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Songs for the People LESSON 19 TEACHER’S GUIDE Songs for the People by Darleen Ramos Fountas-Pinnell Level P Biography Selection Summary Woody Guthrie was a folk singer and award-winning writer of over 1,000 songs, including “This Land Is Your Land.” Listeners related to his songs of Depression-era America, songs that told of the beauty of America and of the spirit and struggle of working Americans. Number of Words: 871 Characteristics of the Text Genre • Biography Text Structure • Third-person narrative • Brief introduction, followed by nine sections detailing Guthrie’s life and musical career • Final section discussing Guthrie’s living legacy and summarizing important events in his life Content • Woody Guthrie’s life and music • The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl Themes and Ideas • People are moved by songs that relate to their lives. • Music that moves people’s hearts is timeless. • Music and poetry can uplift people’s lives in diffi cult times. Language and • Clear, straightforward presentation Literary Features • Informal language; some contractions • Rich in facts and details Sentence Complexity • Long, complex sentences, often followed by short declarative sentences • Introductory phrases; embedded clauses, subordinate clauses Vocabulary • Words and phrases associated with the Depression: Dust Bowl, drought, camps Words • Few multisyllable words: songwriters, Depression, Oklahoma, California • Adverbs: Thankfully, unfortunately, truly • Place names: Pampa, Texas; Queens, New York Illustrations • Historic photographs with captions Book and Print Features • Thirteen pages of text, most with photographs • Timeline chart © 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H. Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Permission is hereby granted to individual teachers using the corresponding (discipline) Leveled Readers to photocopy student worksheets from this publication in classroom quantities for instructional use and not for resale. Requests for information on other matters regarding duplication of this work should be addressed to Houghton Miffl in Harcourt Publishing Company, Attn: Contracts, Copyrights, and Licensing, 9400 SouthPark Center Loop, Orlando, Florida 32819. Printed in the U.S.A. 978-0-547-30532-5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0940 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Miffl in Harcourt Publishing Company retains title to the materials and they may not be resold. Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited. Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or any portion of it, into electronic format. 4_305325_BL_LRTG_L19_SongsForPeople.indd 1 11/4/09 11:36:00 PM Songs for the People by Darleen Ramos Build Background Help students use their knowledge of music to visualize the story. Build interest by asking questions such as the following: Do you know the song “This Land Is Your Land”? What is it about? Tell students that they are going to read about the songwriter who wrote it, a famous folk singer who wrote over 1,000 songs. Read the title and author, and talk about the cover photograph. Tell students that this is a biography of the songwriter Woody Guthrie. It is about his life and work and the world he lived in. Introduce the Text Guide students through the text, noting important ideas and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so they can read the text successfully. Here are some suggestions: Page 2: The text says Woody Guthrie was one of the most brilliant songwriters and storytellers of our time. Ask: What is another word that means brilliant? Page 5: Explain that Woody grew up during the Depression–a diffi cult time for farmers and others. Ask them what they notice about the land in the photograph. Page 7: During the Depression, the soil turned to dust in large areas of Texas and Oklahoma called the Dust Bowl. Ask: What effect do you think the drought had on the people who lived in the region? Page 9: After Woody moved to California, he liked to dedicate his songs to the people he had met in his travels. Ask: What does it mean to dedicate a song to someone? Now go back to the beginning and read to fi nd out what happened to Woody Guthrie and how he became a successful musician. Target Vocabulary association – a group of people confl icts – problems or horizon – the place at which the offi cially organized for a certain disagreements between earth and sky meet purpose people, p. 3 overcome – to solve or conquer a brilliant – very bright, p. 2 dedicate – to devote to a special diffi culty capitol – a building in which a purpose, p. 9 publicity – information given out government meets to create drought – a time when there is to get the public’s attention law, p. 14 little or no rain, p. 7 violence – the use of physical force to cause harm Grade 4 2 Lesson 19: Songs for the People © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 44_305325_BL_LRTG_L19_SongsForPeople.indd_305325_BL_LRTG_L19_SongsForPeople.indd 2 77/28/09/28/09 44:49:42:49:42 PPMM Read Have students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their understanding of the text as needed. Remind students to use the Infer/Predict Strategy and to think about what the text suggests, or hints at, and make predictions about what will happen. Discuss and Revisit the Text Personal Response Invite students to share their personal responses to the biography. Suggested language: What songs do you know that tell stories? How did Woody’s music tell the stories of working Americans? Ways of Thinking As you discuss the text, help students understand these points: Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text • Woody grew up in the • Woody used his talent to help • Historic photographs help Depression and fl ed the Dust others face tough times. readers understand the tragedies Bowl. of the Great Depression and • Talent, combined with hard work Dust Bowl. • Woody wrote songs about and a desire to help others, wins America and the spirit and out against hard times. • Headings help readers organize struggles of working Americans. information about Guthrie’s life. • Music that touches people’s • Woody was an award-winning hearts and lives is timeless. • A timeline chart summarizes songwriter, whose most famous important events in Woody’s life song was “This Land Is Your and their chronology. Land.” © 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H. Choices for Further Support • Fluency Invite students to choose a passage from the text for a readers’ theater in which they demonstrate phrased fl uent reading. Remind them to read with expression as they address the sequence of problems and solutions presented by the narrative. • Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion, revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go back to the text to support their ideas. • Phonics/Word Work Call attention to the term capitol in the fi rst sentence on page 14. Point out that it is followed by building. Explain that a capital city or capital letter is spelled with an “a.” A capitol building is spelled with an “o.” One way to remember this is to picture the dome of the capitol building in Washington, D.C. It is shaped like an “o.” Grade 4 3 Lesson 19: Songs for the People © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 4_305325_BL_LRTG_L19_SongsForPeople.indd 3 11/4/09 11:36:05 PM Writing about Reading Critical Thinking Have students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 19.7. Responding Have students complete the activities at the back of the book, using their Reader’s Notebook. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill. Target Comprehension Skill Persuasion Remind students that one purpose for writing is to persuade. The author of Woody Guthrie’s biography seeks to persuade readers that his songs and stories inspired people during the Depression. Model how to add details to the Graphic Organizer, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below: Think Aloud The author’s goal is to persuade the reader to believe that Woody Guthrie’s songs inspired many people. She notes that Woody wrote about the spirit of America’s working people. That’s a reason she uses to persuade. Practice the Skill Encourage students to share a biography they have read about another important person and tell what they think the author was trying to persuade them to think about that person. Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the Text Have students write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they think beyond the text, they use their personal knowledge to reach new understandings. Assessment Prompts • Which words on page 7 help the reader understand what Dust Bowl means? • In the third sentence on page 9, what does the word dedicate mean? • Where was Woody Guthrie living when he recorded his fi rst album? Grade 4 4 Lesson 19: Songs for the People © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 4_305325_BL_LRTG_L19_SongsForPeople.indd 4 11/4/09 11:36:11 PM English Language Development Reading Support Pair advanced and intermediate readers to read the selection softly, or have students listen to the audio or online recordings. Remind them that Woody grew up in the Depression and fl ed the Dust Bowl.
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