My child’s weakness is writing. He has terrible handwriting, bad spelling and work just looks sloppy. After 3 drafts, ds was able to submit a decent writing sample with pictures that he drew. On the last draft, we asked DS to color and he scribbled all over the page and he had to redo. It looked like a 3yo scribbled on the page.

DS did get in on appeal. He scored 99th percent and had a solid GBRS - 3C and 1F. He is thriving in AAP now. He excels in all subjects except Language Arts. He has an incredible memory so he tests well. I wrote about his memory on the appeal letter. I tried to focus on his strengths. I wrote about how good he is at sports and is a kind and empathetic leader. I don’t know if this helped but I tried to make him look well rounded, which he is. He plays 5 sports.

Hand written. We submitted a poem that our DS wrote after learning about a specific topic at school. It was not about half a page and had spelling and grammatical errors, because I didn't have him edit it. It was however, very creative and clever.

The school submitted a "book" that DD wrote and illustrated. She's a pretty good artist for her age and the pictures were very detailed, which I suspect really helped.

Anonymous wrote:A good writing sample is anything that you can tie into one or more of those GBRS bullet points. If your child is writing nonfiction, talk about how it shows in-depth knowledge, persistent, intense focus, highly developed reasoning, or makes advanced connections. If it's creative writing, talk about how your child expresses feelings, experiences, or beliefs in original ways or how your child generates unique new ideas. Make sure that you add a comment on the work sample or in your parent letter explaining how the work sample demonstrates whatever GBRS bullet point. The committee members really like their GBRS bullet points and buzzwords.

+1. They are looking for compelling reasons why the child's needs cannot be met in the classroom.

We just submitted a simple 1.5 page fiction for DD and another 0.5 pager of her random thoughts about life that she kept on her board. Personally, I don't think topic matters that, but clarity of thought and ability to write well formed sentences with a meaningful story might be more more important. There were few typos and other grammatical errors, but for 2nd grade, you can't expect a middle school level essay.

A good writing sample is anything that you can tie into one or more of those GBRS bullet points. If your child is writing nonfiction, talk about how it shows in-depth knowledge, persistent, intense focus, highly developed reasoning, or makes advanced connections. If it's creative writing, talk about how your child expresses feelings, experiences, or beliefs in original ways or how your child generates unique new ideas. Make sure that you add a comment on the work sample or in your parent letter explaining how the work sample demonstrates whatever GBRS bullet point. The committee members really like their GBRS bullet points and buzzwords.

All you’ll get is anecdotes. Our samples were mostly typed. People here said that would look overly prepped, but DC is in (DC typed it all). Our AART said your child should explain his or her own process and thinking, so DC also typed short explanations.

I looked for things that showed her creativity.

We submitted a book report DD wrote in cursive. She invested considerable effort in teaching herself at home, which was something I referenced in the parent questionnaire.

I submitted something that got sent home from school.
I personally question the value of something created at home - who knows how much editing the parent did, etc. That said, maybe the committee values it - who knows.

Handwritten. Close to a page long. Either creative writing or non-fiction would be fine. I think they mostly want to see that your kid is capable of expressing thoughts in a reasonably coherent manner. It helps to have neat handwriting, few spelling errors, and mostly correct grammar.

See that mentioned frequently but what is a “good” writing sample for 2nd grade? Typed or handwritten? Original story? Non fiction? They are only 8 years old.