All of Quill’s 700+ activities (with the exception of our diagnostic assessments) are aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for writing in English Language Arts. You can find activities aligned to a specific grade level in our Activity Library by using the “CCSS Grade Level” filter. For example, we currently have 178 activities aligned to the middle grade standards. Additionally, this page lists the Quill activities that align to each grade level’s standards.
As the writing standards for tenth grade and up focus on students’ ability to write multi-paragraph compositions, and Quill’s tools focus on improving sentence-level writing, we do not have many activities that formally align to these grade bands. Keep in mind, however, that teachers often find that their students benefit from an activity designated as aligned to a lower grade level. The standards themselves state that “students advancing through the grades are expected to meet each year’s grade-specific standards and retain or further develop skills and understandings mastered in preceding grades’'. So while a class of ninth graders may have been introduced to complex sentences as early as third grade, they may still benefit from an activity like this one that gives them practice using subordinating conjunctions at the beginning of sentences.
If you’re unsure with which skills your students need more practice, our diagnostics provide individual recommendations on exactly which skills each student needs to work on. We also recommend previewing activities (you can preview any activity in our Activity Library) to get a better sense of whether they are appropriately challenging for your students.
Have more questions?
Please feel free to live chat with us through the green message bubble on the bottom right corner of the screen or email us at hello@quill.org.