In today’s session we will:
• Get ready to read by thinking about what you
know about a topic and setting a purpose for
reading.
• Learn how to use text features to help you get
ready to read an informational text.
• Ask and answer questions you develop to help
you learn about the topic you are reading.
• Discover how much we read informational text
every day.
Why Are We Focusing on Informational Text?
• Between 50 and 80 percent of all standardized tests
students take will be an informative-type text.
• By sixth grade, more than 50 percent of reading in school
is going to be informational text. Most of what adults read
on and off the job is informational text (Venezky, 2000).
• We need to prepare students for the kinds of reading
expected in both college and the workplace.
What’s the Difference between
Fiction and Informational Text?
Fiction
Informational Text
Used to entertain us.
Used to inform/let us know about …
Has a beginning, middle, end of the
story, has a setting, plot, characters,
etc.
Has text features that guide us when
reading information about the subject
Read from front to back
Can read one chapter, anywhere you
want to start usually (how to…)
When answering questions about the
story, you could say: “I think he is
going to do this because…..”
When answering questions about the
text, you need to find the exact answer
that can be found in the content you
just read.
Informational texts include
all kinds of nonfiction.
We read informational texts to:
• Increase our knowledge about a topic.
• Understand how things work and why
things happen.
Board Completed?
WEATHER
HISTORY
$100
$200
You want to learn more
about the different kinds
of clouds you
find in the sky…
Answer
Cloud Formations on
Internet, Cloud Books,
Weather Books
Return to Main Board
You want to read about
the life of
George Washington…
Answer
Biographies,
Books on the Presidency
Let’s Find Out
• Locate the Let’s Find Out
handout.
• Choose three or four
information boxes on the
handout
• Write down as many
sources you can think of
to locate this
information.
WEATHER
HISTORY
WINNER
Let’s Get Started
• Think about what you know about the
subject BEFORE you start reading.
• Set a purpose for reading the chapter,
book, or article. Students can also set
their own purpose for reading.
What to do before you start reading..
1. Use the informational text book you selected and locate
the Thinking Guide handout.
2. Think about what you may already know about the topic
you have chosen. Write down two or three things you
already know or think you know.
3. Look at the What I Want to Know column. Write down
two or three things you want to know more about as you
read the book.
Diagram
Key Words or
Index
Guide Words
Table of
Contents
Bold
Print
Timelines
Text
Illustrations
Appendix
Features
Text Box
Titles &
Headings
Maps
Sidebars
Glossary
Introduction
Preface
Graphs
Charts
Tables
Captions
Table of Contents
Titles/Headings
Practice Using Titles & Subheadings
• Choose any chapter in your
informational text book.
• Locate the Titles & Subheadings
handout
• Use the Title and Subheadings to
create questions about the text.
• Go back into the text to find the
EXACT answers to the questions
you created.
Share Your Answers
Choose a partner/pair
at your table
and share both your questions
and your answers with your partner/pair.
Bold Print Italicized Print
Glossary
Maps
Timelines
Seek & Find Text Features
1. Let’s use your informational text book again.
2. Locate the “Informational Text Features”
handout.
3. Look at the “Informational Text Features”
sheet and check off all the text features
you find in your informational text book.
4. When you are looking through the text features, look for a fact
you did not know and share that fact and its location with your
tablemates.
Share the Fact You Did Not Know
Share a fact that
you did not know with
your tablemates and
tell them where you found that
information in the book.
What have you learned?
1. Go back to your Thinking Guide handout.
2. Look back at what you knew about the topic you have explored
and what you wanted to know as well. Did you learn more
about your topic?
3. Go to the what I learned section and write down three new
things you learned as you looked at the text features found in
your book.
Pair/Share
Share your findings
with a partner at your
table.
What to Do When You Are Stuck!
Do you understand what you just read? If you
don’t go back into the text and ask questions.
– What do I already know about this topic?
– How can the text features help me understand
what I am reading?
– Am I using the glossary to help me with the new
vocabulary words?
– Do I need to reread some of these pages?
– Can I turn titles into headings to ask myself
questions I can answer about what I just read?
What if Your Text Doesn’t Have a
Text Feature that You Need?
Examples:
 Table of Contents
 Glossary
 Timeline
 Index
 Key Words/Guide Words
 Titles/Headings
Always Look For Different Points of View
•
Read several articles and/or books on the same
subject so that you will be able to learn more about
the topic.
•
Think about why the author wrote this kind of book.
•
When you read about a topic written by more than
one author, you learn how authors can think
differently about a topic.
Additional Resources to Use
• 3-2-1 Strategy Chart
• Text Feature Notes
• 10 Tips for Reading Nonfiction with Your Child
For Attending Our Workshop