Beethoven Lives Upstairs: 2 Day Reading Comprehension Camp students will meet 1 week for 2 days to read and discuss the book  and life of a man who significantly impacted music history while dealing with progressive hearing loss which led to total deafness. This fictional account of Beethoven's young neighbor chronicles the musician's real-life accomplishments and challenges in dealing with his hearing loss.  Students will apply comprehension skills while gaining insight into one of the most brilliant minds in musical history.  We will focus on reading comprehension, writing, fluency, speaking, and listening. Students will listen to segments of some of his most recognized works.

Students at this age are also learning to be good readers.  Good readers use prior knowledge, make predictions, summarize, question, infer, visualize, and make inferences.  WHEW!  That's a LOT!  It is important for children to be able to comprehend what they read--but HOW does that happen?  Students must apply literal, inferential, and evaluative skills to answer who, what, when, where, why, and how questions based on the text.  In this camp, we will practice answering comprehension questions focused on inferences and making predictions. Students will review new vocabulary, and answering the 5W's + H (how) questions while reading each story.

During each 50 minute class:
• Students will be welcomed to class.  We will quickly review the class rules and our learning goals.  
• We will go over a short 5-minute mini lesson on story structure and plot elements.  Emphasis will be placed on building the literary vocabulary (setting, characters, events, problem/solution.) Students will then listen to the book about Beethoven to apply their skills.  
• Students will then spend approximately 20 minutes with teacher guidance, using a story map to identify plot elements.  Younger children will draw a picture with details to complete the story map.  Teacher support will be available to all students during this time. Students should raise their hand if they have a question.
• As a class, we will review the material covered in the mini lesson and I will answer any questions prior to dismissing the class.  

Day 1: Who is Beethoven?   We will read the first half of the book.
Day 2: We will finish reading the book and explore Beethoven's legacy, as well as his hearing loss and how it impacted his life.  We will history with reading comprehension. 

(NOTE:  Children learn vocabulary, sequencing, and prediction skills through repetition of stories.  If you feel your child would benefit from hearing the stories again, I would love to have him/her join me in additional sections of the class!)