on the Georgia Milestones End-of-Grade assessment, you will write a narrative in response to a prompt assessment, you will also respond to reading comprehension questions before writing your narrative.

Question

Narrative prompts will vary depending on passage type. The sample provided in this resource is an example of a narrative prompt based on an informational passage.
Read the passage and answer questions 12 through 15.
Messages from the Sea
In 2018, Tonya Illman was walking on a beach in Australia. Suddenly, she spotted a yellow glass bottle partly hidden under the sand. At first, she thought the bottle would make a nice decoration in her home. When she looked closely, though, Illman realized this was not just a beautiful bottle. It contained a piece of paper with writing. Could she solve the mystery behind it?
Clues from the Past
When Illman got home, she removed the paper from the bottle and gently unrolled the paper. It had German words on both sides. Illman and her husband could decode some of the handwriting. They could read the date June 12, but the year was impossible to read. They also noticed part of a word, with the letters "aula." Could that be the name of a ship?
Illman contacted Ross Anderson, an employee at a nearby museum. Anderson told her that indeed there had been a German ship named the Paula. Then a phone call from Anderson to experts in Germany helped solve the mystery. These experts found logbooks from the Paula's ocean voyages.
During one trip, the captain of the Paula had written in his logbook that, on June 12, 1886, he tossed a bottle overboard. The captain often did this to try to measure ocean currents. The note inside this bottle asked the finder to report where it was discovered. The handwriting in the captain's logbook matched the writing in the bottle's note. All these clues proved that Illman had made an extremely rare discovery! She said, "This has been the most remarkable event in my life. ... [It's astounding] that this bottle has not been touched for nearly 132 years and is in perfect condition." As of 2019, Illman holds the record for the oldest message in a bottle ever found.
Bottle Overboard
The captain of the Paula was not the only person to throw bottles from a ship. Centuries ago, many ship captains tossed bottles with messages into oceans and seas. They hoped the bottles would be found by people on shore. Then the bottles' __cpLocations might tell the captains about the patterns of ocean currents. There are even stories about the ancient Greeks sending bottles into the Mediterranean Sea. However, these stories cannot be verified because none of the bottles were found.
Many bottles with messages are damaged or never reach land. Often, bottles leak, letting water inside and destroying the paper. Other bottles may simply break and sink to the ocean floor. Some bottles that do reach land end up hidden out of sight like buried treasure. Scientists, too, have dropped many bottles into oceans and seas. Between 1904 and 1906, a scientist named George Bidder tossed over 1,000 bottles into the North Sea. Each bottle contained a posteard that mentioned a modest reward of one shilling. A shilling was an English coin worth about 24 cents in American money in 1906. For those who found Bidder's bottles, receiving a reward was simple. The finder had to fill in the requested information on the bottle's postcard and mail the card to the Marine Biological Association in England.
Hundreds of Bidder's bottles were eventually found. Waves carried them onto the shore. People caught them in fishing nets. One of his bottles was discovered over 100 years later. In 2015, retired postal worker Marianne Winkler stumbled upon one of these bottles in Germany. Then Winkler did what Bidder had requested. She filled out the postcard from the bottle and mailed it. She received her shilling reward!
The Drift Bottle Project
In 2000, Canadian scientist Eddy Carmack became fascinated by messages in bottles and started the Drift Bottle Project. Carmack and many volunteers drop bottles into the water from different ships throughout the world's oceans. They keep track of when and where each bottle is dropped. The bottles are sealed with wax that prevents leaks, and every bottle contains a note with Carmack's contact information. Whenever a bottle is discovered, researchers record the details about when and where it was found. Carmack reports that about one in every 25 bottles is found.
Like other scientists before him, Carmack planned to use his bottle data to help track ocean currents. But his research has turned out to be far more useful than that. His data on the bottles' journeys have provided important clues about the climate, such as the melting patterns of ice in the Arctic. The drift bottles have also shown which direction oil spills and other types of pollution are moving around the world.
Messages in bottles might contribute much more to science in the future. So, those who find themselves on beaches should look and step carefully. Clues might be just ahead, peeking out of the sand Extended Constructed-Response
Imagine that you and your friends find a bottle with a messade inside of it. Write a story about what happens as you work together to solve the mystery of where the bottle came from. Use ideas from the
passage to develop your story.
Narrative Writer's Checklist
Be sure to:
• Write a narrative response that develops a real or imagined experience.
• Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters.
• Organize events in a clear and logical order.
o
Use a variety of transitions to sequence the events and to indicate shifts from one time frame or setting to another.
• Use dialogue, description, and/or pacing to:
• develop events.
• develop characters.
• Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to describe the events.
• Include a conclusion.
Use ideas and/or details from the passage(s).
• Check your work for correct usage, grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
Now write your narrative on your answer document. Refer to the Writer's Checklist as you write and proofread your narrative.

Answer 1

Title: The Mystery of the Seaside Bottle

One sunny afternoon in July, my friends Ava, Noah, and I decided to explore the abandoned beach near our town, known for its hidden treasures and legends. As we wandered along the shore, our laughter mingled with the sound of crashing waves. Suddenly, Ava spotted something half-buried in the sand. “Look at this!” she exclaimed, kneeling down to brush off the sand.

We gathered around as she unearthed a yellow glass bottle, its surface shimmering in the sunlight. My heart raced with excitement. “What if it has a message inside?” I suggested, imagining a treasure map or an ancient plea for help.

Carefully, we took turns trying to open the bottle. “We should be gentle,” Noah warned. After several minutes of tentative twisting, the cork finally popped out with a satisfying pop!, and we eagerly pulled out a piece of paper. The note was old and fragile, with elegant, swirling handwriting. As I unfolded it, a sweet, salty breeze filled the air.

“What does it say?” Ava asked, peering over my shoulder. The words were in German, but there were a few phrases we could decipher—dates and locations that appeared to reference a distant time and place.

“I see the date ‘June 12’ – I wonder what year it is?” Noah mused, clearly intrigued. A spark of adventure ignited within us. “Let’s figure out where this came from,” I said, my excitement bubbling over.

We quickly found a spot to sit and set to work. Noah, with his phone, became our translator, typing in the German phrases we could read. After a few minutes of searching, he turned to us. “It looks like someone named Johann tossed this bottle overboard a ship called the Paula.”

Ava’s eyes widened. “Wait, didn’t I read something about a famous shipwreck in school? Maybe this message is connected!”

“Let’s find out!” I suggested, standing up as an idea struck me. “We should head to the local library! They might have records about the Paula and its journeys.”

The library was only a short walk away. As we speed-walked down the sandy path, we shared wild theories about what the message might reveal. “What if it’s a treasure map?” Ava giggled. “Or a secret love letter from someone lost at sea?”

Once inside the library, we dove into the records, feverishly flipping through books and archives. Finally, after what felt like hours, Noah shouted, “I found something!” He pointed at an old newspaper clipping displayed in a dusty book. It told the tale of the Paula, a German ship that had tossed bottles overboard in an effort to measure ocean currents, just like the one we had found! The date matched too—June 12, 1886.

“This is incredible!” I exclaimed, my imagination running wild again. “This bottle has traveled for over 130 years! Just think—who found it before us?”

We ended our quest by sharing our findings with the librarian, who was equally fascinated. As we left, she told us that each found bottle is a piece of history, carrying with it the stories of times gone by.

Walking back to the beach, our hearts were light with the thrill of discovery. The sun began to set, casting golden hues over the waves, mirroring the excitement swirling inside us. We had not only found a bottle; we had uncovered a story—a bridge connecting us to someone from the past, challenging us to wonder about their life and journeys.

As we reached the same spot where we had first found the bottle, I couldn't help but feel grateful. “What a day!” I said, grinning from ear to ear. “This adventure is just the beginning. Next summer, let’s come back and see if we can find more messages hidden in the sand!”

The others nodded enthusiastically. For that magical day at the beach, the mystery had united us, and we left no stone unturned in our quest to unearth hidden histories.