Page 13 - SpringBoard_ELA_Assessment_Grade6_FlipBook

Name: ______________________ ID: A
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The following essay was written by a student and needs improvement.
Measuring Time
In ancient Rome, people relied on priests to announce the arrival of a new moon cycle. They referred to the first day of each new cycle as Kalends which means "to proclaim." That is where the word calendar comes from.
Calendars are very old. When people began to understand that nature was made up of seasons and that seasons determined what people did, it was time to find a way to make time orderly.
Calendars are based on three important events of astronomy: days, months, and years. A day is also one complete rotation of the Earth. A month measures approximately the amount of time it takes for the moon to make a complete orbit around the Earth. A year tracks the number of days it takes for the Earth to complete a single revolution around the Sun.
Which of the following would MOST improve the introduction to this essay?
a. moving the sentence "Calendars are very old" to the very beginning of the essay
b. adding the sentence "There are lots of calendars today" to the beginning of the
essay
c. deleting the sentence "When people began to understand that nature was made
up of seasons and that seasons determined what people did, it was time to find a
way to make time orderly" from the beginning of the essay
d. moving the sentence "Calendars are based on three important events of
astronomy: days, months, and years" to the beginning of the essay
Which sentence could BEST fit in the third paragraph?
a. Not all calendars are based on astronomy.
b. Some days are longer than others.
c. A day is measured from one sunrise to another.
d. One of the earliest calendars is the Egyptian calendar.
Which of the following sentences would provide a stronger conclusion to this essay?
a. Since ancient times calendars have helped people make sense and order of time passing.
b. There are many varieties of calendars to choose from today.
c. My favorite calendar is one that shows pictures of the solar system and phases
of the moon.
d. People need their calendars to plan their days and to communicate about time.
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