Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer - Common Core

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Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd Grade 5• Unit 2 Renaissance Thinking type Informational Text (Lexile 1120L) map

Unit

OVERVIEW ~ TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS ~ ASSESSMENT

overview Rationale This biography was selected because of its excellent informational quality. In particular, it exhibits engaging characterization, detailed explanations of the effect of the various settings on the main character (Leonardo da Vinci), and vivid details about Leonardo da Vinci’s brilliant thoughts, theories, experiments, and art. It could be compared with other biographies designed for children in terms of detail and background explanation, or used as an example of how text features facilitate a reader’s comprehension. Additionally, it presents an opportunity for teachers to pair this text with other informational texts within an integrated science unit about environmental science, the physics of lenses, or anatomy—or within an integrated social studies unit about the culture of the Renaissance in Italy and France. Suggestions for Use Because this is a challenging text for the second unit of fifth grade, teachers may need to read the main text aloud during the first read with students, pausing to point out details in the pictures. Students will need to spend time with the text up close to contemplate fully the main text, detailed sidebar notes, and vivid color illustrations as they answer the questions. This Lexile is quite high for fifth grade, primarily due to the scientific vocabulary embedded in the text; however, the text features—such as color illustrations and informational sidebars—greatly help to explain complex scientific and artistic concepts in a simple, straightforward manner that will allow students to obtain an understanding of the way Leonardo da Vinci viewed and learned about the world.

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Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd


Common Core State Standards Alignment (a) Focus Standards Students will demonstrate mastery of the following standards through the analysis of the text and completion of the performance assessment task: RI.5.2: Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text. W.5.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. (b) Additional Standards

RI.5.1 RI.5.3 RI.5.4 L.5.1 (a) and (e) L.5.4 (b) L.5.6

Vocabulary Some words from this book may be unfamiliar to students or may be used in a different way than students have seen previously. Possible words for study include:

sculpt/sculptor/sculpture philosopher scientist architect/architecture sketch apprentice/apprenticeship artisan patron canvas perspective prodigy commission anatomy theory/theorist inquire/inquiry observe/observation monumental vision/visionary (adjective and noun)


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Text-dependent questions 1 According to the introduction, how did Leonardo want to learn? How did he learn? Leonardo wanted to “figure things out for himself” because he “thrived on the ‘hard parts.’” He “did not ignore what others had learned.” He taught himself many things such as how birds fly, how humans see, what makes blood move in the body,

what gives an arch its strength, what makes the sky seem deep, and how to make a painting “alive with emotion, reality, mystery.”

He read a lot. He spoke with experts such as mathematicians, architects, artists, monks, scholars, and kings. He studied and observed nature the same way a scientist does today. To make observations is important in

science.

2 Cite evidence from the introduction to explain what was “new” about the Renaissance compared to the Middle or Dark Ages that preceded it. What does the text say was dangerous about the Renaissance? People such as artists, scholars, merchants, and politicians wanted to “glorify human achievement” as the

ancient Greeks and Romans did.

The Renaissance was a dangerous time because there were “plagues, harsh weather, [and] brutal rulers.” There

were frequent wars and high illiteracy rates.

“Most [people] were suspicious of what [ideas] they did not understand,” so to speak out against the

establishment or the accepted ideas was risky.

3 According to page 4, what was different about Leonardo when he was a baby? A prodigy is defined as “a highly talented child or youth.” Can Leonardo be considered a prodigy? The narrator tells us that as a child, Leonardo “seemed to possess unusual powers of awareness and

intelligence.” Therefore, Leonardo can be considered a prodigy since even as a child, he was able to demonstrate intelligence at a different level than his peers.


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4 A philosopher is a person who seeks out opportunities to gain more knowledge and can create theories based on this new knowledge. According to pages 6 and 7, how did Leonardo spend his childhood? How did these childhood activities demonstrate that Leonardo is a philosopher? Leonardo spent most of his childhood roaming the countryside near his home, observing nature and its

animals. He swam in streams and pools and explored caves in the rocks in the hills around the countryside.

Leonardo learned from his uncle Francesco about plants and animals, the rising and setting of the sun and

moon, and the changes in the seasons and the weather.

Leonardo asked questions about animals and other aspects of nature. He wondered all sorts of things, such as:

how turtles crawled slowly; how frogs moved so quickly and swam so well; why rabbits had ears so long; how birds and bats flew; how humans could maybe learn to swim like frogs and fly like birds; how ducks floated on water; how thunder and lightning occurred; how stones sank and made waves in water; how fossils from sea creatures moved far from the sea; and how far ocean waters might have moved, and how long ago. He was a philosopher from an early age, asking deep questions about life.

Leonardo can be described as a philosopher because he observed nature, learned new information from his

uncle about nature, and continually asked questions about nature. This suggests that Leonardo sought out opportunities to improve his knowledge on a subject and considered questions that could be addressed with his theories later in life.

5 According to page 10, what was Leonardo’s apprenticeship, and how did he obtain it? Leonardo moved to Florence when he was a teenager. He got an apprenticeship with Andrea del Verrocchio

because Leonardo’s father, Ser Piero, showed some of Leonardo’s sketches to Verrocchio, who was impressed by the drawings. Leonardo was 14 years old, and spent the next 12 years in Verrocchio’s workshop. He became an apprentice.

6 What can we learn from the text and illustrations on pages 11 and 12 about what Leonardo did during his years with Verrocchio and what skills he acquired? The text says that at first, Leonardo did basic chores like sweeping floors, running errands, and practicing

drawing.

The text says that Leonardo learned to prepare canvases; make brushes; grind paints; mix colors; sculpt in

wood and clay; create metal pieces in gold, silver, and bronze; make furniture, costumes, instruments, and surgical tools; and study mathematics and anatomy.

The illustrations show artisans making and polishing sculptures, painting, drawing, sweeping, grinding paints,

discussing sculptures with the maestro, working with metal, moving sculptures, and examining sculptures.

7 According to pages 13 – 16, what did Leonardo do after leaving Verrocchio’s workshop? Provide specific examples of what Leonardo produced. Leonardo left to work for Ludovico’s court in Milan. Ludovico was Leonardo’s patron. He designed costumes for “wild men” actors at Ludovico’s wedding celebrations, designed and made a clay

mold for a gigantic horse statue to honor Ludovico’s father (a commission from Ludovico), and built the stage sets for a play, “Il Paradiso,” for the wedding of Ludovico’s nephew, Duke Gian.


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8 What evidence does the text provide (on page 17) for calling The Last Supper “one of the truly monumental works of art ever produced”? The text says that Leonardo was able to capture the passion of the apostles’ emotions in his painting. It says

that viewers can clearly see the “apostles’ surprise, anger, horror, even guilt” because of the way Leonardo positions the figures, illustrates their hand gestures, and carefully renders their facial expressions.

Leonardo maximized his use of perspective to make the painting unique. He made the scale and style of the

painting similar to the room in which Leonardo painted it, but the painting is on a higher, grander scale than the actual room. He framed the painting so that the viewer focuses directly on Jesus and so that the light from the window in the back of the painting looks like a halo above Jesus.

9 According to page 21, why did Leonardo write backwards (from right to left) in his notebooks? Leonardo wanted to keep his ideas secret so that no one would steal them before he published them, or so that

he would not get in trouble with the Church.

It felt natural to write backwards because Leonardo was left-handed and didn’t have to smudge the ink if he

wrote backwards.

It was for his own amusement because he loved bizarre and unusual things.

10 According to pages 23 and 24, what were some of Leonardo’s “innovative architectural ideas”? Leonardo worked with the famous architect Bramante in Milan and gave advice regarding how to improve

Milan’s cathedral, which was still under construction when Leonardo moved there. Leonardo entered a competition to design the dome for the cathedral.

After a plague that “killed as many as one in three people in Milan,” he designed an ideal city with waterways

to carry away trash, wide streets to allow for sun and fresh air, a walkway for pedestrians, and staircases for getting from the sidewalk to the street.

11 Why is The Vitruvian Man, described on pages 25 and 26, important? This drawing shows how Leonardo understood human anatomy and proportion. He fixed the disproportionate

model that Roman architect Vitruvius had made.

Leonardo helped to change the belief that pictures of anatomy would confuse students. The first modern medical textbook, De Humanis Corporis Fabrica, published in 1543, used pictures that

Leonardo’s drawings inspired and “similar pictures are still used today to teach anatomy.”

12 Describe Leonardo’s discoveries about eyesight (pages 27 and 28). Leonardo dissected eyes to figure out how they worked. He realized that the ancient Greeks were wrong

because the eye does not send out rays for the things we see.

He also theorized correctly that an eye receives an upside-down image through vision.


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13 A visionary is person who has imaginative ideas with the future in mind. Based on the text and illustrations on page 29 and 30, why might people refer to Leonardo da Vinci as a visionary engineer? Leonardo invented a movable crane, a spindle for winding thread, weapons, a bicycle, a mechanical drum,

a monkey wrench, a steam-powered piston, a two-faced clock to show hours and minutes, and a horseless wagon.

Leonardo’s design for the bicycle was “… a more elegant one than the first modern bicycle produced 300 years

later.” In addition, Leonardo’s design included a chain, which is featured on today’s bicycles.

Leonardo’s idea for the steam-powered piston “…predates the development of the first steam engine by 150

years.”

In addition, the text states, “Modern scholars…have produced working models of many of his designs.” This

suggests that other designs besides the bicycle and steam-powered piston were successfully created using Leonardo’s ideas.

14 Were all of Leonardo da Vinci’s visionary ideas executed? Why or why not? Most of Leonardo’s machines were never built because Renaissance technology couldn’t produce his ideas. It may also be because Leonardo’s patrons didn’t have enough money or weren’t interested. He may not have been willing to show his ideas to others, or maybe he lost interest in finishing a project

because of wanting to start something else.

15 Citing evidence from pages 31 and 32, what visionary ideas did Leonardo have about flight, and what held him back from succeeding? Leonardo studied leaves, birds, and bats to learn about slow descent, floating and gliding on air currents, and

using wings like sails.

Leonardo could never generate enough power to launch a machine, and his machine designs were too heavy

to stay aloft through human arm and leg muscle power.

16 Use evidence from pages 33 – 36 to describe what some of Leonardo’s theories about water and space were. Can these theories be described as visionary? For Leonardo, “water held a lifelong attraction.” He thought often about water and believed that water was the

driving force of nature. Because “his eye and hand were so quick,” he drew “the most accurate images of water ever seen.”

He thought that water was the most important of the elements and that water was very powerful; he also knew

that it could be destructive.

Leonardo “theorized that the sun was the center of the universe” and that scientists could use mathematics to

understand everything in the universe, such as through ratios.

Leonardo created items similar to the modern-day snorkel and life preserver. In addition, he even had water-

walking shoes.

Leonard may have been one of the first people to discover the harmful effects of erosion when he wrote,

“Water gnaws at mountains and fills valleys.”

Leonardo realized that the sky was not actually blue. This coincides with modern scientists’ finding that there is

“…selective scattering of the blue wavelength of light as it strikes dust, water vapor, and other particles in the air.” This is what produces the blue color of the sky.


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17 According to pages 37 and 38, how did Leonardo change portraiture forever? Leonardo used new techniques when he painted the Mona Lisa, and other artists such as Raphael started using

these techniques in their portraits after the Mona Lisa.

The woman in the painting is closer to the viewer than painters normally made the subjects, “giving the Mona Lisa impressive intimacy.” Leonardo was able to make the woman look more three-dimensional, as if she were “emerging from the darkness,” instead of looking flat. Leonardo had mastered “sfumato—his ability to paint shadows as subtle as smoke.” The painting exhibits extraordinary detail in the background, in the lady’s dress, and in the facial expression; her skin glows as if she were alive.

18 Cite evidence from the text (page 44) to explain why Leonardo is so mysterious to people today. More than half of Leonardo’s notebooks were “destroyed or lost” when Melzi, who had inherited the work, died.

His descendants sold and gave away pieces of the books. Leonardo’s scientific notes weren’t published until the 1880s, by which time people had classified him simply as a painter. Because his notebooks were cryptic, piecemeal, unpublished, and unfinished, people from the 1880s into the modern era consider him mysterious.


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Performance Assessment Give students the following writing task: Write an informative/explanatory essay that summarizes the life of Leonardo da Vinci and describes some of the discoveries and inventions he made. Be sure to cite different examples from the text that explain the connections between his life and his discoveries or inventions. Your response should: • Introduce the topic clearly. • Develop the topic with facts, details, and examples. • Link ideas. • Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary. • Provide a concluding statement. Extension Give the students the following writing task: Write an opinion essay in which you answer the question, “Was Leonardo da Vinci a visionary?” Be sure to cite at least three examples from the text to support your opinion. Write a multiparagraph essay, including a clear topic paragraph, support paragraphs, and a strong concluding paragraph. (W.5.1) Your response should: • Introduce the topic clearly and state an opinion. • Provide logically ordered reasons. • Link opinions and reasons. • Provide a concluding statement related to the opinion presented.


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