Grade K: Literacy in Social Studies - Thinking About Families
Rating: 
Common Core Standards
Reading Informational Text
RI.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RI.K.10 Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
Writing
W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
Description of Assessment
This Grade K assessment titled “Literacy in Social Studies: Thinking About Families” cited on weteachnyc.org is a curriculum embedded task that takes place in the third week of a four-week unit on informational reading and writing. During the first three weeks of the unit, students are immersed in a range of literary and informational texts about families in shared, guided, and independent reading learning activities. The performance task is a three-day activity with shared reading and writing, culminating with each student independently writing an informational report on the ways in which families are alike and different using the texts they read as models for their writing.
Cautions
Connecticut teachers should be aware that while the task appears difficult for a kindergarten student, the curriculum designers acknowledge that students are likely to be emergent readers and writers and will need to be supported through the process of gathering information for writing. The language of the standards enforces that students can demonstrate the standard through “a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing.” It is noted that where possible, the texts for guided and independent reading match the appropriate reading level of the student. The texts needed for this assessment are not provided and will need to be secured.
Rationale for Selection
This performance task is an exemplary example of an assessment that provides students with multiple opportunities to apply advancing literacy skills as they present ideas and information through writing and/or drawing and speaking experiences. It makes reading texts closely (including listening to read alouds) a central focus of instruction. Each step of the task is purposefully scaffolded as it assesses student proficiency using methods that are unbiased and accessible to all students. The task includes aligned rubrics and assessment guidelines that elicit direct, observable evidence of the degree to which a student can independently demonstrate targeted grade-level standards. This performance task aligns with the Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies C3 Frameworks for kindergarten. Instructional supports include a unit outline with formative assessments and suggested learning activities. Teachers may use this unit outline as it is described, integrate parts of it into a currently existing curriculum unit, or use it as a model or checklist for a currently existing unit on a different topic. Select the link below for an annotated review of the unit: Grade K: Literacy in Social Studies - Thinking About Families