More and more assessments are focusing on students' written responses. This template is designed to provide students with a visual for their extended responses. By using the traffic light system, students are able to visually recall that they should have a "red, yellow, and green" stoplight within each paragraph. This outline includes a box for students to turn the Question into an Answer for their introductory sentence. Next, it provides 3 opportunities for students to write a Topic Sentence (or Transition), provide Evidence, and offer an Interpretation. Finally, a box is available for the Concluding sentence. I used this template throughout the school year with my 4th graders in a variety of different approaches. We worked as a whole group, small groups, and individually to fill in this graphic organizer based on readings. Students used this template to respond to Scholastic Readers in class, short nonfiction readings for homework, and even as an assessment to a topic we were studying in class. The extended response was expected of the students in their ISAT testing and the REACH assessments.