Classroom Activities: Reading Nonfiction
These classroom activities are designed to complement the Reading Nonfiction topic on BrainPOP Jr.
Parts of a Book
Remind students that nonfiction is writing shares facts and information. Then have students collect several nonfiction books. How do they know that the book is nonfiction? Have students describe their book to the class and point out different parts of the book: table of contents, glossary, index, captions, photographs, labels, etc. Have students compare and contrast different nonfiction books. Which books have glossaries? Which books have photographs with labels? Write students’ ideas on the board and discuss them together.
Fiction and Nonfiction
Together as a class, pick a topic that everyone is interested in such as a particular animal, a national park, a historical figure, or even a distant country. Then pick a nonfiction and a fiction book about the same topic. For example, if the class were interested in bears, then the students could read “The Three Little Bears” and read a nonfiction book about bears in the wild. Have students compare and contrast the books. How did they know that it was nonfiction or fiction? How are the books alike? How are they different? Have students write their ideas down in a Venn diagram or other graphic organizer to collect and organize their ideas.
Authors Research to Write!
Have students choose a topic they are interested in, such as a specific animal, place they would like to visit, a historical figure or event, or even an important person in their life. Have students write their own nonfiction piece about their subject. Help them research their topic in the library or on the internet and help them create an outline before they begin writing. Students may want to have their partners serve as fact checkers, to help them make sure the information they recorded was accurate. Have students title their book and add a table of contents and glossary. They may wish to add photographs and pictures to their books and write captions and labels for each. Add the works to your library so students and have students discuss the nonfiction writing process.