S : Narrative Writing 1 pg 3

From Test Ready Language Arts Level 5:

Think about the shows you watch during the week on television. What kind of shows do you enjoy most? What kind of shows do you avoid? Watch a television show that you would normally not watch. On a separate piece of paper, write a review of that television show. Focus your review on a particular aspect of the show: the plot, the actors, the acting, or the writing. Back up your opinions and reactions with information from the show.

Crash: A Tale of Two Species

Did you ever know that there are birds that are becoming extinct now? Red knots are a small bird becoming extinct because of people. To save the Redknots, horseshoe crabs have to stop being taken by people because the crabs eggs give the Redknots protein for the long journey to the Arctic. But we might be too late to save them.

Biologist are studying Redknots. When they studied the birds, they started to study horseshoe crabs because that was the cause of the birds declining. They told people to stop taking Horseshoe crabs. Some of the birds didn't fatten up enough to fly to the Arctic. Then the birds flew.

When the biologists got there, there was not trace of a bird anywhere. They searched other parts of the Arctic, but there was nothing. They even listened for the birds, but it was as quiet as the moon. They gave up searchig. It was hopeless.

The Redknots were called moonbirds because they flew enough miles to get to the moon. Biologists are going to try to find the moonbird next year. But the birds might alredy be gone.

My opinion of this story is that it is interesting, because I learned more about an animal(s) that I didn't know much about before.

My reaction was absorbing in all the facts from the show.

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S has started to do the practice tests in the Test Ready booklets to prepare for the OAT(Ohio Achievement Test) in April. I had a phone conference with her assigned teacher months ago, and she had said to me that S writing is excellent. I have been grading S's writing through rubric, and I felt that i was pretty hard on her. So I asked her teacher,

"So I was pretty hard on her then?"

'Oh no, no, you were not. No, you should keep your standards high because she is capable of doing really great!"

I asked S to look over this piece of writing she did, to really look over it and correct any mistakes she sees. She did last night, and the only thing she corrected was the one in red. I have always told her to read her writing out loud but I don't think she does if I don't make sure she does.

I gave this to hubby to 'grade' and he gave her a B, B-. I'd probably give her the same grade too.

So it seems that I have some work to do...