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Reading and Writing Non Fiction ©2003 Nancy Polette
Examine with students various non fiction texts. Look for the following features.
Encourage children to use these in their own report writing.
1. Talk to Your
Reader
Begin with a question or a statement that involves the reader or arouses
curiosity. See: Wetlands by Marcia Freeman, Magnets by
Ann Schreiber or How They Got Over by Eloise Greenfield.
2. Tell what is happening , not what is.
Polar Bears by John
Parsons. Wright Group 2001
Chicago by Conrad Stein. Children’s
Press, 2000
Every Autumn Comes the Bear by Jim Arnosky. Have
students count the action words.
Gladiator by Richard
Watkins.
Target Skill: Practice writing action sentences related
to a visual.
Evaluate: The Bird Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta and Rivers
by David Harrison.
3. Tell how things are alike.
Australia. Carolrhoda Books,
2000.
Great White Sharks by Christine Price. Steck Vaughn,
2001.
Target Skill: Using a non fiction visual, have students
write sentences to compare two things.
4. Prove what you say.
A. Read the first sentence ( or
statement) of a non fiction piece. Read the rest of the paragraph.
B. Ask students
to identify the details ( or proof) for the first statement.
C. Share an entry from:
The Kid Who Invented the Trampoline by Don Wulffson. Dial, 2001
or other non fiction book.
Target Skill: Show a visual. The student writes what
he/she thinks is happening and tells why.
5. Tell what things look, sound, smell, taste or feel
like.
A. Read Mojave by Diane Siebert (Harper96) Listen
for use of the five senses.
B. Share Rain by Manya
Stojic.
Target Skill: Describe a visual using three of the five
senses.
6. Tell who, what, when and where?
Gorillas
by Josie Stewart. Seedling Pub. 2000
Cowley, Douglas. Hallelujah Handel.
Scholastic, 2003. A fictionalized, beautifully illustrated telling of how
Handel dedicated the profits from The Messiah to help sick and orphaned
children.
Target Skill: Write sentences about a visual that tell
who, what, when and where.
Data Bank: Koala | |
LIVES | EATS |
Australia | vegetables |
Blue gum tree | leaves |
Outback | fruits |
HAS | DOES |
short snout | carries young |
gray color | climbs trees |
thick fur | day sleeper |
long toes | never drinks |
small ears | runs fast |
night creature |
7. Writing A
Report
A. Use the word YOU in the first sentence.
B. Write two or more
action sentences.
C. Make a statement about the topic and prove it by using the
word “because” in your sentence.
D. Write a sentence with a simile.
E. Write a
sentence that uses two of the five senses. Include repetition and
alliteration.
F. Write an ending sentence that uses one of these words: everyone,
we, everyday, everything, everybody, always.
G. Check your report. Have you told who,
what, when and where?
8. Reporting Patterns
A. Time Sequence
White Bear, Ice Bear by
Joanne Ryder. Morrow, 89 A day in the life of a whale.
B. Compare and Contrast
Christmas In The Big House, Christmas In The Quarters by Pat and Fred
McKissack. Scholastic 94
C.
Cause/Effect
Earthquakes
by Seymour Simon. Mulberry,
1995.
Write about an important event during the school year.
D.
Question/Answer
Bugs by Nancy Winslow Parker. Mulberry , ‘87
E. Problem/Solution
A Bed for the Winter
by Karen Wallace. DK 2001
Forging Freedom by Hudson Talbot. Putnam, 2001