Writing Rubrics for the Primary Grades

As you probably know by now, I love using rubrics! I don't want this post to only be about something I'm selling, so I thought I'd write a little about rubrics in general. That way this post can hopefully be useful/meaningful to everyone (not just people looking to buy this writing rubric pack).

I like to use writing rubrics because they help me to be consistent when grading student writing. Rubrics also set up my expectations to help me, my students and parents see what I am looking for. Making/using rubrics helps me to really think about what I expect from my students as writers. I've been teaching first grade for 6 years now, so I've read a lot of student writing! I've experienced so many different levels of writing and writing styles. I realized early on that there isn't just "good writing' and "not so good writing". Some kids are excellent with their conventions/neatness which sometimes led me to give them a better grade even if the actual writing wasn't that spectacular. On the flip side, you may have a student with horrible developing handwriting and complete lack of conventions (including most words spelled incorrectly), but they have amazing voice or interesting ideas. They are often overlooked as "bad writers" just because their writing looks so bad. 

Using rubrics not only assisted me in communicating these strengths and areas of improvement, but it also allowed me to celebrate a student's gifts as a writer. When I started using rubrics I found that my grading was more fair and consistent. I also found that I was able to set goals more easily for my students because it was easier to see where they didn't quite meet my expectations. Parents are also able to easily see (and hopefully understand more completely) where their child is at as a writer and what they can work on. And let's not forget the time I saved with using rubrics! I don't feel the need to write as much on each paper because the rubric explains a lot of it. If you teach writing, think about what you look for in your writers. Have you set those expectations for your students and for yourself? Do you look for the same thing in every writing piece or do you have a special focus for certain writing pieces? Do you communicate these expectations and goals to your students? I so appreciate and look forward to comments you all leave! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Thanks to those of you who have done this on previous posts. It's so interesting to hear what others do! Besides I know I still have so much to learn on the topic. :)

On to the Writing Rubrics Megapack! 

So this pack could be a little overwhelming. It is 150 pages. EEK! That is a little misleading though. I'll explain how this is set up and then it will make more sense.

The pack is divided into 3 sections. Each section has 40 of the same rubrics. The only difference between each section is the scale.

The scale is the words that are written at the top of table, sort of like headers.

clipart by scrappindoodles;

Section One's scale is Needs Improvement; Fair; Good; Excellent

Section Two's scale is Developing; Almost there; Just right; Excellent

Section Three's scale is With guidance; little guidance; with reminders; independent writer

Like I said, in each section there are 40 rubrics. There are 13 general rubrics like the ones above and right below. I tried to make a variety of general rubrics to fit different needs. There are varying levels of these general rubrics.

clipart by scrappindoodles; frames by KPM doodles and fancydogstudios

In each section, there are also rubrics for each writing trait. There are 4 for content/ideas, 4 for conventions, 3 for sentence fluency, 3 for organization, and one for word choice/voice. Below are a few examples:

Frames by scrappincop and fancydogstudios and That Girl

Finally, each section also has rubrics for certain writing assignments. I was working off some of the common core writing standards. Below are some examples:

(sorry I didn't take a very good screen shot of these!)

Please note: I don't claim to be an expert! This just has worked well for me and I hope it will work well for you too. :)

I teach first grade, but I tried to make this pack useful for all primary grades. Kindergarten is tough because I wasn't sure how much you could use. If you teach kinder and have questions, please email me. :) If you teach 4th/5th, these may work for you too. If you teach 4th or 5th, send me an email and I'll send you a preview to see if it works for your grades. 

I'd love to hear suggestions for how to improve or add to this pack. Thanks:) 

You can get the pack at my TPT store or Teacher's notebook store.