2nd-Grade ELA Assignment
Overview
Second-grade students read a short text, then respond to three selected-response questions and two short answer questions. The text is not adequately complex or worthwhile. Students are asked text-dependent questions, but they do not have the opportunity to demonstrate an understanding of the main idea and key details in the text.
About the Text
Title
"The Important Day"
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 have a strong text or strong questions:
The text does not build students’ knowledge of a topic or cultural competence. It was commissioned for educational purposes and explores an experience common to second grade readers. It contains simple sentence structures, familiar and conversational language, and one level of meaning. It is not worthy of students’ time and attention because it does not warrant reading and re-reading.
The assignment does not allow students to demonstrate understanding of the main idea of the text or key details. The questions require only simple recall of information and do not require students to demonstrate deep understanding.
The assignment does not require students to read with purpose. Students are not required to read carefully in order to answer the questions using evidence from the text.