Grades 1-3
Identifying a Main Idea and Supporting Details
In this response, Maddie, a 3rd grade student, writes about a main idea in What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Nic Bishop. Notice how her illustrations and written response reveal keen insight into Bishop’s text.
Notice how Maddie reveals more than simply learning facts from the text by comparing prior knowledge about moles’ and shrews’ noses with new information in the text.- She moves beyond the text with the question “I wonder how cats see in the dark?” as cats are not included in the text.
- She also appears to be contemplating the author’s idea that animals have features that serve different purposes.
- Return to original image by Maddie, 3rd Grade.
Grades 4-5
Developing a Point of View
After reading an article about stunt performers, Karley, a 5th grade student writes a response about her own point of view on this career. Notice how Karley tackles sharing her point of view in different ways. Being able to identify her own point of view will help her begin to identify different authors’ points of view.
- Karley’s plan includes her point of view and supporting details from the article.
- Karley attempts to include details from the source that she considers “fascinating” while also exploring an additional point of view—that stunt performing might be “SO scary.”
- She emphasizes her response to the details in this article in a variety of ways—with humor, by writing a word in all capital letters, by underlining a word, by including exclamation marks.
- Return to original work by Karley, Grade 5.
Grades 6-8
Analyzing Two Authors' Point of View
After reading two articles about the use of smart phones in school, Anna, a 7th grade student, writes an analysis of how each author reveals a point of view. Notice how her response reveals an emerging attempt to explain how authors shape their presentation of similar facts. In the future, Anna could make her responses stronger by citing and explaining specific details.
- Anna introduces and describes the study both authors cited.
- Anna shares her synthesis of the author’s point of view and states the types of details the author uses.
- Anna shares her synthesis of the second author’s point of view and states the types of details the author uses.
- Return to original work by Anna, Grade 7.