On a Beam of Light explores the life of Albert Einstein, the scientist, and Albert Einstein, the artist, through both a chapter book and a picture book. The module explores the idea of how one person’s trash can be someone else's treasure. Students will learn about buildings and visual artists from around the world as they travel from Paraguay to Europe to the United States. Throughout the module, students will have opportunities to study pointillism and create original design while getting a taste of what it’s like to be both a scientist and an artist.
Before you begin...
Each Artful Reading Module is flexibly designed for a 2-3 week duration. Lessons are marked for Before-, During-, or After-Reading to guide your planning. We have added a sample of a Before Reading lesson entitled Card Construction for you to preview. Each lesson is designed in an easy to read format, with standards, materials needed, and step-by-step directions to ensure you are fully prepared when it’s time to deliver.
This module contains the following lessons:
- Quote Walk
- Card Construction
- Chapter by Chapter
- Beams of Light
- Beam Me Up, Einstein
- Transforming Trash
- Hot Seat
- Waves of Sound
o Einstein Had a Little Lamb
o Drumming Pictures
o Zing Went the Violin - Get to the Point
The summative writing tasks will invite students into a PBL experience.
While conducting self and group initiated research, the compelling question
students will explore is How can we light up the community with music? Optional Extension Tasks are also available to stretch the module further. Optional Extension Tasks are also available to stretch the module further.
Standards Matrix
This module is aligned to National Literacy standards and National Arts Anchor standards. For your reference, we have added images of the standards matrix for this module.
Key Vocabulary
Beam, Repurpose, Pointillism, Band, Fiddled, Symphony, Bittersweet,
Oxymoron, Tune, Dynamics, Tempo