Reading Level:
R

Word Count:
1,529

Pages:
22 

Text Summary
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an extraordinary musician. He began playing and writing amazing music at an incredibly young age. But even with his great talent, he did not have an easy life. The book is a biography that helps readers understand why he is one of the greatest musicians who ever lived.                                                                                                         

Lesson Objectives

Reading Strategies
Students should use a variety of strategies to determine word meaning and comprehend text. The target strategy for this lesson is: using context clues to work out the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. 

Word and Print Skills

Phonics
r-controlled /âr/
Grammar
Adjectives
Word Work
Comparatives and superlatives 

Targeted Vocabulary Words
concerto, dreadful, monastery, organ, organist, probable, prodigy, requiem, scales, smitten

These are difficult words that students will encounter in the text. You may want to review and discuss these words and have students add them to the classroom word wall or dictionary. 

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as students work to understand the text. The target comprehension strategy for this lesson is: drawing conclusions. 

Before Reading

Build Background
Involve students in a discussion about classical music to elicit prior knowledge and build background. If available, play a selection of Mozart’s music for students.
Ask: Have you ever listened to classical music? How would you describe classical music? Have you ever heard an orchestra, either on a CD, on the radio, or live at a concert? What are some of the instruments you can hear in an orchestra? What do you know about Mozart? 

Introduce the Book
Show students the cover illustration and have them read the title to make initial predictions about the main idea or topic.
Ask: What do you see on the cover? What do you think this book is about? What can you learn about the kind of text this is from the cover? What else can you guess from the illustration or title?

Book Walk
Give students their copies of the book and go through as much of the book as you feel is necessary. Point out things you feel will challenge students when they read. Look at the pictures with students and discuss what they see. You may want to write down some of the words they suggest. 

As you look through the text, point out text features such as headings, bold-face type, pronunciations, and the glossary. Ask students how they will use these text features when they read. 

Reading Strategies
Remind students to use any or all of the following strategies to help them in their reading:

• Ask themselves: Does it make sense? Does it sound right? Does it look right?
• Connect the text with what they already know
• Summarize after reading a section to be sure they understood what they read
• Reread any sentence or page that was difficult, to make sure that they understand the text
• Use what they know about letters and sounds to read new words
• Use context clues to figure out word meanings

Ask students about the strategies they think they will use if they get to a difficult word. Talk about how they can look for clues to a word’s meaning in the sentence. Sometimes they need to think about the whole paragraph to work out the meaning of an unfamiliar word. 

During Reading

Student Reading
Tell students that you want them to use sticky notes to mark any difficult words that they were able to understand by using context. Tell them you will talk about these words when they have finished reading.
Have students read the book independently. You might suggest they stop after each chapter to summarize, ask questions, and reread if needed. 

After Reading

Reflect on Reading Strategies
Draw the students together again and discuss the strategies they used while they were reading.
Ask and say: Were there any words you had trouble with? What strategies did you use to work them out? Let’s look at the words you have marked with sticky notes, and see how we can use the context to figure out their meaning.  

Comprehending the Text
Help students draw conclusions about Mozart. Begin by reviewing what it means to draw conclusions.
Say and ask: We can use information from the text and from our own life experiences to draw conclusions about what we read. For example, in The Three Bears, Goldilocks entered the Bears' house without being invited in. I know from my own experience that this is not the right thing to do. I can use Goldilocks’s actions, plus my own knowledge, to draw the conclusion that she was rude.
Say and ask: Let’s think about the conclusions we can draw about Mozart and his life from this biography. What conclusions can we draw about the kind of person he was? What clues in the text help us draw these conclusions? What conclusions can we draw about the time in which he lived? What evidence from the book helps us draw these conclusions?  

Give out worksheet 1 and have students draw conclusions from what they read. 

Discuss other aspects of the story if time allows. Suggested questions are:

• What was the author’s purpose? Why did she write this story?
• For what audience is this text written?
• What did you learn that you didn’t already know?
• Why do you think Mozart is known as the greatest musician who ever lived? Do you agree? Why or why not? 

Building Skills

Phonics
r-controlled /âr/
Write the word chair on the board and have students read the word. Review with students how the ai digraph sometimes stands for the long a sound. Explain that in this word, the ai is followed by the letter r, which changes the sound. Have students think of words that rhyme with chair and write them on the board. For example, hair, hare, tear, bear, bare, wear, ware, fair, fare, stair, stare, etc. Ensure that students include words with spellings other than -air. Ask volunteers to circle the letters that make the /âr/ sound. 

Grammar
Adjectives
Say: Adjectives are words that describe nouns. They help tell what something looks, smells, sounds, tastes, acts, and feels like. There were many words used to describe Mozart and his music in this text. Let’s go back and make a list of adjectives from the text.
Divide up the text and have students work in pairs to make lists of descriptive adjectives. After lists have been compiled, review the words and discuss which words were the most powerful or held the most meaning.
Ask: Why did the author choose to use these words in the text? 

Word Work
Comparatives and superlatives
Write the word weak on the board. Explain that adding -er to an adjective means that the adjective now describes its noun as more than something else. Adding -est to an adjective means that the noun is the most. Add -er and -est to the word weak, and have students use each of the three words in a sentence. Repeat with the words small, big, and new. Highlight the addition of an extra g before adding endings to the word big. Then write the word good on the board. Explain that sometimes we don’t add -er or -est but use a different word to make comparisons. Write better and best next to the word good, and have students use all three in oral sentences. 

Give students worksheet 2, and have them write the comparative and superlative forms of each word and use them in sentences.

Expand the Reading

Writing Connection
As students listen to a piece of music by Mozart, have them brainstorm words or feelings that come to mind. Have them use the words to write a poem. 

Music Connection
Listen to several pieces of music by Mozart. Compare his early work to his later work. 

Art Connection
As students listen to a piece of music by Mozart have them use watercolors to paint the feelings that come to mind. The poems created in the Writing Connection can be mounted on the watercolors. 

Performing Arts Connection
Watch and listen to a production of one of Mozart’s operettas or operas. Discuss the story line and why the piece is still performed. 

Reading Independently
Invite students to reread the book independently or with a partner. Have students share their poems from the Writing Connection with each other.

Home Connection
Invite students to take the book home to read with their families. Have them share their Writing Connection poems and Art Connection paintings with a family member. 

Assessment

• Listen to students’ responses during the Reflect on Reading Strategies section to determine if students understand how to use the context to figure out meanings of unfamiliar words.
• Listen to students’ responses during the After Reading discussion to assess their ability to draw conclusions based on information in the story. Review their completed worksheets to further assess their ability to draw conclusions about what they read.
• Review students’ completed word worksheet to determine how well they can use comparatives.