This has given me a great opportunity to take a step back
and look at my students’ work as a whole, from the past 9 weeks. And let me just say WOW! I always forget how much I love teaching our
non-fiction unit, and I always forget how awesome my kiddos do with it!
I do have to admit, there are always some struggles at
first, simply because 2nd graders do not “interact” with non-fiction
as often as they do fiction text. Below
are some great websites and blogs with helpful facts (that make you think “ah,
so I’m not alone!”), helpful ideas, and helpful comments!
While I did not create, nor am I affiliated, with any of the
above links, I do have them saved under my computer’s “Favorites”! I especially like reading Nancy Van
Valkenburg’s article, because it does help me remember why it’s important to instill
a love of non-fiction to my students. (I
must be a nerd because honestly I could read it time and time again!)
With all that being said, let me give you a quick “run-down”
of how we’ve been learning non-fiction! My
students began reading non-fiction about 4 weeks ago, so to not overload you, I’m
going to break up my posts into 2 week “chunks”.
During that first week, it’s solely a time for exploration
and reflection. I give students lots of time
to read non-fiction books to themselves and with other peers. Discovering and seeing AUTHENTIC non-fiction is key! During this week, we also do lots of
journaling. We use sentence stems such
as:
I like… I learned… I realized…
I noticed… I think… I found…
Futhermore, we use this time to compare fiction and non-fiction,
with notecards, Venn Diagrams, T-Charts, and more! ReadWriteThink.org always has great lessons
to use with comparing. Here’s just one that I like:
During the second week, we start to talk about the specifics
of non-fiction (i.e. the Features of Non-Fiction Text). Each day, we have a few short mini-lessons
about the features, then the students go out on their own to find whichever
feature we have been discussing. I normally give them a few sticky notes to "tab" pages where they find genuine examples. After
exploration time, we bring it back in again, and students can share their
examples (by quickly flipping back to their tabs!). Below are some great links for
printables of features. I always scale
them down on the copier and have students glue them into their Reading
Journals.
Towards the end of this week, I begin assessing their
knowledge of non-fiction. I do a lot of
small group readings with the students (because non-fiction is always harder to
read than fiction!). I also integrate
some worksheets and activities for grades. Here are 2 worksheets that I’ve created:
 |
| You can view and dowload these sheets at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Just-Tinkerin-Around |
At the end of week 2, I tend to get an accurate account of
who’s succeeding with non-fiction, and who is going to need a little more focus
during the first part of week 3.
If you have any questions about my Non-Fiction Weeks 1 &
2, please don’t hesitate to ask! I know
it’s hard to type every detail that goes on during 10 weeks of lessons, and I
also appreciate any comments or suggestions to add in the future!
I’ll be sure to post Weeks 3 & 4 tomorrow! Thanks for reading!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment