Extensive Listening

(Dictation using The Tiny Seed)

Grade level:
•   4th grade

Proficiency level/WIDA level:

•   Overall 2, Listening: 2

SOLs:
•   Science 4.4: The student will investigate and understand basic plant anatomy and life
processes. Key concepts include
a.) the structure of typical plants and the function of each structure;
b) processes and structures involved with plant reproduction;
c) photosynthesis; and
d) adaptations allow plants to satisfy life needs and respond to the environment.

WIDA Standards:
Objectives:
•   Content: SWBAT listen to a passage from The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle, and recognize
vocabulary words from science class.
•   Language: SWBAT listen to a paragraph read to them from a book on plants and write
out what they hear on a piece of paper.

Directions: Listen to the teacher read the paragraph. The paragraph will be read 3 times. First
reading will be at natural speed to help you understand the context. The second reading will be
slower with pauses. The third reading will be at a natural speed again.

Assessment:
Teacher introduces topic and says they will be hearing a paragraph about a flower that grows
very tall. The teacher reads the paragraph from The Tiny Seed. (The bolded words are the ones
the students should know to spell). First it is read at a natural speed:

It is Summer. Now the tiny plant from the tiny seed is all alone. It grows on and on. It doesn’t
stop. The sun shines on it and the rain waters it. It has many leaves. It grows taller and taller. It
is taller than the people. It is taller than the trees. It is taller than the houses. And now a flower
grows on it. People come from far and near to look at this flower. It is the tallest flower they
have ever seen. It is a giant flower.

Then, the teacher reads it again, but makes pauses where the symbol [//] appears:

It is Summer. // Now the tiny plant from the tiny seed // is all alone. // It grows on and on. // It
doesn’t stop. // The sun shines on it // and the rain waters it. // It has many leaves. // It grows
taller and taller. // It is taller than the people. // It is taller than the trees. // It is taller than the
houses. // And now a flower grows on it. // People come from far and near // to look at this
flower. // It is the tallest flower // they have ever seen. // It is a giant flower. //

Finally, the teacher reads the paragraph again at natural speed.

Scoring:
The dictation will be a total of 20 points. They will be graded using the rubric below. The teacher
will focus on spelling, spelling of previously learned vocab words (in bold), content accuracy,
capitalization and punctuation.

4 Excellent 3 Very Good 2 Good 1 Needs Work Score

Spelling All words are Writer makes Writer makes Writer makes
spelled 4-6 errors in 7-10 errors in more than 10
correctly spelling spelling errors in
spelling

Content All the words 1-3 words are 4-6 words are More than 6
Accuracy from the left out of the left out of the words are left
dictation are work work out of the
left out of the work
work

Vocab Words All 8 vocab 5-7 vocab 3-5 vocab 0-3 vocab
words are used words are words are words are used
correctly used correctly used correctly correctly

Capitalization Writer makes Writer makes Writer makes Writer makes

no errors in 1-2 errors in 3-4 errors in more than 4
capitalization capitalization capitalization errors in
capitalization

Punctuation Writer makes Writer makes Writer makes Writer makes

no errors in 1-2 errors in 3-4 errors in more than 4
punctuation punctuation punctuation errors in
punctuation

Overall /20
Score: