Meet Scott Joplin

Grade level

Grades 2–5

Time

About 20 minutes

Topic

Composers

Answer key

Yes, page 2 of the PDF

Kids practice

Reading for information, Recalling facts from a passage, Placing composers in time, Connecting a composer to their music

What kids do

Printed on the sheet:

1. Scott Joplin was born around 1868 and grew up in Texarkana, a town on the border of
2. Texas and Arkansas. His family loved music, and he learned to play the piano as a boy.
3. Joplin became famous for ragtime, a bouncy style of piano music with a steady beat in the left hand and a jumpy tune in the right hand. In 1899 he published the Maple Leaf
4. Rag, which became a huge hit. He also wrote The Entertainer and an opera called
5. Treemonisha. People called him the King of Ragtime. Joplin died in 1917. In 1976 he was honored with a special Pulitzer Prize for his music.
6. Scott Joplin was called the King of Ragtime.
7. Ragtime is a slow and sleepy kind of music.
8. Joplin grew up in New York City.

Teacher tip

Play The Entertainer and have kids pat the steady beat with the left hand while they tap the bouncy tune with the right. That is ragtime in two hands.

How to use it

• Play a minute of the composer’s music before reading.
• Read the passage aloud once, then let kids reread it on their own.
• Make the sound first. Clap, sing or play the idea before kids see it on paper.

Watch for

Answering from memory. Send kids back to the passage for proof.

Talk about it

• How does the music make you feel?
• What does this symbol tell a musician to do?

Take it further

Listen to one full piece and draw while it plays.

US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.