Fourth Grade State Writing Assessment
Megan Nixon & Jaime Manz
January 28, 2010
Every February, the state of Nebraska requires grades 4, 8 and 11 to take the state writing exam. Students have two days to write a rough draft and final draft for assessment. The writing tests are then sent to the state offices to be graded by teachers across the state. Results usually arrive in April.
Fourth graders spend the year preparing for the state assessment. Sentence structure, paragraph form and effective use of the 6 traits of writing drive instruction throughout the year. Since the state writing prompt for fourth grade is always a narrative, weeks are spent organizing and practicing how to write a good narrative. In the last few weeks, students have focused on some key tips to keep in mind when writing. Those include:
Idea- your idea should be creative and original
Organization- remember paragraph form and don’t forget to indent
Voice and Word Choice- Be specific- use proper nouns and juicy words to make your writing come alive
Conventions- Check spelling, punctuation and capital letters
This year, the fourth graders will be testing on February 2 and 3. All the hard work is sure to pay off!
