Connecticut State Department of Education

Connecticut Core Standards

Tools for Use in the Formative Assessment Process – English Language Arts

Formative Assessments for Grades K-5

Grade Title
1 Literacy in Social Studies: My Informational Report About Community Workers
1 Sending Feelings Your Way: Greeting Card Project
2 Comparing Characters’ Responses to Events
3 “What Was Project Mercury?” and “Who was Alan Shepard?”
3 Mrs. Mack by Patricia Polacco
3 Cactus Jam by Ruth J. Luhrs
4 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
4 Paired excerpts from “Yang the Eldest and His Odd Jobs” and “Out of the Dust”
4 Basic Archaeology - "What’s a Dig?" and "What’s a Midden?" by David White
5 The Princess and the Pea
5 The Drive-In Movies
5 Bubblology
5 “Looking for Lunar Ice” by Mary Kay Carson
5 "Who was Marco Polo?" by Joan Holub and "The Adventure of Marco Polo" by Russell Freedman
5 The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars

Formative Assessments for Grades 6-8

Grade Title
6 Funeral
6 Writing My Own Myth
6 “The History of Earth Day” by Amanda Davis, “Earth Day” by Claudia Atticot and Alexandra Manning, and a video from NBC News
6 Excerpts from Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop and IQBAL by Francesco D’Adamo
6 Literary Nonfiction—“The Making of a Scientist” by Richard Feynman
7 "Blizzard"
7 "From The Wave" by Thom Gunn
7 “High Schools Starting Later to Help Sleepy Teens,” by Michelle Trudeau and “High schools will keep starting too early. Here’s why.” by Dan Weissmann
7 Nature by Design by Bruce Brooks
7 The Omnivore’s Dilemma – The Secrets Behind What You Eat by Michael Pollan
8 Dance Mama Dance
8 '1984' by George Orwell
8 “In our digital world, are young people losing their ability to read emotions?” by Stuart Wolpert and “Study: Kids can learn as much from ‘Sesame Street’ as from preschool” by Jim Tankersley
8 The Open Boat by Stephen Crane

Formative Assessments for Grades 9-12

Grade Title
9 Burning a Book
9 Mini-assessment for The Manhattan Project Text Set
9 “Departure” by Sherwood Anderson
9-12 Watchdog Reporter
10 Sympathy
10 "Nowhere to Go"
11 Home Burial
11 “Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard (Literary Nonfiction Mini-Assessment)
11 "Luck" by Mark Twain
11 Inaugural Address, 1801 by Thomas Jefferson
11 "Is it a Crime for a Citizen of the United States to Vote?" by Susan B. Anthony
12 We Grow Accustomed to the Dark
12 Evaluating Gender Equality in Today’s Society: A Critical View