Determining Importance in Nonfiction

Prior Knowledge
~Must know what fiction is and how it is organized
~Bring in a variety of different topics. Let the students become familiar with them

Day 1
~Model the difference between nonfiction and fiction
~Hold up a text that a prediction can easily be made from the cover and title
~"What type of text do you predict this is?" (fiction)
~"Knowing that it is fiction, how might oyu expect the story to be organized?" (beginning, middle, end... characters, setting.... story elements)
~"What do you predict this story might be about?" (students make a prediction)
~Hold up a nonfiction book
~"What do you notice about this type of text?" Leaf through the book and read parts aloud
~"You won't find a beginning, middle, or end in this book. And you won't find characters, problems, or resolutions either."
~"Instead these types of books are nonfiction and they are organized around specific topics and main ideas, they try to teach you something. Nonfiction writing tells you something that is true. Let's read it and see what we learn..."


Day 2
~Use what you know to make predictions about its content, or what the text might teach them.
~"Remember when ____ predicted _____ in the fiction book? He was able to do that because he's learned what to expect hwen ytou read fiction. When readers read nonfiction, they make predictions about the kidns of things they expect will happen, or the types of things they expect to learn."
~Pick up a book that tells you what the book might be about by the cover and title. Example, Nature Watch Spiders by Barbara Taylor. "Right away, because of the title and photographs on the cover, I can tell it's a nonfiction text and it's going to be about spiders. See all the different spiders on the cover? I don't know a lot about spiders, but I do know they have 8 legs, and they spin webs. I'm predicting this book will be about the different spiders in the world, and that I maybe learn where they live, what they eat, and their life cycle, and even which ones will be dangerous to humans."
~Flip through the book, checking out the table of contents, the headings, and the index, explaining how these features help us make predictions about the text.
~ Do the same with some other books.

Day 3/4
~Ask the children to bring a nonfiction book they haven't read to the meeting area, get EEKK with a partner, and make predictions about wht they expect to learn.
~Have a variety of both nonfiction and fiction books ready to go that can easily be spread around the room.
~Ask the children to get a partner and choose two/thre items, and ask themselves, "Is this a fiction or nonfiction? How do we know?"
~Ask the children to bring a nonfiction book and a fiction book to the meeting area, get into pairs, and create a Venn diagram that shows the two books' differences and similiarities.
~We then meet back at the carpet and create one large diagram that combines everyone's thinking.


*Model how to use reading strategies that are special to nonfiction texts. Showing the children how to skim and scan, access the index and table of contents, use the headings, captions... etc.

Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller