete sentences.)