Writing prompt Grade 1 English Language Arts
Sparrowgrass Lane's Dry Spell: A Grade 1 Opinion Writing Prompt
A dry month leaves Room 5 with one half-full rain barrel and two garden beds, and first graders write an opinion with a reason about which bed to water first.
Objectives
- Students will state an opinion about which garden bed the class should water first.
- Students will supply one reason for the opinion using the word because.
- Students will finish their opinion writing with a closing line.
Vocabulary
- Rain barrel
- A rain barrel is a container that catches rainwater from a roof downspout so it can be used later to water plants. It saves drinking water and keeps some runoff out of the storm drains.
Also: opinion, reason, dry spell, closing
Teacher overview
Room 5 at the invented Sparrowgrass Lane School keeps two raised beds by the front door, one planted with bush beans and one with flowers, and both are watered from a single rain barrel under the downspout. After a month with no rain the barrel is half full, the town has asked everyone to use less water, and there is not enough in the barrel for both beds today. The prompt puts that one narrow choice in front of students, which gives a first grader a real decision to take a side on rather than a general question about saving water.
Prompt
Read this with your class.
Room 5 has a garden by the door. Beans grow in one bed. Flowers grow in the other bed. A rain barrel holds the water for both beds.
The town of Sparrowgrass has had no rain for a month. The bean leaves droop in the hot sun. The town asked people to save water until the rain comes back.
Today the barrel is only half full. There is not enough water for both beds. The class has to pick one bed to water first.
Your writing task. Write two or three sentences. Tell which bed the class should water first. Give one reason for your pick. Then write a closing line that tells your reader you are done.
Planning Organizer
Fill in each box before you write your sentences.
| Box | What goes here | My words |
|---|---|---|
| My opinion | The bed I pick, in one sentence. Start with the words I think. | |
| My reason | Why I picked it. Start with the word because. | |
| My closing line | A last sentence that ends my writing. Do not add a new fact. |
Say each box out loud to a partner before you write it on your paper.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Exemplar & Rubric
Exemplar response, written at grade 1 level. This model runs a little longer than the two or three sentences the task asks for, so it also shows parts of the Advanced column of the rubric.
I think the class should water the beans first. I think that because we can eat the beans at snack time. The flowers look nice, but they do not feed us. Beans need water to make big pods. That is why the beans should get the barrel water today.
Rubric
| Criterion | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion | Names the garden but does not pick a bed. | Picks a bed but the sentence is unclear or unfinished. | States a clear opinion in one complete sentence naming the bed. | States the opinion and names the choice that was turned down. |
| Reason | Gives no reason, or repeats the opinion in new words. | Gives a reason that is not tied to the garden or the barrel. | Gives one reason joined by because that fits the situation. | Gives a reason that uses a detail from the prompt, such as the half-full barrel. |
| Closing | No closing sentence. | Ends with a new fact instead of a closing line. | Ends with a closing line that adds no new fact. | Closing line restates the opinion in fresh words. |
| Conventions | Few capital letters or end marks. | Some capital letters and end marks, with several missing. | Most sentences start with a capital and end with a period. | Sentences are correctly punctuated and spelling of word-wall words is right. |
Differentiation
Support
Hand these students an organizer whose first box already reads "I think the class should water the _____ first," so they add one word there and then write only the reason. Read the prompt to a small group, point to the line about the barrel, and ask how much water is in it today. Allow the closing line to be dictated to an adult and copied.
Extension
Ask students to add a second reason and to write one sentence telling what the class should do with the other bed tomorrow. A further step is to draw the barrel with a line showing how full it is today and to label the bed that gets the water.
ELL supports
Pre-teach barrel, bed, and dry with a real container and two labeled plant pots. Provide the frames "I think the class should water the _____ first." and "I think that because _____." Let students say all three boxes to a partner before writing, and count a reason of a few words, such as "because we eat beans," as complete.
Extensions
Set up two small pots in the classroom, water one and leave the other dry for a week, and have students check both each morning. Students add one sentence to their opinion page naming what they saw, which gives the choice they argued for a piece of evidence they gathered themselves.