Informational Text Features

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11dw3F-EXFMndnQYJ4uWq8lWKcl1ePwVF/view?usp=sharing

12 Informational Text Features Posters

(title, table of contents, heading, subheading, print styles, photograph, illustration, caption, map, diagram, glossary and index)

Fiction and Nonfiction Book Comparison

Students work in teams of 2 and compare 1 fiction and 1 nonfiction book of the same topic (ex: 2 books about sloths)

Informational Text Feature Scavenger Hunt

Students cut out and record informational text features from nonfiction magazines.

Once images are gathered in ziploc bags, students paste them on butcher paper or tape them on a wall underneath the 12 informational text feature categories.

What's the Main Idea?!

Students use 3 different text features to find the main idea of 1 nonfiction book.

+ Animal Adaptation Graphic Organizer

After learning about informational text features, I had the students research an animal and create a digital poster of 3 adaptations of their animal. They recorded all 3 adaptations on their organizer and the text features that helped them with their research.

Stacked: Learning with Styrofoam Cups

Check out my post at We Are Teachers: Ways to teach English Language Arts (featured above), Math, Social Studies, and Science using styrofoam cups!

Main Idea / Supporting Details

Over at The Schroeder Page, students had a main idea and supporting details scavenger hunt! 

Some students are given a main idea written on a paper headband. Other students have supporting details written on paper wristbands. Children have to go around the room and find the group they belong to. (4 in a group: 1 main idea and 3 supporting details). Check out the lesson here!

For more main idea activities check out Brain Pop Jr. 

Lego Comprehension

Kids try to build an identical structure by only listening to each others' instructions! 

Place something in between 2 lego plates, so kids can't see each others' lego building base (no cheating!). Kids take turns giving instructions. They must be very detail oriented (describe color, size, and placement). Also, they have to have good listening skills, so they place the lego in the correct spot! When they're finished building, they look at their structures to see if they are identical. Did they give good directions?!

Hungry Caterpillar Food Rope

Print and cut out caterpillar life cycle and food shapes, punch holes in them (leaf and food), and have kids create a hungry caterpillar food rope! What did the hungry caterpillar eat first? Kids use clothespins (or simply lace), putting the food in order on a piece of yarn. 

Keerplunk

Read Shel Silverstein's poem "Shapes" aloud to students. As they listen, have them follow along at their desk with a set of paper shape cutouts (rectangle, square, triangle, circle, as well as a couple of other shapes not included in the poem). Afterwards, have them retell key details from the poem in order, using their cutouts to help guide them. (What fell from the sky? Who went to the hospital? Who rolled him there? etc.) Then, have them create their own shape poem or comic strip, involving any four shapes they'd like! Encourage them to choose at least one shape that wasn't in Silverstein's poem.

Casey at the Bat!

Children's Book featured: Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 By: Ernest L. Thayer

PBL learning activities that go along with the poem, "Casey at the Bat!" 

MILB (Minor League Baseball) has compiled a packet of lesson plans for active learning. Below are just a few of the activities included:

Math
- Double Play game with jersey numbers
- Create a concession stand to understand money and economics
Language Arts
- Create a baseball card
- Become a news reporter
- Baseball Vocabulary
Science
- Why do baseball fields have grass (and how to maintain it)
- Build a mini stadium
- Nutrition

Visit BSU for character analysis activities and freebies that go along with the poem!

Click here for baseball experiments!

Poem Link - EDhelper

Capzles: Digital Timeline

Capzles - The most kid-friendly, simple, interactive timeline on the web. Kids can choose from a variety of backgrounds, fonts, and even add background music! They have to search for their own photos to add to the timeline. When they upload them, the tool makes it super easy for them to add the date (month, day, and year) for each image, along with a title and description. This tool could also be used for digital story telling. Other Web 2.0 Timelines - Tiki Toki (one timeline free), Timeline JS, and Dipity

Popplet

Popplet - Fun, free web 2.0 tool to help students brainstorm and collect their ideas. Students can collaborate or work independently on a mind map. Popplet is great for younger kids because they can insert images, videos, and even draw on their mind map, rather than being limited to just text. It can be used to help students with reading comprehension or organizing ideas for a creative story or factual animal report. Students don't even have to look for images. They can search for an image or video on popplet from flickr, youtube, or their facebook page. If they have their own image they want to add, they can select it from their computer. All they do is select the media they want to include and it adds it immediately. Furthermore, they can add as many "popplets" (boxes) as they'd like!

Click here for a free Barred Owl Adaptation project!

Let's Read Marathon!

photo credit: John Morgan - flickr cc

Awesome idea to help kids comprehend from Fabulous in Fourth and Ms. Winston's Blog. I adjusted the activities and timeframe (older kids read for 10 minute intervals) for younger children who aren't reading chapter books yet. A reading marathon begins with kids choosing a book. Then, you set a timer. Students read for a bit, then stop and complete a task. The tasks they do will help them remember key details from the text. When they have finished all the tasks, they make a timeline. Incorporate some technology into the activity with Popplet! Kids can create a mind map to organize their thoughts.

Reading Private Eye

Improve your reading comprehension with a scavenger hunt! Kids sign on for a reading mission. Their goal is to find the key details of a piece of literature. 

Bounce! Retell

Story telling ropes and roads / streets are super popular. Put a twist on the activity by adding a little bounce and getting the kids outdoors. Help students with reading comprehension by creating a winding path for them to bounce on as they retell a story. Draw different shapes and write key details inside of them (title, characters, narrator, setting, fact vs. fiction, main event, and chronological order - first, next, last). Kids plop on a jumping ball with handles, answering the key detail block they land on. 

Reading Comprehension Game

Reading Comprehension plays a significant role in the common core curriculum. I made a die for kids to have fun pointing out key details from a piece of literature. After reading a story, kids get in a group, roll the die, and answer it. This activity will help them look for key details and familiarize them with important components in a story. 

Story Interaction

Kids love role play. Encourage them to act out the parts of main characters in books. Not only will they have fun, but this activity will also help with reading comprehension. Snap photos of the kids. Then, have them draw/paint backgrounds and settings from a book. Then, paste their photo within the art they've made. 

Ladder to the moon via Artsonia 

Grouchy bug via Finally in First

Climbing the stalk via No Time for Flash Cards

Monster Exchange Project

Monster Exchange is an awesome site, that sets different schools up from all around the world. Kids design a monster. Then, they describe it in writing. Their monster description and picture is sent to another school. That school has to redraw the monster, using the written description. This is a great activity that promotes reading comprehension, writing skills (using adjectives), and technology in the classroom. Visit Monster Exchange and have your class work with another from around the world! 

This activity can also be done within the classroom. Two students sit back to back. One describes what they drew. The other tries to recreate it. 

You could also turn the activity into a collaboration game! Art teacher Lauren Taylor at The School at St. George Place Creation Station came up with a collaborative art project/ game for kids to work together to create rad monsters (monster art featured above)! Each child creates separate parts of a monster's body (line drawing, not filled in). Next, they sort them into bins (e.g. by head, limb, torso, etc.). Then, the kids go from bin to bin, choosing various parts, excluding the ones that they made. Once the parts are collected, the kids build their monsters and add detail.

Kid Book Club

Have a mini book club in your classroom via The First Grade Parade! At the beginning of each week, Mrs. Carroll reads a book to her class. 

Next, she has them fill out information about the book that helps get their discussion going during the book club session (e.g. favorite character, alternate endings, and how they can relate themselves to the story). Then, they tack their info on a brown lunch bag. When Friday comes around, the bags are filled with popcorn and the book club begins! Kids are separated into small groups, encouraged to chat it up!