All States » VA » Grade 8 » Reading » R.8.5.a

R.8.5.a

Description: Analyze how authors’ development of characters, conflict, point of view, voice, and tone convey meaning.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 1A, 6C

Exemplars

1A: Recalling Explicit Details

1A: Recalling Explicit Details

Description: Identifying explicit details including character, time, setting and speaker

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-1

H-1

Grade level: 8
Word count: 1899 words
Author: Tamara Ellis Smith
Synopsis: A boy and his father fight the waves and wind to escape an epic storm.
Excerpt: Zavion turned his head and saw his house, or what was remaining of his house, which now appeared as a receding, tattered box in the distance. Damaged beams gave the impression of legs buckled at the knees. Then more tiles flew off the collapsing roof, like seagulls crashing into waves to snatch their dinner.

Zavion decided to grab two shattered shingles as they drifted by.

Question: What does Zavion grab from his house as he departs?
  1. shingles from the roof
  2. one of his dad's paintings
  3. a box of juice
  4. a roll of canvas

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Describe a selection you have read that has an untrustworthy narrator and explain how you know the narrator is untrustworthy.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

6C: Recognizing Mood/Tone

6C: Recognizing Mood/Tone

Description: Recognizing Mood and Tone

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-32

H-32

Grade level: 8
Word count: 2030 words
Author: Anna Fisher
Synopsis: Many people escaped from East Germany through tunnels under the Berlin Wall, but some did not make it.
Excerpt: "I will always have a place for him in my heart," Gram revealed, and then she wept deeply. After a few minutes, she regained her composure and turned to Maggie, saying, "I can now put this sad time in my life behind me and finally rest in peace."

Question: In this excerpt at the end of the selection, the author creates a mood that could be described as
  1. calm and appreciative.
  2. gloomy and hopeless.
  3. confused and anxious.
  4. lively and patriotic.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Compare the mood and tone of two stories. Provide details. Explain which of the two stories you prefer, and how mood and tone influenced your decision.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions