Tools for Nonfiction Reading
Here is a look into several strategies and resources we used all year. Students used and added them to their readers notebook. This allowed them to have a toolbox of samples when stuck on which strategy to use. Students were allowed to use their notebook during classwork, independent work, and homework.
- Teaching Tools-www.robeson.k12.nc.us/cms/lib6/NC01000307/Centricity/Domain/3916/Making%20Connections.pdf
- ReadWriteThink: www.readwritethink.org ReadWriteThink is a great resource for hundreds of free downloadable lessons in all aspects of reading. Here are some lessons to help your students navigate nonfiction: ■ “Investigating Animals: Using Nonfiction for Inquiry-based Research” (Grades K–2) by Devon Hamner ■ “Predicting and Gathering Information With Nonfiction Texts” (Grades K–2) by Bethany L.W. Hankinson ■ “Traveling Terrain: Comprehending Nonfiction Text on the Web” (Grades 3–5) by Sheila K. Seitz ■ “Using THIEVES to Preview Nonfiction Texts” (Grades 6–8) by Cynthia A. Lassonde Scholastic 5-Day Unit Plan for Introducing Nonfiction: content.scholastic.com/browse/unitplan.jsp?id=109 Prepare your students to use expository texts that readers of all ages encounter daily, including newspapers, brochures, magazines, instruction manuals, recipes, and maps. Stenhouse Publishers Author Conversations: Nonfiction Mentor Texts (Podcast): www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RdxCHu5QXA An interview with Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli, authors of Nonfiction Mentor Texts, recorded in 2009 at the IRA Convention in Minneapolis.
- Generic Annotation Rubrics for Fiction/Narratives and Nonfiction
- How to Find the Topic Sentence
- Paragraph Responses-Sample, When I Was Puerto Rican
- Chapter Notes ORGANIZER
- Journal Writing Rubric
- Book Talk Project
- Recommended Nonfiction
- How to Create Critical Reading Questions
- Historical Figure Analysis ORGANIZER
- Paraphrase, Question, Infer, Summarize ORGANIZER
- Paraphrase, Question, Infer, Summarize ANNOTATED MODEL
- HS Annotation Symbols
- Math Annotation Symbols
- 5 W's and H organizer-BLANK
- 5 W's and H organizer-MODEL
- Question-Inference-Evidence & Explanation ORGANIZER
- Question-Inference-Evidence & Explanation ORGANIZER MODEL
- Question-Inference-Evidence & Explanation ORGANIZER MODEL LESSON PLAN
- SOAPSTONE Organizer
Graphic organizers can:
- Help students focus on text structure "differences between fiction and nonfiction" as they read
- Provide students with tools they can use to examine and show relationships in a text
- Help students write well-organized summaries of a text
Here are some more examples of graphic organizers:
- Venn-Diagrams (29K PDF)*Used to compare or contrast information from two sources. For example, comparing two Dr. Seuss books.
- Storyboard/Chain of Events (29K PDF)*Used to order or sequence events within a text. For example, listing the steps for brushing your teeth.
- Story Map (19K PDF)*Used to chart the story structure. These can be organized into fiction and nonfiction text structures. For example, defining characters, setting, events, problem, resolution in a fiction story; however in a nonfiction story, main idea and details would be identified.
- Cause/Effect (13K PDF)*Used to illustrate the cause and effects told within a text. For example, staying in the sun too long may lead to a painful sunburn.
- >Find more free graphic organizers.