1. 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

2. Study Skills: Genre: Expository Nonfiction
Vocabulary Strategy: Context Clues
Comprehension Skill: Main Idea
Comprehension Strategy: Graphic Organizers

5. Question of the Week: Daily Questions:
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?

6. K W L Activate Prior Knowledge Blues Music
Where and when did it began?
I Know that Jazz and the blues are popular forms of music.

7. 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.

8. Main Ideas
Supporting Details
Supporting Details
Supporting Details

9. 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.

11. Write:
Read “Aretha: An American Queen.” Make a graphic organizer like the one above for the paragraphs.
Use your graphic organizers with main ideas to write a summary of this article.

15. Word Rating Chart Word Know Have Seen Don’t Know appreciate barber
choir
released
religious
slavery
teenager

16. Appreciate
Think highly of; value; enjoy

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

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

19. Released:
Permitted to be published, shown, sold,etc

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

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

22. Teenager:
A person in his or her teens.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.
Read the words and sentences around the unfamiliar word.
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.
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.

28. 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.

29. How did Mahalia Jackson use the blues in a new and different way?

30. 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.

31. 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?

32. 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.

34. 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.

35. COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
SUMMARY
This 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 author
chose 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 would
be a good graphic to show the information
on these pages? Why or why not?
PAGE 23 What are some roots of the blues?

38. COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
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 this
section?
PAGE 11 According to the time line, when did
different types of blues music begin to appear
in different areas?
PAGES 16–17 What information is the author
giving on these pages?
PAGE 19 How is rap music like the blues?

41. COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
SUMMARY
This book explores the ways that
blues 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?

44. 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?

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

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

47. Speaker of “Perfect Harmony”
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.
Speaker of “Perfect Harmony”
Mahalia

48. Additional Resources:
Sample Music (Mahalia Jackson)
Main Idea
Main Idea Passages
Antonym Game
Antonym Practice