1. CELDT: Practice for 4 Picture Narrative
Grades 6-8

2. Here is the description of the highest score possible (4 points):
•Story is coherent and effective, including explanation of major events, with appropriate elaboration (e.g. explanations of details and context). Contains more complex sentences.
•Vocabulary resources are well developed. The student can almost always find the appropriate words. Uses precise word choice.
•Response displays few grammatical errors and contains varied grammatical and syntactical structure. Any errors are minor (e.g. difficulty with articles or prepositions) and do not interfere with communication.
•Student may have an accent, but both pronunciation and intonation are generally accurate and do not interfere with communication.

3. Suggested Strategy
Students should take the time to look at all four pictures first and notice details in the pictures.
Discuss the need for specific vocabulary and complex or compound sentences.
Students should then decide what the flow of the story is from frame 1. through frame 4.
The test administrator will give a story stem, but the stem will not have specific word choice or details and the student should start with their own elaborated topic sentence.
Remember, the student can ask to have the prompt repeated if necessary.

4. Possibilities for making sentences more complex:
Examples of Syntactical Complexity
Multiple subject: The deer and the beaver are walking toward the stream.
Multiple object: The boy is carrying the fishing net and pail.
Infinitive used as an object: The girl wanted to play her guitar.
Gerund used as an object: He enjoys catching frogs.
Compound Sentences: The man is trying to light a fire, but he doesn’t have enough matches.
Complex sentence: The girl ed her family while sitting in the tent.
Prepositional phrase: The frog jumped out of the stream.
The girls sat on the log.
The eagle soars over the trees.
Relative clause: The camp leader is the man who started the fire.
The younger sister is the girl that plays the guitar.
The deer drinks from the stream, which flows through the forest.

5. SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story
SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story. Look at all the pictures carefully. Tell me a complete story with detail and make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order. This boy was sitting on the couch watching TV. What happened?
On the CELDT, the prompt ends with a lead in sentence and then is followed by the question, “What happened?”
On the CELDT, the test administrator can give up to 2 prompts during the response: “What else can you tell me about the pictures?” or “And then what happened?”

6. SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story
SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story. Look at all the pictures carefully. Tell me a complete story with detail and make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order. Two kids were looking in the window of a fruit store. What happened?
On the CELDT, the prompt ends with a lead in sentence and then is followed by the question, “What happened?”
On the CELDT, the test administrator can give up to 2 prompts during the response: “What else can you tell me about the pictures?” or “And then what happened?”

7. SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story
SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story. Look at all the pictures carefully. Tell me a complete story with detail and make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order. The kids in the neighborhood were all playing baseball. What happened?
On the CELDT, the prompt ends with a lead in sentence and then is followed by the question, “What happened?”
On the CELDT, the test administrator can give up to 2 prompts during the response: “What else can you tell me about the pictures?” or “And then what happened?”

8. SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story
SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story. Look at all the pictures carefully. Tell me a complete story with detail and make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order. The teacher was teaching the students in the classroom. What happened?
On the CELDT, the prompt ends with a lead in sentence and then is followed by the question, “What happened?”
On the CELDT, the test administrator can give up to 2 prompts during the response: “What else can you tell me about the pictures?” or “And then what happened?”

9. SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story
SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story. Look at all the pictures carefully. Tell me a complete story with detail and make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order. The man was hiking in the desert. What happened?
On the CELDT, the prompt ends with a lead in sentence and then is followed by the question, “What happened?”
On the CELDT, the test administrator can give up to 2 prompts during the response: “What else can you tell me about the pictures?” or “And then what happened?”

10. SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story
SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story. Look at all the pictures carefully. Tell me a complete story with detail and make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order. The girl is planting a seed. What happened?
On the CELDT, the prompt ends with a lead in sentence and then is followed by the question, “What happened?”
On the CELDT, the test administrator can give up to 2 prompts during the response: “What else can you tell me about the pictures?” or “And then what happened?”

11. SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story
SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story. Look at all the pictures carefully. Tell me a complete story with detail and make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order. The teacher was teaching Math. What happened?
On the CELDT, the prompt ends with a lead in sentence and then is followed by the question, “What happened?”
On the CELDT, the test administrator can give up to 2 prompts during the response: “What else can you tell me about the pictures?” or “And then what happened?”

12. SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story
SAY: I am going to show you four pictures that tell a story. Look at all the pictures carefully. Tell me a complete story with detail and make sure your story includes pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 in order. The girl was reading a book. What happened?
On the CELDT, the prompt ends with a lead in sentence and then is followed by the question, “What happened?”
On the CELDT, the test administrator can give up to 2 prompts during the response: “What else can you tell me about the pictures?” or “And then what happened?”