Department of Education
Kevin Huffman, Commissioner

Narrative writing encourages imagination and creativity and offers an opportunity for writers to analyze and understand their actions and those of others. The writer uses details that are relevant and combines them to develop a story line that is easy for the reader to follow.

2011-2012 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 5

  Writing Situation:  Pretend you were on an island and you saw a locked treasure chest. After searching around, you found a key that would unlock the treasure chest.

  Directions for Writing:  Before you begin writing, think about what happened when you opened the locked treasure chest.

Now write a story about your adventures after finding a treasure chest on an island.

 

2011-2012 Anchor Set - Grade 5

Score	Paper #	Paper #	Paper #	Paper #	Paper #
Score 1	1	2	3
Score 2	1	2	3	4
Score 3	1	2	3	4	5
Score 4	1	2	3	4	5
Score 5	1	2	3	4
Score 6	1	2	3	4

 

2010-2011 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 5

  Writing Situation:  A unicorn is an animal in many fairytales.  It is like a horse, but it has one horn on its head.  Pretend that one day you woke up in the land of unicorns.

   Directions for Writing:  Before you begin writing, think about what happened in the land of unicorns. 

Now write a story about the day you spent in the land of unicorns.

2009-2010 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 5

 Writing Situation: Most students have a favorite book.  Pretend one day your favorite book pulled you into the story.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin writing, think about what character you were and what happened in your book.

Now write a story about the adventures you had when you were a character in your favorite book.

2008-2009 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 5

Writing Situation: Pretend that you woke-up as a superhero.

Writing Situation:  Before you begin writing, think about how different your day would be.  Where would you go?  How would you act?  Would you change anything?

Now write a make-believe story about your adventures as a superhero.

2007-2008 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 5

Writing Situation:  Pretend your friend called you and said, “You aren’t going to believe what I found!”  You rushed over to your friend’s home.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin to write, think about what your friend found  and what happened.

Now write a story about what happened when your friend found something.

2006-2007 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 5

Writing Situation: Suppose one day you found a flying carpet.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin writing, think about where you would go, what you would see, and what you would do.

Now write a pretend story about your day after finding a flying carpet.

2005-2006 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 5

Writing Situation: Pretend that today you are taking an imaginary trip.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin to write, think of a special place you would like to go and what you would like to do there.

Now write a story about an adventure you have in your special place.

2004-2005 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 5

Writing Situation: Pretend you arrived at school early. In the hallway, you found a huge backpack as tall as the ceiling, and it started to move.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin to write, think about what happened when the large backpack started move.

Now write a story about your adventure the day the huge backpack started to move.

2003-2004 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 5

Writing Situation: Pretend your class was on a field trip to the zoo on a day the animals got loose.

Directions for Writing:  Before you write, think about what might happen on your field trip.

Now write a story about what happened the day the animals got loose at the zoo.

2002-2003 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 5

Writing Situation: Pretend that for one day you are a tiny raindrop in a storm. For that day you get to go where raindrops go.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin to write, think about what you would do during your day as a raindrop.

Now write a story about your adventures as a raindrop in a storm.

2001-2002 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 4

Writing Situation: Suppose that you woke up one morning as a grown-up.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin to write, think about what you would do, where you would go, and what you would wear.

Now write a story about your adventures on the day you woke up as a grown-up.

2000-2001 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 4

Writing Situation: Forgetting can cause problems. Think about a day when you forgot something.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin to write, think about what you forgot and what happened.

Now, write a story about what happened the day you forgot something.

1999-2000 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 4

Writing Situation: Suppose you woke up one cold winter morning. To your surprise, everything outside was covered in fluffy white snow.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin to write, think about what you might do on your surprise snow day.

Now write a story about your fun and adventures on the special snow day.

1998-1999 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 4

Writing Situation: Pretend you found a small baby bear on the school grounds and took it home.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin writing, think about what might happen if you had a live baby bear to take care of for a day.

Now write a story about what happened that day with the baby bear.

1997-1998 TCAP Writing Assessment Prompt - Grade 4

Writing Situation: Pretend you are asked to spend the afternoon baby-sitting Howie, a pet monkey.

Directions for Writing:  Before you begin to write, think about the fun and adventures you have with Howie, the monkey.

Now write a story about what happened the afternoon you baby-sat Howie, the monkey.