Third Grade · Writing · week 34

Performance Task Practice: Read, Then Write

Read a short passage and write a response that uses specific details from the text, practicing the read-then-write format used on state tests.

This week you practice a skill you will need on state tests like the SBAC: reading a short passage carefully, then writing a response that uses details from what you just read.

The key rule is to use SPECIFIC details from the passage, not just your own general opinion. A strong response proves you actually read and understood the text.

Read the passage twice if you can: once for the overall idea, and once more hunting for the specific details your writing will need.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Choose a short nonfiction passage together (a magazine article, an encyclopedia entry, a book excerpt) at a comfortable reading level.
  • Model marking or underlining one specific detail while reading, so your child sees exactly what to hunt for.
  • Check your child's response for at least one detail that could only come from having read that specific passage.
  • Keep this feeling low-pressure -- it is practice for a skill, not the actual test.
Talk about it:
  • What is one specific detail from the passage you used in your response?
  • How is using a specific detail different from just writing a general opinion?
  • Why do you think tests like this ask you to read something before writing about it?

Mastery looks like: They write a response to a short passage that includes at least one specific, accurate detail drawn directly from the text.

Common stumbles: Writing a general response that could apply without reading the passage at all; misremembering or misquoting a detail from the text.

Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
Records attendance + 15 min of Writing for this learner.
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