to help your students

grow as writers!
Grades 3-5
Common Core Aligned!

FREEBIE SAMPLE
By far one of the biggest “difference makers” for me as a “teacher of writers” has been my use of
demand prompts to guide instruction. In our class, we have a balance of free writing, process
writing, and demand writing—but for me, the most effective way to ASSESS students is to do a
regular demand prompt to see how students are doing on the targets we have worked on all year.
Process writing is critical in the classroom, but as students work together, confer, share, revise,
and so on—it becomes difficult to know what they can do independently. The resource that follows
is a version of what I have done the last 4 years and have found to be the most efficient, effective,
and stress-free way to measure student growth and to see what areas I need to provide
additional instruction—to individual students, small focus groups, or the entire class.

The method is simple: Each prompt is graded using the exact same checklist at the top. If you use
prompts from multiple sets (descriptive, opinion, narrative), you will see that the top portion of the
checklist remains the same, allowing you to measure student growth ALL year. The bottom few
lines of the checklist are more specific to the genre of writing. I highly recommend you give one
demand prompt per month or, at least, 2 per quarter to help you make sound instructional
decisions and to watch for student growth. I keep all demand prompts in files for the students and
share progress at parent teacher conferences. Parents and students are WOWED by how much
growth is made from beginning to end! I also make copies of some (no names!) to use as mentor
texts in following years.

My procedure is as follows:
▪ Students are given a sheet of paper to use for planning if they wish. Planning is not graded.
▪ Students are given 35 minutes of writing time to complete the task. At 30 minutes I give them a
5 minute warning to wrap up their writing or to go back and “make it their best”.
▪ I collect their work and evaluate it based on the checklist. Do NOT spend huge amounts of time
fretting about whether to give certain scores. The purpose is to collect information about what
students still need more experiences with! Give students a “3” if you feel their skills meet your
grade level expectations. I can score a class set in 60-90 minutes.
▪ Our team of teachers will often bring a few samples of these to team times to compare notes
and see if teachers are on the same page for assessing grade level standards. This is great
staff development!
▪ These checklists are completely tied to the CCSS for grades 3-5. I have not listed the specific
standards because the wording is different for the different grades. Using these to guide
instruction is a perfect way to make sure you are tackling the Common Core. See your grade
level to see how closely aligned they are—but in “common” language that is easy for teachers,
students, and parents to understand!

Each of my demand sets contains 8 different prompts—to be copied back to back with the
prompt/checklist on one side and the full writing sheet on the back. Two different recording sheets
are included as well.

Check out this freebie sample to see

what you think!
Copyright ©M. Celley-Anderson www.theteacherstudio.com
 Notes about opinion writing…
Many intermediate students have very limited
exposure to opinion writing. The Common Core
State Standards are very clear; opinion and
persuasive writing are critical life skills. Students
must be given ample opportunity to read opinion
pieces, discuss their opinions, and write about
their opinions. They need to learn how to clearly
state their opinions and provide clarifying details
and “evidence” to support their stance.

There are wonderful resources out there to help

expose students to opinion writing; many
classroom magazines have “debate” articles or
“pro/con” charts. Use current events that apply
to your students or issues within your community
and school to give students the chance to express
their opinions and to provide the evidence needed
to be successful at this frequently overlooked
genre. Trust me—the students will LOVE it!

Copyright ©M. Celley-Anderson www.theteacherstudio.com

 Secure Approaching Minimal Not evident
Name _____________________ 3 pts 2 pts 1 pt 0 pts
Applies spelling
End punctuation
Capital letters
All details on topic
Writes with enough details
Interesting lead
Satisfying conclusion
Logical order of details/transitions
OPINION: Clearly states opinion
OPINION: Opinion is well supported

What is your opinion about whether or not students should have recess at
school? Write a letter to persuade someone of your point of view. Consider
your audience—who would you want to read this letter?

Copyright ©M. Celley-Anderson www.theteacherstudio.com

Copyright ©M. Celley-Anderson www.theteacherstudio.com
I am hopeful that you will find these prompts helpful! The prompts
are easy to understand, quick to grade, and meaningful to students.

There are many ways you can organize the data you get—from
simply sorting them into piles of “looks good” to “meet with these
kids” to complicated spreadsheets (ok…I admit—this is the route I
took…I love to look at my data in multiple ways! I highlight all my 0’s
and 1’s so I can really easily pull groups!) What I used before going
spreadsheet crazy is similar to what I have included on the next
page—it is simply a class grid with abbreviated versions of the
checklist topics on the top—a way for you to quickly record your
“class at a glance”.

The second page might also intrigue you—it is a sheet you could use
for each student to record their scores over time on each writing
prompt. It would allow you to see their growth over time. If you
are a spreadsheet person, I think you can see how easy it would be
to enter those numbers. I hope these sheets are good starting
points for you!

One other “tip” I have for you is to pick some prompts to pass back
to students to revise and improve. I do this with every other
prompt; they get out their red pens a few weeks after they complete
the task, reread it, and make improvements. They have a blast
seeing how much BETTER they can do based on the checklist and just
stepping away from the writing for a while. I stress that writers
are ALWAYS working to make their writing better! Whether they try
a better lead, add in more descriptive language, or fix “conventions”
like capitals or punctuation, it is a great way to show how important
the revision process is!

Copyright ©M. Celley-Anderson www.theteacherstudio.com

 #
App End On of log. sens word
Name spell punc Caps topic details lead concl order lang choice

Copyright ©M. Celley-Anderson www.theteacherstudio.com

 Demand writing data for ____________________
3 = secure
2 = approaching
1 = minimal
0 = not evident

#
App End On of log. sens. word
Date spell punc Caps topic details lead concl order lang choice

Comments/notes:

Copyright ©M. Celley-Anderson www.theteacherstudio.com

These two bundles (see grade levels) provide prompts in narrative, opinion,
and descriptive writing. The format is exactly the same as this sample, but the
primary version has more grade-appropriate topics, rubric, and spacing.

Looking for seasonal prompts? Check out this set—or my latest set…the “Great
8” demand prompts which really focus on basic skills and are truly meant to
be done in 8 minutes! J U S T C L I C K O N A N Y I M A G E T O S E E M O R E !
 I have taught grades 1, 2, 3, 4, and
6 for the past twenty five years and
pride myself on my creativity and
ability to engage students in
meaningful learning.
I have my masters in educational
leadership and curriculum and look
forward to sharing many of my
ideas with all of you!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Meg-Anderson
www.theteacherstudio.com
Twitter @FourthgrStudio
Instagram @FourthGradeStudio
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All rights reserved. Purchase of this problem set entitles the purchaser the right to
reproduce the pages in limited quantities for classroom use only. Duplication for an
entire school, an entire school system, or commercial purposes is strictly forbidden
without written permission from the author: fourthgradestudio@gmail.com

Pencil graphic by http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Aisnes-

Creations
Digital paper by www.sassy-designs.net

Copyright © 2012 M. Celley-Anderson www.fourthgradestudio.blogspot.com