Writing Assignment:
The Night the Bed Fell
/20
Letter
by James Thurber
Directions:
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you are Briggs Beall
write a letter to your mother about some of your unusual experiences during your visit to the
Thurber house
look over the format for letters found in the Write Source text on pages 150-151 and follow the
modification indicated below
type the letter by spacing as it is in the text (see word processing skills below for more guidelines)
Criteria for Evaluation
Content:
Conventions:
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refer to the incident with the bed in only 3-4 sentences by
expressing your feelings about the situation—just don’t retell what
happened
make up one new incident, but keep Briggs’s character consistent
with the way he is portrayed in the story
refer to at least two other characters in the family
use at least two vocab words correctly somewhere in your letter
write only TWO body paragraphs (it will not be as long as the example
letter in the text)
Correctness:
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
references to story/characters are correct
made-up incident fits story/characters
creative & unique
Word Processing Skills:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
standard left & right margins (1.24)
center letter vertically
centered heading horizontally
single-space body of letter
flush left margins with indented paragraphs
center closing & signature horizontally
space correctly between
a.
b.
c.
Format of the Letter:
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punctuation
grammar & wording
spelling
indentions
heading (address of sender)
salutation (greeting w/ name of person writing to)
body (2 paragraphs only)
closing
signature area
DO NOT have a P.S. portion
heading & salutation
salutation & body
body & closing
8. font is easily readable & consistent in size &
type
a.
use a script type of font for the signature
Rubric for Friendly Letter
4
Content
has all 5 items
20 Points
3
has 4 of the 5
2
has 3 of the 5
1
has 2 of the 5 (1=0)
retells too much of
story
Correctness
all 3 bullets
2 of the 3 bullets
2 of the 1 of the bullets
little insight into new
incident
Format
all 5 parts
has 4 of the 5 parts
has 3 of the 5
has 2 of the 5 (1=0)
Conventions
all correct or only 1-2
errors
3-4 errors
5-6 errors
7-8 errors (>=0)
Word
Processing
Skills
all 11 items correct or
only 1 error
8-9 correct
6-7 correct
4-5 correct (<=0)