Reading Archives - Teach Without Tears

How to Use Reading Challenges to Get Your Students Excited About Reading

Tara Dusko — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Have you been looking for a way to get your students excited about reading? Monthly reading challenges are a fun way to encourage them to spend more time reading. Reading challenges will also help them build reading comprehension, improve their fluency, and develop a lifelong love of books. Keep reading to find out how to set up a reading challenge in your classroom.

How to Set Up a Reading Challenge

Setting up a reading challenge for your students doesn’t have to be difficult. There are just a few things you need to do before starting the challenge. Follow these steps to plan the perfect reading challenge.

#1 – Decide on the goal of the reading challenge.

You can set goals for your whole class or for individual students. The goals can be based on the number of books or the number of minutes your students read. You can have your students complete the reading in the classroom, at home, or a combination of the two.

#2 – Choose a way to track your students’ progress.

You want your students to stay motivated for the whole month. One way to do that is to give them a visual way to track their progress. I like to choose something related to the month. For example, in December, my students get to decorate a snowman. For each book they read, they get to add a body part or accessory to their snowman.

#3 – Have your students read and respond to their books.

One of the most frequent questions I get about reading challenges is how to know if your students actually read the books. I like to have my students complete short response sheets. Just have your students answer a few questions about the book they read. You can usually tell if they really read and understood it from their answers. If it seems like they were “fake reading,” do a quick book conference with them and have them retell the story. If they aren’t able to remember the important parts, ask them to “reread” it before they receive credit for it.

#4 – Celebrate your students’ accomplishments.

This last step is a really important one. At the end of the month, see which students reached their goals. I like to give them a certificate and a small prize as a reward. If your whole class achieves the goal, you can even have a special celebration.

Benefits of Reading Challenges

There are many benefits to using reading challenges in your classroom.

Your students will become self-motivated readers. Before I started using reading challenges, I sometimes felt like I was forcing my students to read. They would complain every time I asked them to take out a book and read. They never got their reading logs signed for homework. Then, I started my first reading challenge, and all of that changed. They took out books to read in the morning, when they finished work early, and when they were waiting for dismissal. Parents even emailed me to tell me how much their children were reading at home.
Reading challenges work with any reading program. Whether your school district uses a reading workshop model or a reading program, you can make reading challenges work for your class. If you have silent reading time during the school day, your students can use that time to read books for the challenge. If there’s no time for reading built into your schedule, your students can do their reading at home. Just make sure the goals they set are reasonable for the amount of time they will have to read.
Your students’ reading comprehension, fluency, and accuracy will improve. The more time your students spend reading, the better they will get at it. We often hear the saying “Practice makes perfect” when we’re talking about playing an instrument or a sport. However, this is also true for reading. Your students will build comprehension, fluency, and accuracy skills as they read and respond to more books.
Your students will develop a lifelong love of reading. This is my favorite benefit of reading challenges. Even students who hated reading when they entered third grade left loving it because of reading challenges. They found books and series they enjoyed and realized that reading was really fun!

Monthly Reading Challenges

If you want to try some reading challenges that are completely ready for you to use, start by downloading the free Reading Superstars Reading Challenge. It will work for any month of the year, and it is an easy way to get started with reading challenges. Then, check out the reading challenges for the different months of the year.

January – Curl Up with a Good Book Challenge
February – We Love Reading Challenge
March – Can You Read the Rainbow? Challenge
April – Garden of Books Challenge
May – Read Around the World Challenge
June – Here’s the Scoop Challenge
September – Flying Into a New School Year Challenge
October – Pick a Patch of Books Challenge
November – Gobbling Up Books Challenge
December – Reading Is “Snow” Much Fun Challenge

You can get the whole year of reading challenges in this Reading Challenges Bundle.

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Evan-Moor Daily Reading Comprehension Review

Tara Dusko — Wed, 04 May 2022 14:39:49 +0000

Teaching reading can be very overwhelming. There are so many standards to cover and strategies to teach. Even after you finish teaching a standard, you still have some students who haven’t mastered it. That’s why it’s so important to have resources to review and reinforce important reading skills. The Evan-Moor Daily Reading Comprehension book has everything you need to teach and review all of the reading strategies.

Features of Evan-Moor Daily Reading Comprehension

30 Weekly Units

If you’re looking for a way to teach all of the reading standards, this resource has everything you need. There are weekly lesson plans to help you introduce each reading strategy. Then, there is a daily passage to help your students practice and apply what they learned.

By using this resource, you will cover all of the important reading strategies in 30 weeks.

A Scope and Sequence

If you already have a reading program that teaches the standards, Evan-Moor Daily Reading Comprehension will be a great supplement. You can use the “Scope and Sequence” to identify the reading strategy you are teaching for the week and to find passages that practice that strategy.

The passages are short, so they are perfect for a center activity or a guided reading lesson.

Visual Aids

At the front of the book, you will find many anchor charts, or visual aids, to help your students understand the reading strategies. You can copy them and give one to each student to put in their reading folders. This way, they can refer to it as they are working. You can also display the visual aids in the classroom so the students always have access to them.

Short, Meaningful Passages

As I mentioned earlier, the practice passages aren’t long. This makes them perfect for a quick review before state testing or as an assessment at the end of the quarter. You could even use them as morning work and have the students complete them as they enter the classroom.

Student Record Sheet

Evan-Moor Daily Reading Comprehension includes a student record sheet. As you check each student’s answers, record their score on this page. Collecting data using this recording sheet will allow you to see which students have mastered a reading strategy and which students still need more practice. As you look across a row, you’ll also be able to see if your student is making progress.

This data is very helpful if you’re trying to form strategy groups.

Answer Key

At the back of the book, there is an answer key for all of the passages. This makes checking your students’ work really fast and easy.

With 150 fiction and nonfiction passages, the Evan-Moor Daily Reading Comprehension resource will make your reading lesson planning so easy! You won’t have to spend hours searching for texts that align with each of the reading strategies.

The pictures in this post show samples from the third grade book. This resource is available for grades 1-8. Head over to the Evan-Moor website to get yours for $29.99.

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Looking for more ways to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students without adding more to your plate?

What Do You Think?

Have you used the passages from the Evan-Moor Daily Reading Comprehension book with your class?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The post Evan-Moor Daily Reading Comprehension Review appeared first on Teach Without Tears.

Tips for Teaching Your Students About Point of View

Tara Dusko — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 21:11:32 +0000

After your students learn about characters and their traits, it’s important for them to think about how the characters feel about the events that are happening in the story. They also need to understand that the narrator or character who is telling the story is explaining things from his or her point of view. However, another character might feel differently. Here are some tips for teaching your students about point of view.

Tips for Teaching Your Students About Point of View

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products that I use and love.

The first thing we need to do is to break down the standard at the different grade levels. It is really helpful to know what your students are expected to do in the grade level before yours and the grade level after yours. This allows you to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students.

First Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6 – Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.

Important Skills to Teach:

What characters are
How to know who is telling a story

I Can Statements:

I can identify which character is telling a story when it uses words like “I” or “me”.
I can identify when an outside narrator is telling a story if it uses words like “he” or “she”.

Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Second Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.6 – Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

Important Skills to Teach:

What characters are
How to identify which character is talking

I Can Statements:

I can explain the different points of view of characters in a story.
I can use different voices for each character when I read.

Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Third Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.6 – Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.

Important Skills to Teach:

How to identify the point of view of the story – whether it’s told by a narrator outside the story or a character in the story
How to identify their own point of view

I Can Statements:

I can explain the point of view of the narrator or the characters in a story.
I can tell whether my point of view is the same as or different from the person telling the story.

Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fourth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.6 – Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations.

Important Skills to Teach:

The difference between first-person and third-person point of view
What it means to compare and contrast

I Can Statements:

I can explain the difference between first-person and third-person narration.
I can compare and contrast the point of view of two different stories.

Download a week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fifth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6 – Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described.

Important Skills to Teach

The difference between first-person and third-person point of view
How to identify the important events in a story

I Can Statements:

I can identify the narrator’s or speaker’s point of view.
I can explain how the point of view of the story influences how the events are described.

Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Suggested Books for Teaching Your Students About Point of View

It’s helpful to have books that are written from different points of view for this standard. Try to find one that is told in first-person point of view and one that is told in third-person point of view. This will allow your students to see the differences between them. Books that tell the same story from two different characters’ points of view are also fun to see how they explain the events differently and have different feelings about the same events. The “My Side of the Story” fairy tale books work well for this.

The Day the Crayons Quit

Ralph’s Secret Weapon

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

Memoirs of a Goldfish

Seriously, Cinderella is SO Annoying. . .

Tips for Teaching Your Students About Point of View

Read with Voices The second grade standard requires the students to use different voices as they read the lines of the different characters. This is a great thing to practice at all grade levels, since paying attention to the way the characters say things helps them learn about the character’s point of view. Reader’s theaters are a fun way to practice this, and the students can compare and contrast how their characters felt about the events they acted out.
Use a Venn diagram. Have your students use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast 1st person and 3rd person point of view. This will help them see how these two ways of telling a story are different, and they’ll be able to identify them more easily when they are reading a book.
Integrate Writing. Challenge your students to write part of the book from another character’s point of view. This will make them think about how the events made that character feel, and it will help them understand that different characters have different points of view.

Other Helpful Resources

If you have students who are struggling with this standard, strategy groups and one-on-one conferences are a great way to differentiate and help all your students master it. These assessments will show you which students have mastered the standards and which students need extra practice.

1st Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

1st Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

Get all the lesson plans you need to teach every Common Core Reading Standard for your grade level.

1st Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

2nd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

3rd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

4th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

5th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

You’re Invited!

Looking for more ways to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students without adding more to your plate?

What Do You Think?

What are your best tips for teaching your students about point of view?

Let us know in the comments.

The post Tips for Teaching Your Students About Point of View appeared first on Teach Without Tears.

Tips for Teaching Comparing and Contrasting Informational Texts

Tara Dusko — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 14:19:38 +0000

Comparing and contrasting are important skills to teach your students. When it comes to reading informational texts, they need to be able to identify the information that is the same in two texts and the information that is different. In upper elementary, they also learn to integrate the information from two or more nonfiction books or articles. Here are some tips for teaching your students how to compare and contrast informational texts.

Tips for Teaching Comparing and Contrasting Informational Texts

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products that I use and love.

First Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.9 – Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).

Important Skills to Teach:

How to find similarities and differences between two texts
How to identify ways the illustrations, descriptions, and procedures are the same and different
How to use a Venn diagram

I Can Statements:

I can compare and contrast the illustrations in two texts on the same topic.
I can compare and contrast the descriptions in two texts on the same topic.
I can compare and contrast the procedures in two texts on the same topic.

Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Second Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.9 – Compare and contrast the most important points presented by two texts on the same topic.

Important Skills to Teach:

What it means to compare and contrast
How to identify the most important information in an informational text

I Can Statements:

I can compare the most important information in two texts on the same topic.
I can contrast the most important information in two texts on the same topic.

Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Third Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.9 – Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.

Important Skills to Teach:

What it means to compare and contrast
How to identify the most important information and key details in an informational text
How to use a Venn diagram

I Can Statements:

I can compare the important information and key details in two texts on the same topic.
I can contrast the important information and key details in two texts on the same topic.

Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fourth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.9 – Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Important Skills to Teach:

What it means to integrate information
How to identify the most important information in informational texts

I Can Statements:

I can identify the most important information in two texts on the same topic.
I can put the information from the two texts together so I can write or speak about it knowledgeably.

Download a week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fifth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.9 – Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Important Skills to Teach

What it means to integrate information
How to identify the most important information in informational texts

I Can Statements:

I can identify the most important information from several texts on the same topic.
I can put the information from the texts together so I can write or speak about it knowledgeably.

Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Suggested Books for Comparing and Contrasting Informational Texts

For this standard, first through fourth grade students will need two books on the same topic. Fifth grade will need three or more books on the same topic. You can allow your students to choose any nonfiction topic that interests them and have them check out two books about it at the library. Another option would be to choose a topic you’re learning about in another subject area, and gather a collection of books about it. Have the students read two of the books and compare and contrast the information in first through third grade and integrate the information in fourth and fifth grade.

Zoom in on Backyard Animals: Bees

“Cool Bee Facts” article

Do You Know About Mammals?

Animals Called Mammals

“Mammal” article

Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg

Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones

Monarch Butterfly

Caterpillar to Butterfly

Rosa

If a Bus Could Talk

Tips for Teaching Comparing and Contrasting Informational Texts

Teach note-taking. This is a great standard to use to teach your students to take notes about the important information in an informational text. As they read the first book, have them write down the facts that they think are the most important. Then, as they read the second book, they can highlight the ones that are repeated from the first text to compare the information. They can add new facts that weren’t in the first text to contrast them.
Use a Venn diagram. Have your students use a Venn diagram to organize the information they found in the books. They should add the similarities to the center of the Venn diagram and the differences on the sides.
Prepare a slideshow and speech. For fourth and fifth grade, students are expected to write and speak knowledgeably about a topic using information from two or more informational texts about the same topic. Have them create a slideshow by including information from multiple informational texts. Then, they can use the slideshow to present what they learned.

Other Helpful Resources

1st Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

1st Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

Get all the lesson plans you need to teach every Common Core Reading Standard for your grade level.

1st Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

2nd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

3rd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

4th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

5th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

You’re Invited!

Looking for more ways to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students without adding more to your plate?

What Do You Think?

What are your best tips for teaching your students how to compare and contrast informational texts?

Let us know in the comments.

The post Tips for Teaching Comparing and Contrasting Informational Texts appeared first on Teach Without Tears.

Strategies for Teaching Main Ideas and Supporting Details

Tara Dusko — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 13:43:35 +0000

Identifying the most important information in an informational text can be challenging for your students. Use these tips to teach them how to find main ideas and supporting details in nonfiction.

Tips for Teaching Main Ideas and Supporting Details

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products that I use and love.

First Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.2 – Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.

Important Skills to Teach:

How to use the cover, words, and pictures to identify the topic of a text
What key details are and how to find them

I Can Statements:

I can identify the topic of an informational text.
I can identify key details about the topic of an informational text.

Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Second Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.2 – Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.

Important Skills to Teach:

How to identify the topic of a text when there are multiple paragraphs
How to identify the topic of individual paragraphs

I Can Statements:

I can identify the topic of a text with multiple paragraphs.
I can identify the topic of individual paragraphs.

Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Third Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.2 – Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

Important Skills to Teach:

What a main idea is
What a key detail is
How details support the main idea

I Can Statements:

I can identify the main idea of an informational text.
I can identify key details and explain how they support the main idea.

Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fourth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.2 – Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

Important Skills to Teach:

What a main idea is
What key details are
How to summarize an informational text

I Can Statements:

I can identify the main idea of an informational text.
I can explain how key details support the main idea.
I can summarize an informational text.

Download a week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fifth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.2 – Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.

Important Skills to Teach

How to identify the main idea of different sections of a text
How to identify key details and explain how they support the main idea
How to summarize an informational text

I Can Statements:

I can identify two or more main ideas of a text.
I can identify key details and explain how they support the main idea.
I can summarize an informational text.

Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Suggested Books

Identifying main ideas and supporting details can be a challenging skill for your students. Try to gather a collection of informational texts on a wide range of topics that interest your students. I find that nonfiction books about animals, outer space, and famous places work well.

National Geographic Kids: Planets

Our Solar System: Earth

Mars

Saturn

Neptune

Tips for Teaching Main Ideas and Supporting Details

Do a main idea and detail sort. Write the sentences from two different paragraphs on sentence strips. There should be one main idea sentence for each paragraph and at least three detail sentences for each paragraph. Have the students sort the sentences to find the main ideas and the supporting details that match each one. This will help them identify the most important piece of information and the key details before they have to find them in a text.
Use a box diagram to show the main idea and details. When the students are reading independently, have them set up a paper by drawing a big box at the top of the page and three smaller boxes below it. As they read their informational text, they should write the main idea in the big box and a supporting detail in each of the smaller boxes.
Write a hand summary. After the students create a box diagram, they can use the information to write a hand summary. They should write their sentences as they touch each finger. The thumb is the main idea. The next three fingers are each a supporting detail, and the pinky is a closing sentence.

Other Helpful Resources

1st Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

1st Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

Get all the lesson plans you need to teach every Common Core Reading Standard for your grade level.

1st Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

2nd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

3rd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

4th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

5th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

You’re Invited!

Looking for more ways to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students without adding more to your plate?

What Do You Think?

What are your best tips for teaching your students about main ideas and supporting details?

Let us know in the comments.

The post Strategies for Teaching Main Ideas and Supporting Details appeared first on Teach Without Tears.

How to Teach your Students About Figurative Language

Tara Dusko — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 16:50:56 +0000

Similes, metaphors, personification, and idioms are just a few of the types of figurative language we teach our students. They need to be able to differentiate between literal and nonliteral language and determine the meaning of the figurative language. Let’s look at some ways to help your students master this standard.

Tips for Teaching About Figurative Language

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products that I use and love.

First Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4 – Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

Important Skills to Teach:

How words and phrases can make us feel a certain way
How words and phrases make us see, hear, smell, and taste things

I Can Statements:

I can identify words and phrases in books and poems that make us feel a certain way.
I can identify words and phrases in books and poems that appeal to the senses.

Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Second Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4 – Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

Important Skills to Teach:

What alliteration is
How to read a poem with rhythm by using regular beats and rhymes
How repeated lines in a story, poem, or song give us important information

I Can Statements:

I can identify rhymes, and repeated lines in stories, poems, and songs and explain how they add meaning to the text.
I can identify regular beats and alliteration in stores, poems, and songs and explain how they supply rhythm to the text.

Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Third Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

Important Skills to Teach:

The difference between literal and nonliteral language
How to identify types of nonliteral language, like idioms, similes, and personification
How to use context clues to determine the meaning of nonliteral language

I Can Statements:

I can tell the difference between literal and nonliteral language.
I can identify examples of nonliteral language and explain what they mean.

Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fourth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).

Important Skills to Teach:

How to use context clues to determine the meanings of unknown words
How to identify words that come from important characters in mythology

I Can Statements:

I can use context clues to determine the meanings of unknown words and phrases.
I can explain the meanings of words that allude to significant characters in mythology.

Download a week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fifth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.

Important Skills to Teach

How to use context clues to determine the meanings of unknown words
How to identify figurative language, like metaphors, similes, and idioms

I Can Statements:

I can use context clues to determine the meanings of unknown words and phrases.
I can identify examples of figurative language and explain what they mean.

Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Suggested Books

For this standard, you want to find books with lots of figurative language. I like to introduce one type of figurative language at a time and give my students a lot of examples of it. Then, we move on to another type. We create an anchor chart with all the different kinds of figurative language. That way, they can refer back to it as they find examples during their independent reading time. Try to use a mixture of stories and poems to practice this standard.

When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry

A Light in the Attic

More Parts

The Word Collector

My Best Friend is as Sharp as a Pencil

My Mouth Is a Volcano

The King Who Rained

Amelia Bedelia

Tips for Teaching Figurative Language

Use Highlighters. Students love using highlighters. Give them a passage that has a lot of examples of figurative language. Assign each type of figurative language a color. As the students read the passage, have them identify examples of figurative language and highlight them in the matching color. Then, discuss the meaning of the nonliteral language.
Make a “Garden of Figurative Language”. This is a great way to get your students involved in creating a hallway or bulletin board display. Make stems and round flower centers. On the center of each flower, write the name of a type of figurative language, like simile, metaphor, idiom, etc. Attach the stems and flower centers to the wall in the hallway or to a bulletin board. Cut out flower petals in different colors, but don’t attach them to the flowers yet. As your students read independently, have them look for examples of figurative language. When they find one, have them write it on a flower petal and attach it to the correct flower.
Play a Game with Figurative Language. Write several examples of types of figurative language on index cards. Divide the students into two teams. Have a team choose an index card and try to identify the type of figurative language and what it means. If they get it correct, they get a point. If they don’t get it correct, the other team gets to try. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Other Helpful Resources

1st Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

1st Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

Get all the lesson plans you need to teach every Common Core Reading Standard for your grade level.

1st Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

2nd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

3rd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

4th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

5th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

You’re Invited!

Looking for more ways to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students without adding more to your plate?

What Do You Think?

What are your best tips for teaching your students about figurative language?

Let us know in the comments.

The post How to Teach your Students About Figurative Language appeared first on Teach Without Tears.

How to Teach Your Students About Types of Texts and Their Parts

Tara Dusko — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 19:29:42 +0000

As we continue making our way through the literature Common Core Standards, it’s important for your students to know about the different types of texts. In the 5th literature standard, we are looking at the parts of stories, poems, and dramas and how they build on each other. Here are some tips for teaching about types of texts and their parts.

Tips for Teaching About Types of Texts and Their Parts

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products that I use and love.

First Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.5 – Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.

Important Skills to Teach:

Characteristics of nonfiction books
Characteristics of fiction books
How books that tell stories are different from books that give information

I Can Statements:

I can identify nonfiction books and explain how they give information.
I can identify fiction books and explain how they tell stories.
I can explain the differences between fiction and nonfiction books.

Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Second Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5 – Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

Important Skills to Teach:

How the beginning of a story introduces the characters, setting, and problem
How the ending of a story explains how the problem is solved
How to describe the plot of a story by breaking it into the beginning, middle, and end

I Can Statements:

I can identify the characters, setting, and problem in the beginning of a story.
I can explain how the problem is solved at the end of a story.
I can describe the parts of a story by telling what happens at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end.

Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Third Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.5 – Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.

Important Skills to Teach:

Definitions of the terms “chapter,” “scene,” and “stanza”
How to identify the parts of stories, dramas, and poems
How parts of texts build on what happened in earlier sections

I Can Statements:

I can identify the chapters in a story and explain how later chapters build on earlier chapters in the book.
I can identify the scenes in a drama and explain how later scenes build on earlier scenes in the drama.
I can identify the stanzas in a poem and explain how later stanzas build on earlier stanzas in the poem.

Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fourth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.5 – Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.

Important Skills to Teach:

Poetry definitions, like “verse,” “rhythm,” and “meter”
Drama definitions, like “casts of characters,” “settings,” “descriptions,” “dialogue,” and “stage directions”
How poems, dramas, and prose are different based on their structures

I Can Statements:

I can identify the elements of poems, like verse, rhythm, and meter.
I can identify the elements of dramas, like casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, and stage directions.
I can identify differences among the structures of poems, dramas, and prose.

Download a week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fifth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5 – Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

Important Skills to Teach

Review the definitions of the terms “chapters,” “scenes,” and “stanzas”
How to identify the differences among stories, dramas, and poems
How to explain how the chapters, scenes, and stanzas fit together

I Can Statements:

I can identify the chapters in a story and explain how they fit together.
I can identify the scenes in a drama and explain how they fit together.
I can identify the stanzas in a poem and explain how they fit together.

Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Suggested Books

This standard requires you to use a lot of different types of texts to help your students learn about the way they are organized and how the parts build on each other. For first grade, you will need fiction and nonfiction books so your students can see the differences between them. For second grade, a chapter book works well to help your students identify the parts of a longer story and explain how the chapters build on each other. For third, fourth, and fifth grade, you need poems that have stanzas, dramas that have scenes, and books that have chapters.

First Grade – Frogs and Froggy Goes to School

Second Grade – Dinosaurs Before Dark

Third Grade – “A Worm in My Pocket” (poem) and “Pumpkin in a Jar” (drama)

Fourth Grade – “Homework, I Love You” (poem) and “The Apple Dumpling” (drama)

Fifth Grade – “Casey at Bat” (poem) and “Fur and Feathers” (drama)

Tips for Teaching Types of Texts and Their Parts

Label the Parts. Give your students a printed copy of the type of text you’re studying. Discuss the different parts of it and have your students label them directly on the paper. For first grade, you could give them a nonfiction text and have them label the photographs, captions, and headings that don’t appear in a fiction text. For third, fourth, and fifth grade, you could give them a poem or a drama and work together to label the important parts. Then, they can keep it in their book box as a reference as they practice the rest of the standard.
Use a box diagram to show the overall structure. Have the students set up a paper by drawing a box for each section of the text. For example, if they are reading a poem with 6 stanzas, they would draw 6 boxes. If they are reading a play with 3 scenes, they would draw 3 boxes. In each box, they should summarize what happened in each stanza or scene. Then, they should draw arrows connecting the first box to the second box. Below the arrow, they should explain how the event in the first box led to the event in the next box. They should continue doing this for each section of the text.
Send your students on a Vocabulary Word Hunt. There is a lot of important vocabulary associated with this standard. Put all of the vocabulary words, like chapter, stanza, scene, cast of characters, meter, etc., on index cards. Put your students in groups and give each group a collection of texts, including chapter books, poems, and dramas. Call out a word and have them search through the texts to find an example of the word in action.

Other Helpful Resources

1st Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

1st Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

Get all the lesson plans you need to teach every Common Core Reading Standard for your grade level.

1st Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

2nd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

3rd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

4th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

5th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

You’re Invited!

Looking for more ways to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students without adding more to your plate?

What Do You Think?

What are your best tips for teaching your students about the types of texts and their parts?

Let us know in the comments.

The post How to Teach Your Students About Types of Texts and Their Parts appeared first on Teach Without Tears.

How to Teach Your Students to Use Illustrations in Literature

Tara Dusko — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Last week, we discussed illustrations and images in informational texts. This week we’re switching back over to fiction texts, but we’re still looking at how illustrations help us understand the text. Use these tips to help your students use illustrations in literature.

Tips for Teaching How to Use Illustrations in Literature

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products that I use and love.

First Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7 – Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Important Skills to Teach:

Review what characters, setting, and events are
How to use illustrations in the story to describe the characters, setting, and events
How to use details in a story to describe the characters, setting, and events

I Can Statements:

I can use the illustrations and details in a story to describe the characters.
I can use the illustrations and details in a story to describe the setting.
I can use the illustrations and details in a story to describe the events.

Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Second Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7 – Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Important Skills to Teach:

Review the definitions of the terms character, setting, and plot
How to use illustrations in a print or digital text to describe the characters, setting, or plot
How to use the words in a print or digital text to describe the characters, setting, or plot

I Can Statements:

I can use the illustrations and words in a text to describe the characters.
I can use the illustrations and words in a text to describe the setting.
I can use the illustrations and words in a text to describe the plot.

Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Third Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 – Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

Important Skills to Teach:

What mood is
How the author uses illustrations to create mood
How the illustrations give information about the characters and setting

I Can Statements:

I can explain how illustrations and words help to create the mood of a story.
I can explain how the illustrations and words give information about the characters in a story.
I can explain how the illustrations and words give information about the setting of a story.

Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fourth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.7 – Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.

Important Skills to Teach:

How to identify important information in a visual or oral presentation
How to identify similarities and differences between the written version of a story or drama and the visual or oral presentation of it
How to look for specific descriptions and directions from the text in the visual or oral presentations

I Can Statements:

I can gather important information from a visual or oral presentation.
I can identify ways the text of a story or drama is the same as and different from a visual or oral presentation of it.
I can explain how descriptions and directions from the text are shown in the visual or oral presentation.

Download a week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fifth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7 – Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

Important Skills to Teach

How to describe the meaning, tone, and beauty of a text
How to gather information by reading a graphic novel or by watching a multimedia presentation of fiction, a folktale, myth, or poem
How to use the pictures and multimedia elements to describe the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text

I Can Statements:

I can explain how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning of a text.
I can explain how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the tone of a text.
I can explain how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the beauty of a text.

Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Suggested Books

For first, second, and third grade, it’s important to find books with great illustrations. They should clearly show the different story elements, like the characters and the setting. For fourth and fifth grade, you need to find texts that have more than one version. Books that have been made into movies are great for this. You can also have your students read a drama and show them the play where it is acted out.

The Mitten

Owl Moon

Zathura

Anansi and the Yam Hill

Sidewalk Flowers

The Hello, Goodbye Window

Annie and the Wild Animals

Tuesday

Tips for Teaching Illustrations in Literature

Do Picture Walks. When your students start a new book, have them take a picture walk through it before reading any of the words. Have them write down what they can learn about the characters, setting, events, and mood just by looking at the pictures. Then, have them go back and read the book to see if the pictures did a good job of telling the story. Discuss how the pictures add even more information that we don’t find in the words of the book.
Act It Out. In fourth and fifth grade, this standard provides the perfect opportunity to do some plays with your students. Divide your class into groups, and give each group a drama to act out. They should use the stage directions to plan their movements and create props. Then, have the other students read the drama and watch it being performed. They can discuss how the visual presentation shows descriptions and directions from the text. They can also share ways it contributes to the meaning, tone, and beauty of the drama.
Design Your Own Illustrations. Remove the illustrations from a picture book or passage. Have your students read it and use the descriptions to create their own illustrations. Tell them to show the characters, setting, and events through their illustrations. When they are finished, show them the pictures the illustrator drew to go with the book. Discuss how their illustrations were the same as and different from the ones in the book.

Other Helpful Resources

1st Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

1st Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

Get all the lesson plans you need to teach every Common Core Reading Standard for your grade level.

1st Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

2nd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

3rd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

4th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

5th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

You’re Invited!

Looking for more ways to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students without adding more to your plate?

What Do You Think?

What are your best tips for teaching your students to use illustrations in literature?

Let us know in the comments.

The post How to Teach Your Students to Use Illustrations in Literature appeared first on Teach Without Tears.

How to Teach Students to Use Illustrations in Informational Texts

Tara Dusko — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 20:32:13 +0000

The seventh informational text standard builds on the fifth one that we broke down last week. In that standard, we looked at all the different types of text features and text structrues that help our students gather important information from a nonfiction text. Now, we will look at how to teach them to use illustrations in informational texts.

Tips for Teaching How to Use Illustrations in Informational Texts

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products that I use and love.

First Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.7 – Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.

Important Skills to Teach:

How to use illustrations in informational texts to gather information
How to use details from an informational text to tell about its key ideas

I Can Statements:

I can use illustrations to gather important information in an informational text.
I can use details to describe the key ideas in an informational text.

Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Second Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.7 – Explain how specific images (e.g., a diagram showing how a machine works) contribute to and clarify a text.

Important Skills to Teach:

What types of images, like charts and diagrams, might be found in an informational text
How images help us understand an informational text

I Can Statements:

I can identify images, like charts and diagrams, in an informational text.
I can use images to help me understand an informational text.

Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Third Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7 – Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

Important Skills to Teach:

What types of illustrations, like maps and photographs, are found in informational texts
How to gather information from the illustrations in an informational text
How to use the words in an informational text to understand where, when, why, and how events occur

I Can Statements:

I can identify illustrations, like maps and photographs, in an informational text.
I can use illustrations to gather information from an informational text.
I can use the words in an informational text to understand where, when, why, and how events occur.

Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fourth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.7 – Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

Important Skills to Teach:

What types of images present visual and quantitative information in informational texts (charts, graphs, diagrams, and time lines)
What types of images present visual and oral information online (animations and interactive elements on Web pages)
How to use the information from these images to understand the text

I Can Statements:

I can identify sources of visual and quantitative information, like charts, graphs, diagrams, and time lines.
I can identify sources of visual and oral information online, like animations and interactive elements on Web pages.
I can use images in informational books and online to better understand an informational text.

Download a week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fifth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.7 – Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

Important Skills to Teach

How to gather information from the words and images in an informational text
How to use text features to locate the answer to a question quickly
How to integrate information from multiple print or digital sources to gather important information

I Can Statements:

I can use the words and images in an informational text to find important information.
I can use the text features, like the table of contents and subheadings, to find the answers to questions and to solve problems.
I can use more than one informational text or digital source to gather important information.

Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Suggested Books

You want to find books with a lot of different types of images and illustrations for this standard. Look for charts, diagrams, maps, graphs, and time lines. The National Geographic books have a lot of different text features and images. They work well for integrating information from the text and from the images.

National Geographic Readers: Weather

What Are Clouds?

Tracking the Weather

The Earth and The Role of Water

Extraordinary Wild Weather

The Best Book of Weather

Tips for Teaching Illustrations in Informational Texts

Use a chart to integrate information. Have your students draw a chart with two sides. For first through fourth grade, the first sections should say “Information From the Text” and the second section should say “Information From the Illustrations”. As the students read their books, they should gather information from all parts of the text and write it in the correct column. Then, they can put together the information from the words and images in the text. For fifth grade, the students can use the two sections for two different books about the same topic. They can see which information overlaps and which information is only in one source.
Play “Race to Find the Answer”. The main purpose of this standard is to help your students quickly find the information they need in an informational text. Put together a set of questions from an informational text that has a lot of images. It should also have other text features, like headings, subheadings, bold words, that can help students find the information they need. Ask the students a question, and have them race to find the answer. They should raise their hands as they find the answer. Be sure to include questions that are answered in the charts, tables, graphs, or captions.
Design Your Own Illustrations. Help your students understand how illustrations help us understand the information in an informational text by having them create their own. After reading an informational text that has numbers or a description of the parts of something, have your students design their own charts, graphs, or diagrams.

Other Helpful Resources

1st Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

1st Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

2nd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

3rd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

4th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments

5th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments

Get all the lesson plans you need to teach every Common Core Reading Standard for your grade level.

1st Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

2nd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

3rd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

4th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

5th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle

You’re Invited!

Looking for more ways to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students without adding more to your plate?

What Do You Think?

What are your best tips for teaching your students to use illustrations in informational texts?

Let us know in the comments.

The post How to Teach Students to Use Illustrations in Informational Texts appeared first on Teach Without Tears.

Tips for Teaching Text Features and Text Structures in Informational Texts

Tara Dusko — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 23:21:40 +0000

One of the most important skills for students to learn when they are reading informational texts is how to identify important information. They need to recognize features, like captions and headings, and ways authors organize their writing to help them understand the content. Let’s look at some tips for teaching text features and text structures.

Breaking Down the Standard

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products that I use and love.

First Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.5 – Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text.

Important Skills to Teach:

What a text feature is
How to identify text features in books – headings, tables of contents, and glossaries
How to identify online text features – electronic menus and icons
How text features can help us find important information

I Can Statements:

I can identify headings, tables of contents, and glossaries in informational books.
I can identify electronic menus and icons online.
I can use text features to find important information.

Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Second Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.5 – Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

Important Skills to Teach:

How to identify text features in books – captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, and indexes
How to identify text features online – electronic menus and icons
How text features can help us find important information

I Can Statements:

I can identify captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries and indexes in informational books.
I can identify electronic menus and icons online.
I can explain how to use text features to find important information.

Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Third Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.5 – Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

Important Skills to Teach:

How to identify text features in books – captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, and indexes
How to identify search tools online – key words, sidebars, and hyperlinks
How to use text features and search tools to find important information

I Can Statements:

I can identify captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, and indexes in books.
I can identify key words, sidebars, and hyperlinks online.
I can use text features and search tools to find important information in books and online.

Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fourth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.5 – Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text.

Important Skills to Teach:

How to identify the order of events in a chronological text structure
How to identify similarities and differences in a comparison text structure
How to identify events that lead to other events in a cause/effect text structure
How to identify problems and how they are solved in a problem/solution text structure

I Can Statements:

I can identify the chronology, comparison, cause/effect, and problem/solution text structures.
I can use a text’s structure to identify the important events, ideas, concepts, and information.

Download a week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Fifth Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.5 – Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts.

Important Skills to Teach

How to identify the chronology, comparison, cause/effect, and problem/solution text structures
How to compare and contrast the text structures of two or more texts

I Can Statements:

I can identify the text structure of an informational text.
I can compare and contrast the text structures of two or more informational texts.

Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.

Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.

Suggested Books

Finding informational books with text features is usually pretty easy. Most nonfiction authors include headings, bold words, tables of contents, and glossaries in their books. Look for books with a wide range of text features.

Finding texts to use for text structures is more challenging. Not all books are written using one specific text structure. I like to start with shorter passages that clearly fit one text structure to introduce this concept to students. Then, we start using short sections from books that are organized using one of the text structures. History books are often good for chronology. The Who Would Win? series is perfect for comparison.

Smart Words Beginning Reader: Octopuses and Squids

Smart Words Reader: Reptiles and Amphibians

Smart Words Reader: Insects and Spiders

Caterpillar to Butterfly

Who Would Win? Wolverine vs. Tasmanian Devil

Figuring Our Fossils

Cats vs. Dogs

Tips for Teaching Text Features and Text Structures in Informational Texts

Do a scavenger hunt. This works for both text features and text structures. For text features, make a list of all the text features your students have learned. Give each student an informational text and have them go on a scavenger hunt through the book to find as many text features as they can. For text structures, put passages around the classroom that are written using the different structures. Have the students read the passages and search for one written in each text structure.
Use graphic organizers for the text structures. Identifying the four text structures can be challenging for students. Associating each one with a graphic organizer can help. Use a sequence chart for chronology, a Venn diagram for comparison, a cause and effect chart for cause/effect, and a problem and solution chart for problem /solution. When your students read an informational text, they will be able to think about which organizer they could use to record the information.
Give your students a passage without any text features. Help your students understand the importance of text features by removing all of them from a passage. Give the students only the text from a challenging informational passage. I like to print one and cut off all the text features before copying it. Have the students read it and try to explain what it’s saying. Then, give them the passage with the text features. Have them explain how the text features help them understand the passage better.