MORE NONFICTION, PLEASE!Ideas for promoting nonfiction reading

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WHY SHOULD I READ NONFICTION?The average child in the United States spends roughly 4 hours and 29 minutes a day watching TV, 2 hours and 31 minutes listening to music, and 1 hour and 13 minutes playing video games. And how much of their leisure time to do they spend reading nonfiction?

Less than 4 minutes a day.

That's the finding from a national study sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010). Sure, children are reading outside school—about 25 minutes a day, according to the study. But most of that reading appears to be fiction. Another study found that juvenile fiction outsells nonfiction by more than 4 to 1 (Milliot, 2012).

From: December 2012/January 2013 | Volume 70 | Number 4 Common Core: Now What? Pages 80-82Research Says / Nonfiction Reading Promotes Student SuccessBryan Goodwin and Kirsten Miller

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GOAL:Our goal was to have students read more nonfiction by choice. In the lower grades, we hoped that in building their nonfiction strategies and exposing students to great titles, they would choose more “good fit” nonfiction books for recreational reading. In the upper grades, we hoped that by first engaging students with narrative nonfiction books, we would hook them into reading more nonfiction by choice.

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LESSON LAY OUT

First Grade: Information from the text and from pictures*, reading for information, animal researchSecond Grade: fiction versus nonfiction and strategies for nonfiction reading*, locating information, biographies (presidents), famous American research, countries research using print and electronic sourcesThird Grade: nonfiction series*, famous African American research, digital citizenship research using print and electronic sourcesFourth Grade: research and reading for interest (using narrative nonfiction as a starting point)*, web site reliability,* advanced text features of nonfiction, famous Missourian research using print and electronic sourcesFifth Grade: : research and reading for interest (using narrative nonfiction as a starting point)*, explorer research, organizational patterns of nonfiction text

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FIRST GRADE

SECOND GRADE

THIRD GRADE

MORE NONFI CTI ON PLEASE!

4th and 5th Grades

Librarian Note: Our goal was to have students read more nonfiction by

choice. We are hoping that by engaging students with narrative

nonfiction books, we can hook them into reading more nonfiction.

I n order to measure our success, we began by giving 4th and 5th graders

a reading survey. Then we taught the unit three times. The fi rst unit

(2nd quarter) = Shoeless J oe and Black Betsy, included lessons on

website analysis. These lessons would only be taught once. 3rd quarter

we will read and explore the titles; George Washington’s Teeth and

Owney the Mail-Pouch Pooch. 4th quarter we will read Soar Elinor! and

another title to be determined.

Af ter the last unit, we will give students a post reading nonfiction

survey. Hopefully we will see a growth in desire to read nonfiction.

Titles of Narrative Nonfiction:

Shoeless J oe and Black Betsy Splash of Red

George Washington’s Teeth The Boy Who Drew Birds

Abe Lincoln Loved Animals Librarian on the Roof

Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot Owney the Mail – Pouch Pooch

Soar, Elinor! Stand Straight Ella Kate

Two Bobbies Boxes for Katje

Nubs One Thousand Tracings

Hero Cat Vinnie and Abraham

Through my Eyes My Brother Martin

J ust in Time, Abraham Lincoln

We Played Marbles Arrowhawk

High as a Hawk Thank You Sarah

Pocahontas: Peacemaker and Friend to the Colonists

Potential Bogus Web Sites:

Use these links to access web sites designed for teaching students how

to critically analyze web sites

http:/ / www.teach-ict.com/ ks3/ year8/ inf ormation_reliability_bias/ information_reliability_spoof s.htm

http:/ / www.shsu.edu/ lis_mah/ documents/ TCEA/ hoaxtable.html

http:/ / zapatopi.net/ treeoctopus/

This website is good to use when showing how unreliable Wikipedia can

be:

http://www.slj.com/2014/08/books-media/librarians-react-to-amelia-bedelia-hoax/#_

Reading Nonfiction Lesson Plans

Standards:

Learn to develop appropriate search strategies.

Apply appropriate technology.

Apply organizational tools of print, non-print & electronic resources ie:

table of contents, index, note cards, graphic organizers, etc.

Evaluate the reliability, authority, diversity, and timeliness of

information selected regardless of f ormat.

Concepts:

I nformation can be accessed through a variety of sources.

I nformative text can be written in numerous styles.

Lesson One:

Engage:

Survey students on the nonfi ction reading interests.

I ntroduce students to a nonfiction topic, baseball, using narrative

nonfiction.

Read SHOELESS J OE AND BLACK BETSY aloud to group. Explain that

it is written in a narrative nonfiction f ormat. Describe what this

means: it is based on factual information but contains all the story

elements of a novel: beginning, middle, and end, characters, setting,

plot, etc…

Brainstorm topics related to story. Ask students what we could learn

more about as introduced in the book. (examples: Betsy Ross, US Flag,

patriotism, how bats are made, Andrew J ackson, president nicknames,

hickory trees, Shoeless J oe, baseball superstitions, baseball history, …)

List ideas on Smartboard and save f or next lesson.

Teacher note: locate appropriate websites and place links on the

library webpage before next lesson. I nclude examples of bad websites

as well.

Lesson Two:

Evaluate and analyze:

Librarian will show students SmartBoard lesson (2 pages) and then pull

up some bad websites and explain how to evaluate and analyze them.

Option: have students view Brain Pop video, Online Sources, to explain

how to evaluate and analyze web sites.

At the end of the lesson pull up the website; “allaboutexplorers.com”

and have students pick a partner to work with. I nform them that

during their next lesson, each pair of students will analyze the website

by researching an explorer. Pass out the website evaluation sheet. Have

both partners write their names on it. Go through the list of explorers

and have each team pick an explorer and write that name on the sheet.

Collect and save the sheets f or next lesson.

Lesson Three:

Elaborate and Explain:

Lesson Three: Using the website “allaboutexplorers.com”, have

students evaluate the website by completing the evaluation form.

Emphasize over and over again that they need to compare their

information with other sources. We used worldbookonline and the print

version of World Book. Acknowledge when students find discrepancies.

Encourage them to f ocus on the “content” section of the evaluation

f orm. Have each set of partners report out on what they f ound, what

rating they gave the website and “why?”

Lesson Three:

Elaborate and Explain:

Lesson Three: Using the website “allaboutexplorers.com”, have

students evaluate the website by completing the evaluation form.

Emphasize over and over again that they need to compare their

information with other sources. We used worldbookonline and the print

version of World Book. Acknowledge when students find discrepancies.

Encourage them to f ocus on the “content” section of the evaluation

f orm. Have each set of partners report out on what they f ound, what

rating they gave the website and “why?”

Have students share what they have learned about their topic = 3

interesting f acts and their evaluations of the websites they chose to

use.

Name: _____________________________

Topic : _____________________________

I nteresting Fact 1:

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

I nteresting Fact 2:

_________________________________________________ ____

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

I nteresting Fact 3:

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Website Used: _________________________________________

Website Rating:

inaccurate ____ reliable _____

Website Used: _________________________________________

Website Rating:

inaccurate ____ reliable _____

Website Used: _________________________________________

Website Rating:

inaccurate ____ reliable _____

Nonfiction End of Unit Survey

1.Which type of nonfi ctional text did you prefer, rate them 1 – 4, 1

being your f avorite.

____ narrative nonfi ction

____ biography

____ website

____ nonfi ction book

2.Why did you prefer your choice f rom above?__________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

3.I n your opinion which f orm of nonfi ctional text provided you with the

most information?

____ narrative nonfi ction

____ biography

____ website

____ nonfi ction book

4.Did your answer f or question 1 match your answer f or question 3?

YES or NO

DISPLAYS TO PROMOTE NONFICTIONPromoting nonfiction with book displays is an excellent way to increase awareness of what your library has to offer. It’s another way for students to access more nonfiction, please!

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SEASONAL DISPLAYS

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Create fun displays highlighting related nonfiction!

SEASONAL DISPLAY

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Nonfiction books dealing with snow, winter, skiing, skating, and snow boarding create this darling snowman.

THEME DISPLAYS

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Similar nonfiction displays can center on a theme such as disasters and survival.

GENRE DISPLAYS WHICH INCLUDE NONFICTION

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Create a space for students to post their favorite nonfiction titles similar to the fiction display below.

MONTHLY DISPLAYS OF NONFICTION TITLES

MAKER SPACES THAT ENCOURAGE NONFICTION

JANUARY MAKER SPACE

MAKER SPACES THAT ENCOURAGE NONFICTION

FEBRUARY MAKER SPACE

MAKER SPACES THAT ENCOURAGE NONFICTION

MARCH MAKER SPACE