At least 5 or more sequenced and focused sentences—In order   (5 pts)

Standard and inventive spelling—Do the best you can  (2 pts)

Capitalization/Punctuation--Check  (2 pts)

Spacing/letter use—Write neatly  (1 pt)

Detailed descriptive words or phrases—Adjectives (see, hear, smell, taste, feel, size, color, how many)

(3 pts., 1 per description)

Uses a variety of sentence starters to add detail and tell more--  (1 pt each, 5 pts max)

Stay on topic—Stick to the prompt (2 pts)

Correlations to NC Writing Score

0 - 7 pts = 1 (Below grade level)

8 - 13 pts = 2 (Somewhat below grade level)

14 - 18 pts = 3 (On grade level)

19 - 20 pts = 4 (Somewhat higher than grade level)