CELDT: Practice
for 4 Picture Narrative
Grades 3-5
Here is the description of the highest score possible (4 points):
•Story is coherent and effective, including explanation of major events,
with appropriate elaboration (e.g. explanations of details and context).
Contains more complex sentences.
•Vocabulary resources are well developed. The student can almost
always find the appropriate words. Uses precise word choice.
•Response displays few grammatical errors and contains varied
grammatical and syntactical structure. Any errors are minor (e.g.
difficulty with articles or prepositions) and do not interfere with
communication.
•Student may have an accent, but both pronunciation and intonation
are generally accurate and do not interfere with communication.
Suggested Strategy
Students should take the time to look at all four pictures first and
notice details in the pictures.
Discuss the need for specific vocabulary and complex or
compound sentences.
Students should then decide what the flow of the story is from
frame 1. through frame 4.
The test administrator will give a story stem, but the stem will not
have specific word choice or details and the student should start
with their own elaborated topic sentence.
Remember, the student can ask to have the prompt repeated if
necessary.
Possibilities for making sentences more complex:
Examples of Syntactical Complexity
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Multiple subject: The deer and the beaver are walking toward the stream.
Multiple object: The boy is carrying the fishing net and pail.
Infinitive used as an object: The girl wanted to play her guitar.
Gerund used as an object: He enjoys catching frogs.
Compound Sentences: The man is trying to light a fire, but he doesn’t have
enough matches.
• Complex sentence: The girl e-mailed her family while sitting in the tent.
• Prepositional phrase: The frog jumped out of the stream.
• The girls sat on the log.
• The eagle soars over the trees.
• Relative clause: The camp leader is the man who started the fire.
• The younger sister is the girl that plays the guitar.
• The deer drinks from the stream, which flows through
the forest.
SAY:
I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story.
Look at all the pictures carefully.
Tell me a complete story and use a lot of details.
Make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order.
This boy was sitting on the couch watching TV. What happened?
SAY:
I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story.
Look at all the pictures carefully.
Tell me a complete story and use a lot of details.
Make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order.
Two kids were looking in the window of a fruit store. What happened?
SAY:
I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story.
Look at all the pictures carefully.
Tell me a complete story and use a lot of details.
Make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order.
The kids in the neighborhood were all playing baseball. What happened?
SAY:
I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story.
Look at all the pictures carefully.
Tell me a complete story and use a lot of details.
Make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order.
The teacher was teaching the students in the classroom. What happened?
SAY:
I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story.
Look at all the pictures carefully.
Tell me a complete story and use a lot of details.
Make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order.
The man was hiking in the desert. What happened?
SAY:
I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story.
Look at all the pictures carefully.
Tell me a complete story and use a lot of details.
Make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order.
The girl is planting a seed. What happened?