Non-Fiction/Fiction Text Features

I'm a little behind on posting to this blog!  I finally found some extra time to post a few things that I used for our non-fiction text features lessons.

Here's a few things that I used to check for understanding.

Fiction/Non-Fiction Sort

 

 

Fiction/Non-Fiction List

 

Non-Fiction Text Features Quiz

 

Click HERE to view a previous post that has more non-fiction text features ideas.

 

Reports of Problems with Downloads

I have noticed many comments regarding the ability to view and download my files.  All the files are stored in Google Drive and are listed as public. We have tested with different accounts and browsers.  With some browsers, the ability to view may not work, but the download option does work. It may be due to the browser version.  Sorry for any inconvenience, but I'm not sure what else I can do from this side since they are already public files.

Main Idea

We had lots of fun learning about main idea this week!

Here's a few activities that I used.

We used the following notes page to understand main idea and what we can do as reader's to figure out the main idea.

 

Main Idea Notes

 

 

We played a game with these main idea bags. Each bag had three pictures that went together. I split the class into groups. Their job was to write the details (pictures) and the main idea for each bag. 

 

 

Main Idea Bags

 

 

The groups recorded their answers on this sheet. As an extension, the groups wrote a story on the back that went with their main idea.

 

As another extension, I gave the groups a blank square to draw another picture that would go with their main idea.

 

This was fun!  I think the class really enjoyed this activity!

 

 

We also practiced finding the main idea and details during a read aloud.  We wrote our main idea and details on this flipbook and added it to our reader's notebooks. 

 

Main Idea Flipbook

 

I created these main idea hamburgers to add to the listen to reading station so the kids wouldn't forget about main idea!

Main Idea Hamburgers

 

 

 

Folktales

Last week we started our unit on folktales.  This is a super fun unit!

I started by introducing the different types of folktales.  I used this awesome chart that I downloaded from Teacher's Pay Teachers.  You can get it HERE.   This was created by a librarian. You can visit her blog to view some great anchor charts. She also describes how she teaches the folktales unit. Click HERE to visit her blog.

In the download you also get this version, which I made for each of my students to add to their reader's notebooks.

Each day we studied a different folktale and read stories from each type of folktale.  As we read the stories and decided which type of folktale it was, we added the title to our folktales flipbook.  This flipbook is in our reader's notebooks.

Folktales Flipbook

 

 

 

I also made this cut/sort review for the characteristics of each folktale.

Folktale Cut and Sort

 

Here's a short quiz for folktales.

 

Folktales Quiz

 

Next week we are going to compare different version of each type of folktale! 

 

 

Holiday Context Clues!

We are working on context clues right now and we have ONE more week before the holiday break. (Woohoo!)  I'm trying to make this as fun as I can.:)  Next week we are going to do some simple activities with context clues and one of those activities is with holiday words. 

Here's a look at a few of the pages in this download...

Holiday Context Clues

 

Match the gift tags with the correct gift.

 

 Use this page to write predictions and text clues.

 

 

Students use the blank tags to write their own sentences with clues.

 

 

 

Of course I added the QR codes so the kids can self check...this is a favorite in our class!

 

 

Here's a few other things that we are using this week to help us with context clues...

 

Context Clues Guidelines

( we added this to our reader's notebooks)

 

 

Context Clues- Inferring

 

 They had a great time with this activity...so I had them write their own sentences and trade with a friend!

 

 

 

Have a great holiday!

Nouns ~ Verbs ~ Adjectives

We have been working hard learning about nouns and adjectives.  This week we introduced verbs... and now we are getting all these words confused! AHHH!  SO, now we are reviewing and sorting to keep it all straight!

Here's  a few things I came up with to help us out!

 

We started with adding some flipbooks to our writer's notebooks.

 

Noun Flipbook

 

Verb Flipbook

 

 

Adjectives Flipbook

 

 

 

I also made a word sort for a little extra practice.

Noun, Verb, Adjective Sort

 

I also made this little pop-up game.  I play these all the time in my class...the kids love them because they get to "pop-up" and shout out their answers.  In this game, I divide the kids into teams.  Each team gets a set of cards that say- noun, verb, adjective.  I put the word cards in a bag.  I draw one card out and read it.  If they know if it is a noun, verb, or adjective they "Pop-Up" and shout their answer.  The person who shouts the answer first uses the word in a sentence.

 

Noun, Verb, Adjective Pop-Up Game

 

 

 

Character Traits

We are just beginning to study character traits.  I am using all the cute anchor charts from Pinterest...I'm sure you've seen them!

Here's one...

 

I am also teaching the kids to really understand not only what a character trait is, but how we figure out what the character's trait is and why it's so important to know that. 

These are the essential questions we go over EVERY DAY when teaching character traits:

*How do you learn about a character's traits?

 

*Why is it so important to learn about a character's traits?

 

 

I am using the FAST acronym to help the kids answer the first essential question: How do you learn about a character's traits.

 

Pay attention to the character's...

Feelings

Actions

Sayings

Thoughts

 

I'm sure you've seen this before... I saw it on Pinterest. I made this little page to add to the reader's notebook.  I plan to use it after read-alouds so we can write down our evidence that helps us figure out a character's traits.  Write the character's name in the diamond and the evidence in each section.

 

FAST Page

 

I also plan to have the kids make this little flip book to add to the reader's notebooks.  They will write down the answers to the essential questions under the flap.

 

Character Traits Flip Book

 

Under the first flap: How do you learn about a character?

We will write:

Pay attention to the character's:

Feelings

Actions

Sayings

Thoughts

 

Under the second flap: Why is it important to learn about a character's Traits?

We will write:

To understand the character.

To understand and connect with the story.

 

 

A few of my favorite read-alouds for character traits are:

 

*Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters

by- John Steptoe

 

*The Memory String

by- Eve Bunting

 

*A Day's Work

by-Eve Bunting

 

*Stellaluna

by-Janell Cannon

 

*A Bad Case of Stripes

by- David Shannon

 

 

 

Here's a short little quiz over character traits that also includes the essential questions.

 

Character Traits Quiz

 

 

 

 

My kids love to use the QR codes to check their answers, so I made another activity using QR codes.  They choose a character traits that describes the character in the short passage.  On some of these, they also have to list the clues that helped them figure out the character trait. 

 

Character Traits-QR Codes

 

I hope you find something useful here!