Lesson Plan
Be a Nonfiction Detective!
Take the mystery out of comprehending nonfiction by becoming a text feature detective! Find clues before reading to get your brain ready to learn!
Grade:
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Learning Objectives
Students will use various strategies to understand nonfiction text.
Introduction
(10 minutes)- Gather students at the rug and tell them that today you would like to read them a nonfiction book. Quickly review what nonfiction is. Tell students that even though someone can read all the words in a book it doesn’t mean they will understand everything they read. That why it’s important to get your brain ready to read by looking for clues. This is called previewing.
- Tell students that today they will be nonfiction detectives and, luckily, nonfiction books have some special features where readers can look for clues. List them on the board: Title, Table of Contents, Visuals, Headings.
- Beginning:
- Pre-teach the following text features: title, table of contents, headings, visuals.
- Provide definitions in English and student's home language (L1).
- Allow students to find or draw pictures of each text feature and paste examples in their journals or reading logs.
- Intermediate:
- Allow students to sit in front of the classroom next to supportive peers.
- Encourage students to paraphrase what they will be doing today.