Non Fiction Text Features

I'm super excited to share a sequence of lessons that I co-taught with our amazing reading teacher at my school! We were working on nonfiction text features...

We called each of the lessons a "mission" so here's Mission 1...

The kiddos were read the Mission 1 sheet that is in my TPT product (click product image above). It basically told the kiddos that they would work in groups to go on a scavenger hunt and create a nonfiction text feature poster.

We had 5 groups of 3-4 kiddos and myself and our reading teacher walked around, talking to the kiddos about what they were noticing.

Some of the kiddos were super insightful saying they found lots of headings because there were so many different articles or that they noticed that almost all the photographs had captions. There was also a lot of discussion about the nonfiction text features they couldn't find and why.

They loved the freedom they were given to explore nonfiction text features. Their finished products were pretty great too!

Mission 2

For mission 2, we gave the kiddos 1-page articles with all the nonfiction text features blocked out. I used Times for Kids articles, but you could use anything that is short. You could even retype the article if that was easier.

The kiddos' job was to figure out what they thought was missing which led to a discussion about WHY they thought these text features would be important.
After this mission we had a class discussion about how each of the text features would help the reader and I revealed the original articles to the pairs.

Mission 3

For our last mission, which I used as an activity AND an assessment for nonfiction text features, consisted of kiddos looking for nonfiction text features and explaining why they are important. Each kiddo picked out a nonfiction text, and recorded 4 nonfiction text features they found and why that text feature was important.

Students then paired off and shared what they thought about the nonfiction text features. I loved how when they got to the sharing part that many of the groups actually went into the text to talk about the text features they chose.

The kiddos had a lot of fun with these "missions" and it really helped them to learn the nonfiction text features. The only other suggestion I have that I think helped the kiddos a lot is that I've had them give me a thumbs up during every nonfiction read aloud when they saw a nonfiction text feature. I would stop after every page or so and call on a student with their thumbs up and ask him or her to explain how that text feature helped us as readers.

I hope you can use one or more of these ideas to teach nonfiction text features in your classroom!

Book Talk Tuesday: Bats!

After being MIA for a week... I'm linking up with Mrs. Jump for Book Talk Tuesday...

We've been doing lots about BATS in my classroom over the past week and a half or so.
We started off by reading the well-known: Stellaluna.

We read the beginning of the story together (up until when Stellaluna falls into the bird nest) stopped and made a prediction. We then continued reading and students had to identify if their prediction came true or not. If it didn't they had to tell what really happened.

The next day, we retold the story aloud using our Whole Brain Teaching retell gestures... check out #3 on this 5 for Friday post if you're interested in the gestures. We then reread the story and used this retelling scaffold freebie from me to retell the story in writing. It was the first independent retell my kiddos have done, which is why we used the scaffold. Some of my students will use this scaffold for the better part of the year. Others are already ready for less structure.

We reread the end of the story on the third day of Stellaluna to identify the author's message. We also worked together to find proof of the author's message.

Finally, our book buddies came on their usual Friday mornings but instead of reading with us, helped us make these cute bat crafts. I got these templates free from A Cupcake for the Teacher here.

After we were done with Stellaluna, we moved onto what we Know & Want to Learn about bats. We did a class KWL & then the kiddos created their own. I make sure my students ask a question for the "want to learn" section.

Today we read Bats by Gail Gibbons, whose nonfiction texts I've raved about here. The text is short enough and interesting enough for kiddos to sit through the entire thing! ALSO in the same sitting *gasp* my kiddos were just about jumping out of their seats each time I answered one of our questions from our W section.

We completed the L section while we read (the text directly or indirectly answered each of our questions) then the kiddos went back to their KWL and answered the questions they had asked (if they could).

Later this week, the kiddos will read leveled texts about bats to complete the organizers in my TPT product below. Next week we will compare birds and bats (also with the organizers from my TPT product). Check out the bats/birds mini-unit below!

I love combining a fiction & nonfiction books into mini "themed" learning! I hope you'll consider going "batty" about learning in your classroom too!

Update & Book Talk Tuesday

So excited to link up with Mrs. Jump again for Book Talk Tuesday!

But before I get started... 2 quick updates...

#1 If you didn't check out Whole Brain Wednesday last week, go check it out here... part 2 of *gasp* losing the clip chart! Trust me, this was SUCH a hard thing for me to do, but I can't wait to see the positive effect in my room this year *fingers crossed*

#2 I am SO excited to have finished my [first 10 weeks of second grade] Morning Work Journal. Now that I have the format, the rest of the year will be following closely behind as well as a 1st grade version!
The journal includes number sense, editing, parts of speech & more! It can also be used in 1st and 3rd grade classrooms depending on your level of students. I'll talk more about my love/hate relationship with morning work on Five for Friday this week, in case you're interested!

It's discounted this week $7... $5!, so go check it out and be on the look out for the rest of the year & a year-long bundle!

Now onto Book Talk Tuesday... This week I've decided to share How a House is Built by Gail Gibbons.

I will admit this was not my favorite book to read aloud, however it is a part of our Gail Gibbons author study for nonfiction writing and I was BEYOND pleasantly surprised at the student writing that exploded after reading this together.

If you haven't read any Gail Gibbons books before she has LOADS of nonfiction books that are illustrated. For this reason, her books are great mentor texts to model how students can write and illustrate nonfiction pieces rather than thinking they need to use photographs as is the case in most nonfiction books.

How a House is Built goes through the steps that various workers take in order to build a house from the ground up. It is very informative and a few of my kiddos were excited because they had recently had a house built and they remembered the names of some of the contractors.

Reading Level: DRA 24
                         Guided Reading: M
                         Lexile: 570L

Resources:

Web Resources:

•  Meet the Author: Reading Rockets interview with Gail Gibbons
• Monthly Lessons: This resources doesn't have this book specifically but it has 12 other Gail Gibbons books with great lesson ideas/activities.
• More activities: This resources also does not reference this book specifically but it has many other Gail Gibbons books with great lesson ideas/activities.
• How to build a house: This lesson focuses on students understanding the process of building a house and uses How a House is Built within the lesson plan.

Vocabulary: There are TONS of vocabulary words to choose from such as surveyor, operators, carpenter, etc. I would suggest pre-reading and choosing 5-10 words to focus on since this book is very content-heavy.

Activities:
Before Reading: Create a KWL and have students identify what they know and want to learn about houses being built. Students can create their own like the one I created below, click for a copy.

During Reading: Have students identify nonfiction text features while you read aloud. Ask them what they notice about these text features compared to within a typical nonfiction text. Talk about how a book can be nonfiction even if it does not have real photographs. Nonfiction texts always having photographs is a common misconception students have about nonfiction.

After Reading: Have students write their own "how to" piece. To differentiate for different levels of writers, have students choose how many steps their piece will have by cutting out the procedure/order words from the below worksheet, pasting them down, then writing out the step. This allows for lower students to write a piece with simply first, next, then and last while high flyers can use words multiple times in addition to words such as after that, later, second, third, etc. Students can then rewrite or type their piece to publish it.

I hope you consider using this book and other Gail Gibbons books to spark students into writing nonfiction pieces. This particular book make my kiddos write really great How To pieces. I helped with the "research" part, finding loads of nonfiction texts on the topics they requested but they did the reading, organizing and writing... it was very impressive for my 2nd graders :)

Whole Brain! Whole Brain! Whole Brain!

Well another short week behind us... my district actually only had President's Day off, but we had a snow day Tuesday, following a week of Thursday/Friday snow days.... so basically I had a mini-vacation mid-February. Boy do I need to get back into a routine!

Anywho, I'm linking up with Doodlebugs for Five for Friday.

If you couldn't guess from my post title, I have some Whole Brain Teaching to share, but I'll save those for the end... (best for last!)

We celebrated Valentine's Day on Wednesday because we were snowed out on Friday. In case you missed it last week, we made bear Valentine holders for our cards & goodies. We saved Valentine's Day festivities for last mostly for my sanity as we had to "earn it!"

We have been doing "mini research" projects in writing. I do some of the "research" for my kiddos by having them put 3-4 topics on an index card with their names. I then sorted through the cards and chose a different topic for each kiddo, then located a book, article or website for each kiddo. They then use the book, article or website to answer each question on their worksheet/organizer. Once they're done with their organizer we'll work on transferring the information into a nonfiction piece. The process isn't perfect but it's better than last year. If you're interested, click below to see/download the organizer we're using, again, not perfect... definitely a work in progress!

With all these snow days I was able to finish a few TPT products! Right now I'm teaching money, so I've been trying to whip up some products to make it all a little more fun!

My Coin Matching Memory Game & Worksheets includes 3 different memory style games tried & tested on my kiddos who LOVED it!
It also includes worksheets where students connect the coin set to the animal with the correct value, also tested on my kiddos and although they thought the animals were cute, of course they weren't as enjoyable as the memory games.

My story problem cards include 8 money story problems including addition, subtraction, 1 & 2 step problems. I haven't used these with my kiddos yet as we aren't to this point in the unit, but my students have enjoyed story problem cards as a math center for other math topics!

Finally, here is the money bundle! It includes ALL the money products I've promoted lately and if purchasing the bundle will save you nearly $5, and who doesn't  love a deal ;) It includes 3 solve the room activities, 3 I Have Who Has games, 3 Memory Games, 3 sets of matching worksheets & Story Problems!

I am so happy to have my toughest grad classes so far almost done. My research paper which I wrote about Whole Brain Teaching is done and submitted and I'm SO excited to present to my classmates about the magic of WBT this coming week. We were limited to 4 power point slides during our presentation... I decided to teach my classmates about all but one of the "Big Seven" of WBT.

And BEST FOR LAST... I was just approved by my district to go to the annual 3-day Whole Brain Teaching Conference in June with my bestie from the school I worked at last year... We are BEYOND excited! The conference is a few hours outside of New Orleans, so we are going to visit there too! Then when we get back we are presenting PD to our schools. I can't even express how thankful I am for this opportunity! Be on the lookout in June for all the fun stuff I learn while I'm at the conference :)

Well that is all for today, don't forget about the TPT 3 million strong sale on February 27th & 28th! My store will be on sale the 26th too (Happy Birthday to me!).

Busy (But Short) Week!

Well we got to celebrate 100th day (finally!) this week, but with 2 snow days, I guess Valentine's Day has to wait until Tuesday...

I'm linking up again with Doodlebugs Teaching for Five for Friday...

We had 100th Day this week! It kept getting pushed back because of snow, so we ended up with Tuesday 100th Day and Friday Valentine's Day... oh and Thursday yet another snow day, so clearly it wasn't a crazy week at all... oh wait...

Click the picture to see yesterday's post about all our 100th Day fun!

You just gotta love when the white and red Scholastic box arrives! This time I had a bunch of points and was able to order a normally $25 pack of National Geographics for Kids Animal Books. The kiddos went NUTS over these!

We made these bear bags for Valentine's Day... too cute! Too bad we won't get to use them until we go back to school on Tuesday after President's Day. I'm definitely officially sick of the snow!

I thought this was such a cute idea for a Valentine's Day teacher present... taking note for when I'm a Mom and my kiddos are school age!
Sorry for the poor quality it says "I'm soaping you'll be my Valentine"

Lastly, here are a few new products on my TPT page, check them out!

Don't forget to follow my new Facebook page for flash freebies and other fun stuff!