One Stop Shop For Educators The following instructional plan is part of a GaDOE collection of Unit Frameworks, Performance Tasks, examples of Student
Work, and Teacher Commentary. Many more GaDOE approved instructional plans are available by using the Search Standards
feature located on GeorgiaStandards.Org.
Georgia Performance Standards Task for English Language Arts – GRADE Kindergarten
Grade: Kindergarten
Title: Messed Up Story Task
Task Annotation:
This is a valuable lesson format that may be used to teach numerous elements of the standard.
Prior to teaching this lesson, the teacher chooses one element of the standard that is to be the
focus. She then writes a story, including errors relating to the focal element. During this lesson,
the teacher shares the messed-up story with the class. Students are encouraged to point out the
areas of the story that are wrong and decide how the story might be fixed. The focal element of
this particular lesson is on excluding extraneous information.
Differentiation:
Post the story demonstrated in the lesson, so that students can reference it.
In small groups, additional stories may have to be done for students who continue to include
extraneous information. Type up a couple of stories, that the students can practice crossing out
extraneous information on their own.
Be aware that some students at this age may exhibit linear thought, where one idea leads to
another without really focusing on a topic. Ask them questions that point back to one topic. If the
topic is “dogs,” then you may ask the student who included a statement about hot dogs, “Are you
talking about dogs as animals or eating hot dogs?” “Let’s leave in the information about real
dogs and cross out the one about hot dogs.”’
Focus Standard:
ELAKW1 The student begins to understand the principles of writing. The student
a. Writes or dictates to describe familiar persons, places, objects, or experiences.
Informational Writing
Maintains a focus, staying on topic.
Excludes extraneous information
Georgia Department of Education
Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools
Informational Unit y GRADE K y Messed Up Story Task
August 13, 2007 y Page 1 of 7
Copyright 2007 © All Rights Reserved
One Stop Shop For Educators
Georgia Performance Standards Task for English Language Arts – GRADE Kindergarten
The Task:
Essential Questions
What is extraneous information?
How does one exclude extraneous information from his/her writing?
Knowledge
Extraneous information is all the stuff that does not go with one's topic of writing.
In order to exclude extraneous information from writing, one must think about the facts relating
to the topic before beginning a piece of writing AND one must reread the writing to make sure
there is no extraneous information included in the piece at the end.
Skills
Produce an informational piece of writing that maintains a focus and stays on topic, thereby
excluding extraneous information
Description of Task:
Before the Lesson
Write a story that includes extraneous information. Be blatant with the inclusion of information
that is not on topic. For example, "Dogs- Dogs are animals. Dogs have fur. I love chickens.
Dogs can bark. My favorite color is purple. Baby dogs are called puppies. I ate a hot dog for
supper last night."
During the Lesson
Tell the students that you have written an informational story for them to read and you would
like to see what they think about the story.
Read the story to the students. You will probably get some responses throughout the story,
commenting on the crazy information that you included in your piece. You may briefly stop to
let their comments be heard, but quickly continue reading the entire story to the class.
When you finish reading the story, ask the students what they thought about the story. Guide
them in vocalizing their concerns relating to the extraneous information that was included in the
story.
Ask students to help you revise the story so it will meet the standard by excluding extraneous
information. Cross out portions of the story that do not stay on topic.
Instruct students to be sure to stay on topic when they write today and exclude extraneous
information from their stories.
Georgia Department of Education
Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools
Informational Unit y GRADE K y Messed Up Story Task
August 13, 2007 y Page 2 of 7
Copyright 2007 © All Rights Reserved
One Stop Shop For Educators
Georgia Performance Standards Task for English Language Arts – GRADE Kindergarten
Student Work and Teacher Commentary
Georgia Department of Education
Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools
Informational Unit y GRADE K y Messed Up Story Task
August 13, 2007 y Page 3 of 7
Copyright 2007 © All Rights Reserved
One Stop Shop For Educators
Georgia Performance Standards Task for English Language Arts – GRADE Kindergarten
The following work samples and corresponding analysis, next steps, and commentary are meant to serve as
reference tools only. They in no way imply that teachers must create this three part product for each piece of
student work that they receive. While teachers are encouraged to analyze student work using the appropriate
standards as a guide and plan instruction accordingly, a written product such as these examples is not always
required. Teachers are strongly urged to share commentary with students regarding their work regularly throughout
units or tasks. Feedback that occurs on a regular basis is most effective when delivered in “dollops”/small segments,
This commentary can be delivered in a variety of formats including a verbal discussion. For more information
regarding commentary, see the Georgia Performance Standards training module Day Seven
(http://www.georgiastandards.org/training.aspx)
Grade: Kindergarten
Level of Performance: Meeting the Standard
Date of Task Completion: February 2007
Unit/Genre: Informational
Title: Zebras
Description/Directions
Compose an informational piece by writing to describe a familiar animal. Be sure to share
information that you have gathered and collected in class. Stay on topic by excluding extraneous
information.
Produce text that is easily readable. Make sure to leave spaces between words, use a left-to-right
and top-to-bottom pattern of writing, represent words phonetically and conventionally, and
approximate the correct use of capitalization and punctuation.
Circumstances of the Task
Students worked alone on this performance task. They were able to access high-frequency and
sight words on a word wall. Students were able to conference with their teacher.
Analysis of the Work
(located under each standard(s) addressed)
Standards:
ELAKW1 The student begins to understand the principles of writing. The student
a. Writes or dictates to describe familiar persons, places, objects, or experiences.
b. Uses drawings, letters, and phonetically spelled words to create meaning.
c. Accurately prints name, all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet, and teacherselected words.
d. Uses left-to-right pattern of writing.
e. Begins to use capitalization at the beginning of sentences and punctuation (periods and
question marks) at the end of sentences.
Georgia Department of Education
Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools
Informational Unit y GRADE K y Messed Up Story Task
August 13, 2007 y Page 4 of 7
Copyright 2007 © All Rights Reserved
One Stop Shop For Educators
Georgia Performance Standards Task for English Language Arts – GRADE Kindergarten
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The writer produced an informational piece that described a familiar animal (zebras).
She shared information about zebras that she had collected through read alouds, guided
reading and independent reading (“Zebras have tails so they can swat the flies away.”,
“Zebras have eyes so they can see danger.”, “Zebras eat grass.” and “Zebras stay
together.”). She stayed on topic, electing to omit opinions such as “I like…” and “The
best…”, in so doing she excluded extraneous information.
The writer incorporated a drawing to correspond with the topic of her story. Her
informational piece of writing was about zebras, and she drew a picture of a zebra.
The writer used several writing conventions, thereby making her writing easy to read.
She phonetically spelled several unknown words (“swap” for “swat”, “fliu” for “flies”,
“shrips” for “stripes”, “ize” for “eyes”, “dagr” for “danger”, “noz” for “nose”, “smel” for
“smell”, “gras” for “grass”, “sta” for “stay” and “togedr” for “together”). The use of
phonetic spelling afforded the writer the opportunity to tell a story in her own words,
even though she was not able to spell all words conventionally. Her writing is easy to
read by an adult who is able to decipher phonetically spelled text. She also wrote in a
left-to-right and top-to-bottom pattern, leaving spaces between all words. In addition, she
was able to accurately print letters of the alphabet, and she spelled high-frequency,
teacher-selected words correctly (i.e. have, they, can, the, so, see).
The writer is beginning to, although inconsistently, use capitalization correctly. She
showed some evidence of an understanding of the correct use of upper/lower case letters
(have, shrips, can, gras); however, she occasionally wrote words containing capital letters
in incorrect places (togeDR, DAgr, smeL).
She approximated the use of periods, showing an awareness of the need for punctuation,
by putting periods at the end of most lines. She occasionally used periods correctly
(“Zebras eat grass.”, “Zebras have stripes.”).
Standards:
ELAKLSV1 The student uses oral and visual skills to communicate. The student
i. Begins to use subject-verb agreement and tense correctly
e. Describes people, places, things, locations, and actions.
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This piece of writing demonstrates the writer’s understanding of correct subject-verb
agreement. For example, she said “Zebras have stripes.” and “Zebras have eyes so they
can see.”
The writer used the same tense throughout the writing. She used present tense in all
sentences (“have”, “can”, “eat”, “stay”).
The writer described a thing (zebra) in detail. She described the appearance of zebras
(tails and stripes), told how they use their eyes (“…so they can see danger”), explained
why they have noses (“…so they can smell.”) and she detailed what they eat (grass). In
addition, she included another interesting fact about her topic, “Zebras stay together.”
Georgia Department of Education
Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools
Informational Unit y GRADE K y Messed Up Story Task
August 13, 2007 y Page 5 of 7
Copyright 2007 © All Rights Reserved
One Stop Shop For Educators
Georgia Performance Standards Task for English Language Arts – GRADE Kindergarten
Standards:
ELAKR6 The student gains meaning from orally presented text. The student
a. Listens to and reads a variety of literary (e.g., short stories, poems) and informational texts and
materials to gain knowledge and for pleasure.
h. Retells important facts in the student’s own words.
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The writer was exposed to a variety of informational texts to gain knowledge and gather
information about her topic (zebras). She incorporated some of this information into her
writing by retelling important facts in her own words (“Zebras have eyes so they can see
danger”, “Zebras have a tail so they can swat the flies away.” and “Zebras stay
together.”).
Next Step Instructional Plans
Using illustrations to support the information in a piece of writing
• Study nonfiction conventions (labeled drawings, diagrams, cutaways, graphs, etc.) found
in informational read alouds
• Model how, by adding a detailed drawing such as one of the nonfiction conventions listed
above, one can support the information in a piece of writing
Using punctuation correctly
• Model the correct use of punctuation during modeled writing sessions.
• Conference with the writer, asking her to identify the times when she correctly used
periods in her writing.
• Teach the writer to reread her story, listening for “stops” where end punctuation most
likely will be needed.
• Examine a “messed up” story (one written with incorrect punctuation) that is prewritten
by the teacher. Identify the problem with the story, and fix any punctuation errors that
occur.
Using capitalization correctly
• Model the correct use of capitalization during modeled writing sessions.
• Conference with the writer, asking her to identify the times when she correctly used
capitalization in her writing.
• Examine a “messed up” story (one written with incorrect capitalization) that is prewritten
by the teacher. Identify the problem with the story, and fix any capitalization errors that
occur.
Commentary provided to the student (verbal or written)
• You wrote an informational piece about zebras. You shared information about zebras
that you gathered and collected through books you have heard and read (“Zebras have
tails so they can swat the flies away.”, “Zebras have eyes so they can see danger.”,
Georgia Department of Education
Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools
Informational Unit y GRADE K y Messed Up Story Task
August 13, 2007 y Page 6 of 7
Copyright 2007 © All Rights Reserved
One Stop Shop For Educators
Georgia Performance Standards Task for English Language Arts – GRADE Kindergarten
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“Zebras eat grass.” and “Zebras stay together.”). You stayed on topic by just writing
information about zebras.
Your drawing helped to create meaning because it had a picture of a zebra. Your
drawing was of a zebra, and your story was about a zebra.
Your writing was very easy to read because you used several writing skills and
conventions.
o You listened for all the sounds in the words you were unsure of how to spell. You
wrote all of the sounds that you could hear in the words grass (gras), stay (sta) and
smell (smel).
o You wrote in a left-to-right and top-to-bottom pattern.
o You left spaces between all the words on your paper.
o The word wall words in your writing were spelled correctly (have, so, they, can,
the, away, see).
I can tell that you are working on using capitalization correctly. You did not put a capital
letter in the middle of most of the words in your writing (“they”, “eat”, “have”).
However, some words did contain capital letters in incorrect places (“smeL”, “togeDR”,
“awAy”). Be sure to only put a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence or when you
are writing the name of something.
You showed me that you know about periods. You included this type of punctuation in
many places in your story. I noticed that most of the periods in your story were at the
ends of the lines. Periods, as well as exclamation points and question marks, do not
always go at the end of a line. It is important to put them at the end of a sentence. You
did this when you wrote “Zebras eat grass.” and “Zebras stay together.”
Special Note- In the commentary provided to the student, the teacher gave the student two next steps. The teacher
prompted the student to use correct capitalization as well as correct punctuation. While it is usually standard
practice to give the student only one next step to prevent overwhelming the student, there are a few reasons why the
teacher chose to give the student two next steps.
First, the steps correspond with one another. Punctuation and capitalization go together. Students must understand
the concept of a sentence in order to properly punctuate and capitalize.
Also, the student was given two next steps because, academically, she was able to handle them. She was not a
struggling writer who may have become frustrated with more than one next step.
Georgia Department of Education
Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools
Informational Unit y GRADE K y Messed Up Story Task
August 13, 2007 y Page 7 of 7
Copyright 2007 © All Rights Reserved