Ms. Rebecca Lee - Rm3
relee2@seattleschools.org
Families,
We began our Black History Month unit with a reading about the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins. Students are very excited about engaging in this important part of history. We will also study the lives of exceptional African Americans throughout history with a biography study from books that I have in Room 3.
Students will learn to recognize and use text organizational structures to aid in reading comprehension and make meaningful connections with nonfiction books. They will research, develop, organize, and present (in first person) an overview of the life and achievements of their selected person to the class. More acting!
I’ve attached a copy of the unit and the timeline of assignments. I’d like to invite you to share information, experiences, and artifacts that you may have from your families’ experiences. Send me a quick note if you would like to come in and talk with the class—we’d love it!
Thank you for your support- Black History Month
You will be researching the life of someone exceptional. We will begin by choosing a person from the books in class.
We will read biographies about your exceptional person and look for connections between their life and yours. We will consider motivations and feelings about the world in which you both have lived.
Then will create a timeline of 6-10 important moments in their life. You will also create a timeline of at least 6-10 important moments in your life. We will compare the two timelines and discover the differences and similarities between this important person and you.
Once you discover meaningful similarities, you will write them as a final draft on a poster to be displayed as part of our Black History Month unit of study.
The next step is to write a list of 10 important facts about your chosen person. You will dress up as that person (if possible) and present them to the class. The class will interview you about your 10 facts. If you do not feel comfortable presenting yourself as the person because they are a different gender, you can choose to present yourself as a person from the time period that is the same gender as you. One way to do this is to present as the daughter/son of the person you researched.
The presentation should be two to four minutes in length and should cover the most important events/parts of their life. I would suggest presenting in a chronological order, which means that you present the events from their birth to their death or if person is still alive to the present day.
Due dates:
_______ Wed. Feb. 24: Greensboro Lunch Sit-ins comprehension questions
_______ Thurs. Feb. 25: Double entry journal in notebook
_______ Fri. Feb 26: Timeline of exceptional person and timeline of important events in your life
_______ Tues. March 2: First draft of 10 important facts about exceptional person and 10 important facts about you
_______ Wed. March 3: Final draft of 10 important facts for both exceptional person and you
_______ Thurs. March 4: “Me/We” final draft on template
_______ Mon. March 8: presentations begin
Biography Speech Rubric
| | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Organization | Student presents story in logical, interesting sequence which audience can easily follow. | Student tells story of person in a logical sequence. | Audience has difficulty following presentation because student does not logically tell story. | Audience cannot understand presentation because there is no sequence to the story. |
| Subject Knowledge | Student demonstrates full knowledge of person’s life and elaborates throughout. | Student is comfortable, but fails to elaborate. | Student is uncomfortable with information. | Student does not have grasp of information. |
| Voice | Student uses a clear voice and correct, precise pronunciation of terms so that all audience members can hear presentation. | Student's voice is clear. Student pronounces most words correctly. Most audience members can hear presentation. | Student's voice is low. Student incorrectly pronounces terms. Audience members have difficulty hearing presentation. | Student mumbles, incorrectly pronounces terms, and speaks too quietly for students in the back of class to hear. |
| Eye Contact | Student maintains eye contact with audience, seldom returning to notes. | Student maintains eye contact most of the time, but frequently returns to notes. | Student occasionally uses eye contact, but still reads most of report. | Student reads all of report with no eye contact. |
| Character | Student speaks as a character throughout speech. | Student speaks as a character throughout most of speech. | Student speaks a character in parts of the speech. | Student does not speak as a character. |
| Timeline | At least six (6) significant events are present. This includes date and description.
Timeline contains meaningful graphics. | At least five (5) significant events are present. This includes date and description.
Timeline contains graphics. | At least three (3) significant events are present. This includes date and description.
Timeline contains 0-1 graphics. | Less than three (3) significant events are present. This includes date and description.
Timeline does not contain graphics. |
Class Help
Room Parents - Sarah Gannholm, Jennifer Emrich, Heidi Kaplan, Rebecca Phelps
Academic Volunteers - coming soon
See list of other volunteers
here.
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Land and Water- Students explore the concept of erosion and the impact it has on the world. We'll look at the effects of gravity, glaciers, and water on landforms.
Models and Designs- We'll be using simple materials to build mini-gokarts and change variables to see how they are affected. Students will using stop watches and measurement tools to investigate data they collect.