Grade 5 Operational Multidisciplinary Performance Task. For Activity 2, you will write in response to an informative/explanatory prompt.

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Bryce Marsh
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1 Activities Activity 1: Reading and Note-Taking Read the texts about the Sun and review the information in the graph. As you read and take notes, think about these questions: What are some important details about the Sun? How is the Sun important to planet Earth? For Activity 2, you will write in response to an informative/explanatory prompt. Activity 2: Writing Read the prompt and then write your response. Remember, a strong informative/explanatory response uses the provided resources to clearly state a topic that answers and supports the prompt; uses important and related facts, definitions, and details; shows that ideas are related by using words and phrases to make the meaning clear; and uses correct capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Prompt Type: Informative/Explanatory Prompt: Imagine that you are a scientist writing an article for a kids' science magazine. In your article, explain the relationship between the Earth and the Sun.

2 Resources Your Top 10 Sun Facts The Sun is a star. This makes it extremely important for life on Earth. The Sun provides us with light energy, which brings life on our planet. It defines the seasons, the harvests, and even the sleep patterns of all living creatures on Earth. The Sun is the closest star to our planet. Imagine two cars on the road during the night with their headlights on. One car is closer to you, and the other one is far away. Which headlights would seem brighter and bigger? That explains why we see the Sun so big and bright. It is simply the nearest star to Earth. Remember! Earth orbits around the Sun. The Sun is bigger than Earth. In fact, its radius is 109 times bigger than the radius of Earth. For those of you who are curious, the Sun's radius is 696,000 km, and Earth's radius is 6,376 km. DON'T TOUCH THE SUN! IT'S HOT! The Sun's average surface temperature is 5700 C. Compare that to Earth's average temperature, which is 20 C. The Sun is 150 million km (93 million miles) away from Earth. How old is the Sun? Can you imagine 4.5 billion years? We know that Earth's structure consists of different layers. The Sun also has layers, but unlike Earth, the Sun has no solid surface. The Sun rotates on its axis approximately once every 26 days. The Sun is made of gas, which is why its different parts rotate at different speeds. The fastest rotation is around the equator, and the slowest rotation is at the Sun's polar regions (more than 30 days). The Sun changes. No matter when or where we look at the Sun, we will always see something interesting. Scientists observe these changes by watching the sunspots. They increase and decrease on a regular cycle of about 10.8 years. END OF TEXT

3 Why Do We Study the Sun? We look at the Sun rising every day. It's bright, it's big, and it warms us up. Our Sun happens to be the brightest object in our solar system, and naturally we are curious to know more about it. Our Sun gives us light, heat, and energy. It may seem that energy comes from other sources such as gasoline and electricity, but the ultimate source of energy for Earth is nothing else but the Sun. Without the Sun, life on Earth would not exist. It would be so cold that no living thing would be able to survive, and our planet would be completely frozen. The Sun is a normal star. It is much closer to us than any other star, and by studying the Sun, we can therefore learn more about other stars. The better we understand other stars, the more we know about the Milky Way. From there we know more about other galaxies, and in the end we learn more about the universe. The Sun also plays the role of a big anchor, which creates gravity that keeps our planet and the other planets of the solar system in a small space. If it weren't for the Sun, our planet would simply fly off loose into the universe. Our Sun is very dynamic, and it changes constantly. It has the largest eruptions in the solar system. These eruptions can be so large that they can reach our planet and cause serious damage by disrupting satellites and other communication devices. Our TV may not work, our cell phones will be down, a high speed train may run loose, and, if an astronaut happens to be on the moon at the time when the Sun erupts, he or she would be in great danger. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) uses satellites such as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to predict these eruptions so that we have a warning of at least 2 3 days to protect our expensive communication devices during a solar eruption. SOHO is just one of the instruments that NASA uses to help scientists understand our Sun better along with other satellites and large observatories on Earth. END OF TEXT

5 Holistic Rubric In the response, the student demonstrates: consistent and effective command of the skills needed to complete an on-demand mostly consistent and adequate command of the skills needed to complete an ondemand somewhat consistent and minimal command of the skills needed to complete an ondemand inconsistent and ineffective command of the skills needed to complete an on-demand Non-Scorable Codes BL Blank The response is blank. IN Insufficient The response does not include enough student writing to score. OT Off Task The response is unrelated to the resources and/or prompt. OL Other Language The response is in a language other than English

6 State of Kansas Multidisciplinary Performance Task - Grades 3-5 Informative/Explanatory 3-5 Inf./Expl. Student s Response PL: Focus Support Connections Conventions Clearly states and maintains a controlling idea that directly addresses the resources and prompt Effectively uses relevant and accurate facts, definitions, and details throughout the work Consistently uses gradeappropriate strategies to clarify relationships between and Is readable with most gradelevel conventions used correctly and may use them creatively to enhance the message; minor mistakes do not impede the reader s ability to understand the writer s meaning Adequately states and maintains a controlling idea that mostly addresses the resources and prompt Adequately uses relevant and accurate facts, definitions, and details in the work Adequately uses gradeappropriate strategies to clarify relationships between and Is readable with most gradelevel conventions used correctly; mistakes do not affect the reader s ability to understand the writer s meaning States a controlling idea somewhat related to the resources and prompt Uses some relevant and accurate facts, definitions and details in the work Inconsistently uses gradeappropriate strategies to clarify relationships between and Is readable but some errors in grade-level conventions negatively impact the reader s ability to understand the writer s meaning Does not state a controlling idea related to the resources and prompt Does not use relevant and accurate facts, definitions, or details in the work Shows little or no attempt to clarify relationships between and Is nearly unreadable due to pervasive errors in grade-level conventions Career, Standards and Assessment Services Career, Standards and Assessment Services Kansas State Department of Education Landon State Office Building 900 SW Jackson Street, Suite 653 Topeka, KS (785) The Kansas State Department of Education does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: KSDE General Counsel, Office of General Counsel, KSDE, Landon State Office Building, 900 SW Jackson, Suite 102, Topeka, KS 66612, (785) Sept. 2014

The sun, yellow dwarf star at the heart of the solar system NASA.gov, adapted by Newsela staff

The sun, yellow dwarf star at the heart of the solar system NASA.gov, adapted by Newsela staff Name: Period: Date: Article of the Week Directions: Read the following article carefully and annotate. You need to include at least 1 annotation per paragraph. Be sure to include all of the following in