ELA Sampler Exams Now Available for Grades 3-8

Posted on April 10, 2013 by castlelearning

The English Content Team has constructed sample ELA exams for grades 3 to 8. The sample exams reflect the changes indicated by New York State, and assess what students know and can do relative to the grade-level Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts. Each grade level sampler has the same number of reading passages as specified in the “Educator Guide to the 2013 Common Core English Language Arts Test.” A variety of passage genres are represented in the samplers, and each sampler has a balanced mix of nonfiction, fiction, poetry and comparison passages. The samplers also include constructed (extended) response type questions so teachers and students can better prepare for Book 3 and Book 4.
To add a sampler to your list of assignments:

On the Teacher Home Page click Assignments
Click the button to Create From Public Assignments
Click the blue plus sign to expand English & Foreign Languages
Click the blue plus sign for Elementary English (Grades 3 to 5) or Intermediate English (Grades 6 to 8)
Click the blue plus sign to expand New York
Exams are labeled “NYS Sampler Exam 2013: Grade __: Book __”
- Click the name of an exam to preview the contents of the exam
- Check the box next to the name of an exam to mark it for import
When ready, click the Import button to add the selected exam(s) to your assignment list. You will then be returned to the Assignments page where you can review, modify and/or assign the exam.

New Literature and Reading Sets in ELA

Posted on March 28, 2013 by newsletter

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

There are now constructed response questions available for the literature set: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. The new questions include graphic organizers and extended response questions, all of which require students to use textual evidence in their responses. There are also questions in which students must argue and support a specific point of view while using the text as justification. All of the questions have been aligned to the Common Core and correlated to both Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge.

Additional Elementary Reading Sets

Eight new reading sets have been added at the elementary level, which can be found at levels D, E and F. These new sets focus on topics that are both interesting and informative to elementary students.

Science:
Facts About the Red Panda
How to Build a Bird Feeder

Biography:
A Pioneer Dies- Sally Ride
The Amazing Michael Phelps

History:
A Pirate’s Life for Me!

Poetry:
Seasons- Poetry Comparison

Content Updates in ELA

Posted on March 27, 2013 by newsletter

The following are now available in the English Language Arts courses:

70+ Constructed Response Questions for Cynthia Lord’s novel Rules. Graphic Organizer, essay and creative response type questions are included in the set. All of the new questions have been aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to both Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge.
50 Constructed Response Questions are now available for Catcher in the Rye. The new constructed response questions contain several different types of extended response questions. Graphic Organizer, essay and creative response type questions are included in the set. All of the new questions have been aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to both Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge.
37 Critical Lens Essay Writing Prompts are now available as Constructed Response Questions. All of the critical lens essay tasks require students to interpret a quote and use two pieces of literature to support his or her interpretation. Many of these questions provide sample answers in which students are provided guidance as to what would be included in a full-credit response.

We have also updated the Critical Reading Skill Questions found in levels “G, H, I.” The entire set has been revised. Several of the questions were re-written, giving the short readings more depth and clarity.

New Constructed Response Questions: The Watsons Go to Birmingham

Posted on February 1, 2013 by newsletter

The Castle Learning English Curriculum Team has just released constructed response questions for the novel: The Watsons go to Birmingham. The 30 new extended response questions are in addition to the 150 multiple-choice questions previously available for this classic novel. Teachers will find a variety of questions including:

Written response: short answer and essay
Graphic Organizers
Plot
Analysis
End of Novel

All of the constructed response questions have been aligned to the Common Core Learning Standards and correlated to both Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge.

To access these constructed response questions be sure to:

Check Constructed Response (CR) as a question type when searching on the question criteria page.

Constructed Response Questions for “The Giver”

Posted on October 26, 2012 by castlelearning

The Castle Learning English Curriculum Team has just released constructed response questions for the novel: The Giver. The 30 new extended response questions are in addition to the 150 multiple-choice questions previously available for this classic novel. Teachers will find a variety of questions including:

Written response: short answer and essay
Graphic Organizers
Plot
Analysis
End of Novel

All of the constructed response questions have been aligned to the Common Core Learning Standards and correlated to both Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge.

To access these questions, choose the constructed response tab, select the topic novels, the sub-topic The Giver.

Sample Question

[The Giver – End of Novel]

What genre of literature could The Giver be placed in? Choose one of the following genres below, and explain why the novel fits that genre. Use at least three examples from the text in your explanation.

Fantasy
Science Fiction
Nonfiction

For Full Credit: Your answer should be in complete sentences and paragraph form.

Sample Answer:

Student answers may include, but are not limited to the following:

Science Fiction as a possible answer because:

There are combined elements of both science and fiction.
There is a futuristic society.
There are inventions that do not really exist.
Additional sample answers available within Castle Learning

200 Additional “Ending Sounds” Questions Released

Posted on October 17, 2012 by castlelearning

The Castle Learning English Curriculum Team has just published additional questions in the recently released topic: Ending Sounds. This is the second set of questions in the series for primary grade students and teachers.

The English content team will continue to roll out additional Ending Sound questions throughout the first semester. This batch of 200 questions provides teachers and students with a variety of ending sound activities, including several audio questions which allow students to listen to the word and offer the appropriate ending sound. There are also many questions that ask students to provide the “letter blend” (multiple letters) at the end of the word.

There are both multiple choice and fill-in versions of each ending sound, which provides teachers flexibility in assigning appropriate material to specific students. These questions are housed in the English Language Arts topic: Foundational Skills.

Literature Set Addition: Catching Fire

Posted on October 8, 2012 by castlelearning

A new novel, Catching Fire, has been added to Castle Learning Online’s course: English Language Arts.

Catching Fire Book Cover Image Written by author Suzanne Collins, this is the second novel in the Hunger Games Trilogy. This is also the second set of short answer questions created by Castle Learning’s English Curriculum team for the popular series. Protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, finds herself forced to compete in yet another Hunger Games as well as trying to convince President Snow that her love for Peeta is real. There are 300 question based upon the novel focusing on:

Plot
Vocabulary
Analysis
Themes
Literary elements

All of these questions have been aligned to the Common Core English Standards and correlated to both Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge.

To access these questions, go to the question criteria page, select the topic novels, the sub-topic Catching Fire. The questions are separated into three sub-topics. (The sub-topics reflect the three “parts” of the actual novel: The Spark, The Quell, The Enemy.)

Primary Grade Level Reading Sets

Posted on October 3, 2012 by castlelearning

The Castle Learning English Language Arts Curriculum Development Team has just released six more set of Primary Leveled Reading Sets. The sets are geared towards early readers (Kindergarten, First and Second Grade). There are now eleven theme based reading sets; each set is written at three different levels.

Released in September:

Buggy, Bug, Bug! Three levels of the same reading set

Example of the Castle Learning reading set for each of the three difficulty levels.

Playground Fun!!! I, II, III
Buggy, Bug, Bug! I, II, III
Seasons! I, II, III
Firefighter! I, II, III
Our World! I, II, III

Newly Released in October:

Shapes and Colors! I, II, III
Cows! I, II, III
Ducks! I, II, III
Kite! I, II, III
Fall FUN! I, II, III

These sets are also unique in that students are able to view the reading set like an actual “book.” The student is able to “flip” pages as they read through the set.All of the questions within these readings sets have been aligned to Common Core English Standards and correlated to both Bloom’s and Webb’s.

Teachers can access these questions two ways:

Critical Reading Selections Topic on the Castle Questions Tab
Castle Reading Sets Tab (Levels A-C)

ELA Foundational Skills – Ending Sounds

Posted on October 3, 2012 by castlelearning

The Castle Learning English Curriculum Team has just released a new topic for primary grade students and teachers: Ending Sounds. This is the first in a series of question sets to be released. The English Curriculum Team will continue to roll out additional Ending Sound questions throughout the first semester.

This first batch of nearly 100 questions focuses on single letter ending sounds in one-syllable words, which are perfect for beginning readers’ sound and letter acquisition.

There are both multiple choice and fill-in versions of each ending sound, which
provides teachers flexibility in assigning appropriate material to specific students.
These questions are housed in the English Language Arts topic: Foundational Skills.

17,000 English Language Arts Questions Correlated to Bloom’s & Webb’s

Posted on September 27, 2012 by newsletter

The Castle Learning English Curriculum Team has just finished correlating approximately 11,000 English Language Arts questions to Bloom’s and Webb’s. This is in addition to the 6,000 questions released in early September.
As in the previous batch each question has been correlated to a:

Bloom’s Cognitive Level
Bloom’s Knowledge Level
Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Level

The English Curriculum Team will roll out additional batches of correlated questions throughout the remainder of 2012.

Teachers can search for short answer (multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank) questions correlated to Bloom’s and/or Webb’s by clicking on the additional criteria filer box on the question criteria page.

Once in the additional criteria section, teachers should open the attributes. They will be able to choose the specific levels in each taxonomy in which they’d like to focus.

In addition to short answer questions, all of the ELA constructed response questions have been correlated to a:

Bloom’s Cognitive Level
Bloom’s Knowledge Level
Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Level

Teachers will see questions correlated to higher levels of both Bloom’s and Webb’s in the constructed response section of Castle Learning.

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Tag Archives: ela

Primary Grade Level Reading Sets

ELA Foundational Skills – Ending Sounds