Why teach nonfiction text features

Of course, I have the key characteristics I want them to mention and prod them along where needed. A good second-day review is to give your students a Venn diagram and have them work in pairs to review this information. On the lesson day, I teach one or two specific text features by using the real nonfiction books that I have tagged, as well as the posters see below.

Once the kids understand the concepts, we do a mini-scavenger hunt as they take out their science books and browse through them in search of the specific example we are targeting. They are usually pretty excited to find so many examples of the nonfiction text features and the little competitive souls you know who they are really get into this! To finish the lesson, the kids fill out the page or two in their flipbooks either a simple copy paper folded and stapled booklet or the fancier flip booklet I use today and kids draw examples of the text feature in these booklets.

Besides the flipbook, I have a set of posters with pictures of each text feature that I like to have on display in the classroom. You could put them up one at a time as you teach each one but I usually just have them all on a bulletin board and then refer to them as we go along. Once we have introduced all of the text features, I take out my set of task cards for this unit. If you run reading centers, task cards are great for this of course, or you can place them around the room and give kids clipboards and a buddy to record their answers on the record sheet as they walk around finding the cards.

A great way to make extra task cards is to use examples from science magazines or Weekly Readers, which are full of text features. I pass out cardstock laminated Bingo cards, as well as buttons for markers you could also use mini-erasers, beans, math cubes, plastic disks, or even small pieces of paper and we play the game several times together.

I have a prize box of random treasures aka junk for the winners and I do include a few simple no-cost coupons in the prize box, that I printed with prizes like a homework pass, choose a class game, sit with a friend, wear socks in the classroom, 15 minutes of computer time during morning work, and so on. Another way I like to use my Bingo cards is to set these aside for a parent volunteer or a trusty student helper to use one on one with any students who need extra help.

I love to have a few easy but effective ideas on hand for a whole class review and for the few fast finishers who need some enrichment. One easy project is to take old science magazines like National Geographics I would pre-screen these for iffy pictures , Ranger Ricks, Scholastic Magazines, or Weekly Readers and have kids cut out examples of each nonfiction text feature that they find.

The kids then glue on their examples to large pieces of construction paper, anchor chart posters, or a sectioned off bulletin board, with nonfiction text feature headings. Another idea I really love and the kids enjoy is to have a Scavenger Hunt with small teams of 3 — 4 kids. It comes with the flipbook, task cards, Bingo game, and all of the posters too!

If you have 2nd or 3rd grade students, you might be interested in the charts and graphs task cards by themselves. These trigger images can also be sent home for parents to view. Using Poll Everywhere, students will answer questions about non-fiction text features individually to show what they know.

We're retiring teacher-created lesson plans. Please save copies for your records. Common Sense digital citizenship lessons are here to stay. Ashley S. Save Changes.

Introduction Background Knowledge Activities Extensions. How many of us have students who think they need to read every book from beginning to end to find information? How many students know what an index is, but are not really sure how to use it?

Students are inundated with advice about how to read. Reading for research purposes is much different from reading for information or reading for pleasure. The foundation for learning to read for research purposes is using nonfiction text features to quickly and efficiently find information.