Grade 1: Literacy in Social Studies: My Informational Report About Community Workers
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After you click on the link above and get to the website, you will need to go to the “Search Task, Units, and Student Work” yellow box on that page. Check 1st grade, History/Social Studies, and then the green Search button. Find the unit title listed above. Click the red PDF button for the materials.
Common Core Standards
Reading Informational Text
RI.1.2 Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
RI.1.10 With prompting and support, read informational texts appropriately complex for grade 1.
Writing
W.1.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
Language
L.1.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Description of Assessment
This Grade 1 performance task titled “Literacy in Social Studies: My Informational Report About Community Workers” cited on schools.nyc.gov is intended to be completed in approximately 3 thirty-minute sessions over the course of 3 days of ELA/Literacy instruction. This task is a culminating assessment for a unit on workers (mail carriers) in the community. This task asks students to read an informational text, complete a graphic organizer to include main idea and details, and to write an informational piece, based on evidence from the text, including introducing the topic and providing some sense of closure.
Cautions
Connecticut teachers are cautioned that the texts chosen for the task are suggested for use in April or May as this is the level that children in first grade should be meeting as they are learning how to read. It is noted that additional time may be required for the completion of the task based on the variable needs of students.
Rationale for Selection
This performance task is an exemplary example of how to assess the ability of students to independently write an informational piece, without teacher guidance or peer support, using information gathered after independently reading a Grade 1 text. The Common Core aligned rubric included with the task materials can be used to track student development in the standards assessed. While the task uses a specific text and targets a specific topic, substitutions could easily be made to accommodate an existing unit. This topic and performance task align with the Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Frameworks for grade 1. Instructional supports follow the task materials and include lesson plans for readers’ and writers’ workshops. Teachers may use these lessons as described, integrate some into a currently existing curriculum unit, or use them as a model or checklist for a currently existing unit on a different topic.