Home

Family Times

Daily Questions

Prior Knowledge

Main Ideas and Details

Vocabulary

Antonyms

Predictions

Guided Comprehension

Fact and Opinion

Persuasive Devices

Independent Readers

Perfect Harmony

Additional Resources

Home

Study Skills:

Genre: Expository NonfictionVocabulary Strategy: Context CluesComprehension Skill: Main IdeaComprehension Strategy: Graphic Organizers

Home

Home

Home

Question of the Week:

How does an artist use music to inspire others?

Daily Questions:

How did African Americans use music to fight against slavery?

How might young people today be inspired by Mahalia Jackson?

What ideas are repeated in both poems?

Home

Activate Prior Knowledge

K W L

Blues Music

I Know that Jazz and the blues are popular forms of music.

Where and when did it began?

Home

Main Idea and Details:

•The main idea is the most important idea about the topic.

•Sometimes the author tells you the main idea. Sometimes you must figure it out for yourself.

•Supporting details are small pieces of information that tell more about the main idea.

Home

Supporting Details Supporting Details

Main Ideas

Supporting Details

Home

Graphic Organizers:

Active readers use graphic organizers to help them understand, organize, and remember what they read. Making a graphic organizer as you read can help you figure out the main idea and the details that support it.

Home

Home

Write:

1. Read “Aretha: An American Queen.” Make a graphic organizer like the one above for the paragraphs.

2. Use your graphic organizers with main ideas to write a summary of this article.

Home

Home

Home

Home

Word Rating ChartWord Know Have Seen Don’t Know

appreciate

barber

choir

released

religious

slavery

teenager

Home

Appreciate

Think highly of; value; enjoy

Home

Barber:Person whose business is cutting hair and shaving or trimming beards.

Home

Choir:

A group of singers who sing together, often in a church service.

Home

Released:

Permitted to be published, shown, sold,etc

Home

Religious

Much interested in the belief, study, and worship of God or gods; devoted to religion.

Home

Slavery:

The condition of being owned by another person and being made to work without wages.

Home

Teenager:

A person in his or her teens.

Home

More Words to Know:

Gospel: Religious music with much emotion and enthusiasm.

Posthumously: Happening after death

Spirituals: Religious songs which originated among African Americans of the southern United States.

Home

Practice Lesson Vocabulary:True or False

The blues has its roots in slavery.

A barber sings for a living.

Released means something was stolen.

A teenager attends either middle or high school.

Home

Vocabulary Strategy (P. 348)

Context Clues: Antonyms

An antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning of another word. For example, cold is an antonym for hot. An author may put an antonym near a difficult word to help you discover what it means.

1. Read the words and sentences around the unfamiliar word.

2. Look for antonyms that show contrast with the unfamiliar word. When things are contrasted, words such as unlike, not, but, or on the other hand may signal the contrast.

3. Give the unfamiliar word the opposite meaning of the antonym. Does this meaning make sense in the sentence?

As you read “Out of Great Pain, Great Music,” check the words and sentences around any unfamiliar word. See if an antonym helps you figure out its meaning.

Home

Home

Home

Genre: Expository Nonfiction

Expository nonfiction explains what certain things are and how they came to be. As you read, notice how the author explains a musical form known as the blues and how it came to be.

Home

How did Mahalia Jackson use the blues in a new

and different way?

Home

Preview and Predict

Preview the selection title and illustrations and discuss the topics or ideas you think the selection will cover. Use your lesson vocabulary words as you discuss what you expect to learn.

Home

Guided Comprehension:

What is the main idea on p. 352, paragraph 2? What detail supports the main idea?

The roots of blues go back to slavery. What is an antonym for slavery?

How has what you’ve read helped you understand why blues music was important to slaves?

“Her father worked on the docks during the day…” Is this a statement of fact or a statement of opinion? How do you know?

Find the main idea and a supporting detail on p. 355.

Mahalia Jackson’s singing career was inspired by her musical idol, Bessie Smith. Do you have an idol that inspires you to do something you love?

Why do you think the author wrote, “ She could hold a note until you thought she should run out of breath…”?

How could completing a main idea and details chart help you better understand the selection?

Home

Fact and Opinion

• Statements of fact can be proved true or false.

• Opinions are statements of someone’s ideas, feelings, or way of thinking about something.

Find a statement of fact and a statement of opinion on p. 355, paragraph 2.

Home

Home

Persuasive Devices:Authors use persuasive devices, also known as propaganda, to persuade people to be for or against someone or something. It is an extreme form of biased writing.

• Some types of persuasive devices are bandwagon, testimonial, and loaded words.

• It is up to the reader to decide whether or not he or she agrees or disagrees with an author’s ideas.

Point out the author’s use of persuasive devices on p. 352 when he describes the blues.

Write a persuasive paragraph about the type of music they like best and why.

Home

SUMMARYThis book explores the history of blues music by discussing the careers of famous musicians such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

PAGES 8–9 Why do you think the authorchose to show pictures of old phonographs?

PAGE 9 What is the main idea of the first paragraph?

PAGES 10–13 Do you think a time line wouldbe a good graphic to show the informationon these pages? Why or why not?

PAGE 23 What are some roots of the blues?

Home

Home

Home

SUMMARY This book traces the evolution of blues music from its West African origins to current-day rap music.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

PAGES 6–7 What is the main idea of thissection?

PAGE 11 According to the time line, when diddifferent types of blues music begin to appearin different areas?

PAGES 16–17 What information is the authorgiving on these pages?

PAGE 19 How is rap music like the blues?

Home

Home

Home

SUMMARY This book explores the ways thatblues music has influenced other musical genres.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

PAGE 3 What is the main idea of the first paragraph on this page?

PAGE 4 What are some reasons workers sang in the fields?

PAGE 7 What is distinctive about the verse structure in a Delta blues song?

PAGE 15 How was the group called The Carter Family influenced by blues music?

PAGE 21 When was the first blues music recorded?

Home

Home

Home

Genre: Poetry

A poem is a composition arranged in lines. A line may be as short as a single word.

Many poems are written in the first person, with the speaker serving as a character.

Some poems have rhyme; others do not. The poet creates images through the thyme and rhythm of language.

The poet also uses images to express thoughts and feelings.

Read the introduction and look at the titles of the poems and the photographs. What do you think the poems will be about?

Based on the titles and photographs, what do you think these poems are about?

Home

What parts of the body does the singer use to gain focus?

Home

What does it mean to “breathe life into words”?

Home

Compare how Mahalia Jackson and the speaker of the poems use their bodies when they sing.

Make a list of tips that Mahalia and the speaker might give to people who want to sing with great energy and power. Share your tips with the class.

MahaliaSpeaker of “Perfect

Harmony”

Home

Additional Resources:Sample Music (Mahalia Jackson)

http://www.mahaliajackson.us/

Main Idea

Main Idea Passages

Antonym Game

Antonym Practice