Learning About Nonfiction Text Features: Part 1 (Ideas & A Freebie!)

We are focusing on informational text for our report cards in both reading and writing during the second grading period.  Last week, I started to immerse my students in “all things nonfiction.”  We started by diving into nonfiction text features.

First, we created a Feature/Purpose anchor chart.  As we explored and learned about various text features, we added the feature to the chart, discussed it’s purpose, and wrote it down to anchor our learning. 

You can grab a freebie Feature/Purpose chart by clicking HERE or clicking the picture below. 
We labeled the nonfiction text features we found on the Time for Kids magazine that we used for our shared reading and mini-lesson. 
The next day, it was time to release responsibility to my kiddos and give them a chance to work independently. I gave each student his or her own copy of a nonfiction text.  Using mini post-it notes, they went through the article and labeled all the features of text they found.  After several minutes, they collaborated with their table groups and shared their findings.

 We also added a list of nonfiction text features to our interactive notebooks. We went on a “text feature hunt” in our classroom library.  I put various baskets of informational text from our bookshelves in their table groups.  They had a lot of fun going through the books and finding text features.  (The interactive notebook page comes from Deanna’s pack, which can be found by clicking here.)

On Friday, I gave each student a copy of a Scholastic book order. (I always get waaaay too many of them in the mail.)  They cut the pictures of the books out and sorted them by genre.  This really helped me assess which students were grasping the vocabulary of fiction/nonfiction and which students still needed some additional help. 
My kids are pointing out nonfiction text features in everything they see. It was a busy and productive week for us! 🙂
We also transferred the learning we did in our mini lessons and small groups into our Writer’s Workshop time.  I will be sharing all of the writing activities we have been working on over the past couple of weeks with you on Friday during Part 2! 🙂 
Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂

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