Dear Parents,
Your child has been working on retelling fiction books. At
the end of the year, your child may be asked to retell nonfiction books as well. The retelling of a non-fiction book is
different than what your child is used to when retelling a
fiction book. When reading a non-fiction book at home, it
is important to have your child read all of the headings,
sub headings, captions, labels, etc. This will help your child
when retelling that text. Here are some ways to help your
child successfully retell a non-fiction book:
1) After your child reads, ask them to start at the beginning and tell you everything
the author said about the topic of the book. For example, you can say “Start at
the beginning and tell me everything the author said about seals and how they
live.”
2) Some non-fiction books are in a chronological order therefore, it is important for
your child to retell it in that order (for example, the life cycle of a frog). If at any
time during their retell they did not include enough details, remind them to tell you
more. They should eventually be able to retell without additional prompting.
3) Other non-fiction texts are not in chronological order but have many headings
and sub headings. If your child is retelling a non-fiction text like this, they should
be sure to tell 2-3 facts about each heading (for example, types of minerals). It
will be easier for them if they also tell this in order of the book.
4) Once your child has completed their retell, take time to ask them questions about
charts, graphs, table of contents, captions, etc. for them to practice
understanding the text features of a non-fiction book.
5) Once your child has completed their retell and questions about text features,
please have your child share with you the connection they have with the book.
You can say, “What does this book remind you of? Can you think of a
connection?”
*Helping your child understand fiction, as well as non-fiction text, opens up a whole
new of reading for them! I look forward to seeing the growth they will make and the
excitement for reading that they will have. Thank you for your support in helping your
child become a lifelong reader!
Happy Reading!
Miss Steuer