Rhapsody in Blue Story

Students chose one character from the Rhapsody in Blue video, and they wrote a narrative. I instructed students to write a variety of sentences (complex or compound) and action words. Here is the rubric.

A	B	C	D
3+ complex sentences	2 complex sentences	1-2 complex sentences	0-1 complex sentence
2+ compound sentences	2 compound sentences	1 compound sentence	0-1 compound sentence
Less than 5 to be verbs	5-7 to be verbs	8-10 to be verbs	10+ to be verbs
5 paragraphs	4 paragraphs	3 paragraphs	1-2 paragraphs

I also reminded students to limit the clauses in each sentences. Students should write no more than two clauses per sentence.

Rhapsody in Blue Characters Part 2

We continued describing the characters by movement and facial expressions.

Character #1	Character #2	Character #3
Flexible arms and legs Runs smashes lunch Big, wide eyes Open smile, shows teeth	Slow steps Slouched shoulders sipping coffee staggered steps Dark circles under eyes Frown with pout	Dragged to activities by nanny Clumsy bumps into wall Small, beady eyes Straight line mouth

Rhapsody in Blue Characters

These are vital statistics, the concrete details.

Character #1	Character #2	Character #3
Construction worker Age: 20’s Man Skinny Bald African American Carries drumsticks Dream: jazz musician	White man Empty pockets Slouched Bags under his eyes Age: 30’s/40’s Fat Dream: employment	Girl Age: 8-11 Many activities (ballet, swimming, piano,etc.) Mistakes Has a nanny Chubby Brown curly hair Dream: spend more time with her parents

Prepare for student-led conferences

This is what we learned the first quarter of language arts.
Reading Skills	Writing Skills	Speaking Skills
Text Features Question the Text Preview the Text (BIG FOX) Discussion Questions Note-taking (Fact Fragments)	Clause Compound Sentence Complex Sentence Writing Plan (Web, List, Chart)	Eye Contact Loud and Clear Natural Rhythm Meaningful

Write a letter to your family about your successes and challenges in language arts. You will write three paragraphs, one for each skill set. Include an explanation about the reading log. You may use the letter below as a reference, but feel free to change words and phrases to better reflect your experience.

September 23, 2011

Dear Family,

In the first quarter of language arts, I learned reading skills, writing skills and speaking skills. In reading, I understand ___________________  and ________________ .  I do not understand ___________________ as well.

In writing, I learned about __________________ and _______________________ . I want to improve my writing by _____________________________ and ______________________________ .

In speaking, Ms. Avery expects us to _____________________ . I think I can ________________________ .

Character Development

We will develop character sketches from the Rhapsody in Blue video. On Thursday we watched the Fantasia 2000 interpretation of George Gershwin's composition. Students wrote vital statistics for three characters. Two of these characters are featured on the Disney Wiki. Check the links below to prepare a story about one of the Rhapsody in Blue characters.

First Character
Second Character

The third character is based on the fictional character Eloise, created by Kay Thompson.

Speech #3

Students have six questions to study for an impromptu speech on Thursday.

A	B	C
Speaks with a loud, clear voice and uses meaningful eye contact.	Speaks with a loud, clear voice, but uses little eye contact.	Speaks quietly or mumbling. Uses little eye contact.
Answers the prompt concisely. Supports response with two facts and two story details.	Supports response with one fact and one story detail. Struggles to connect story details and history facts.	Answers the prompt without examples from the text.

1.       Describe how Grandmother felt about moving to the United States of America.

2.       Compare what Stacy thinks about her grandmother’s feet at the beginning of the story to the ending.

3.       How does Grandmother’s misunderstanding about the ribbons influence what Stacy thinks of her?

4.       Grandmother lived a long life in China. Describe how she felt about communism.

5.       How could Grandmother describe her childhood to Stacy?

6.       Why does Stacy believe her Grandmother is a hero?

Taking Notes

We decided these are the important steps of the fact fragment frenzy:

Fact Fragment Frenzy

1.      Read the paragraph from beginning to end.

2.      Write a title for my notes.

3.      Read each sentence and write the most important words in my notes.

4.      I won’t need to write complete sentences.

5.      I won’t need to write small words, like articles and prepositions.

We then read an article from Time for Kids called "Packing a Safe Lunch." We practiced the fact fragment frenzy on the first paragraph. Words in red are the most important words of each sentence.

“Packing a Safe Lunch”

Next time you bring lunch to school, you might want to add some extra ice packs to your lunch bag or make sure it gets refrigerated. A new study found that most of the lunches kids bring to school and day care are being stored at unsafe temperatures. This can lead to the growth of harmful bacteria that causes food poisoning.

In our composition notebooks we wrote these as example notes.

Unsafe Lunches

Extra ice packs

Refrigerated

New study: unsafe temperatures

Harmful bacteria

Food poisoning

We then wrote 20-word summaries.