1. Action of the Clover: “The warm red clover blows because it sways and nods gently in the summer breeze.”
2. Action of the Violet: “The blue violet peeps because it grows close to the ground, looking out shyly from beneath green grass and leaves.”
3. Rhyming Pair: “The rhyming words are blue and you.”
4. Line 1 & 2 Marks: “Lines 1 and 2 end with a semicolon ( ; ) to separate coordinate descriptive clauses.”
5. Exclamation Line: “Line 3 expresses joyful delight and ends with an exclamation point ( ! ).”
6. Supreme Name: “The holy name God is always capitalized as a sacred proper noun.”
Target Stanza:
Here blows the warm red clover;
There peeps the violet blue;
Oh, happy little children!
God made them all for you.
Checklist: (1) Capital ‘H’, ‘T’, ‘O’, ‘G’ starting each verse line; (2) Semicolons after clover; and blue;; (3) Exclamation mark after children!; (4) Comma after Oh,; (5) Period after you.
| Domain | Exemplary (25) | Proficient (20) | Developing (15) | Beginning (10) | Teacher Feedback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Poetic Recall | Flawless word-for-word recall of all four lines from memory. | 1 minor substitution without altering meaning or meter. | 2–3 omitted words; prompts required. | Fragmented or disordered recall of lines. | |
| 2. Punctuation Mastery | Flawless placement of semicolons, comma after Oh, exclamation mark, and period. | 1 punctuation mark omitted or substituted (e.g. comma for semicolon). | Missing semicolons; used only commas throughout. | No punctuation marks used in transcription. | |
| 3. Figurative Interpretation | Insightful explanation of blows and peeps as personified verbs. | Understands wind motion and hiding violet clearly. | Literal or simplistic definition of verbs. | Fails to explain sensory verbs. | |
| 4. Penmanship & Alignment | Poetic stanza formatting with uniform letter height and neat spacing. | Clean handwriting with minor alignment drift. | Uneven spacing between lines of verse. | Illegible writing or collapsed poetic structure. |