NONFICTION REVOLUTION

1. NONFICTION REVOLUTION The Why’s and How’s of using Nonfiction text in Reading, Writing and Research

2. Let’s meet each other! Maureen Houser I have been in education for 15 years. I am the mother to 3 boys who have all helped shape my views on teaching. I believe a love of reading is more important than a level. Elizabeth Ross I’ve been in education for 13 years, 9 as a special education teacher and 4 as a reading specialist. My favorite book is Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming.

3. Goals of Presentation Create a passion for reading and writing by immersing students in nonfiction texts. Using texts to allow children to think like a writer and create a focused piece of researched writing.

4. SOLS Kindergarten: K.1a-c,i K.7c K.9a-c K.11b-g K.12a- First Grade: 1.1a,e,g-l 1.2a 1.6a-e 1.7e 1.10a-h 1.12a-h 1.14a-e Second Grade: 2.1a,b,h,m 2.6d,f 2.8a-h 2.10a-f,i 2.12a-f Third Grade: 3.1a,c-h 3.4d-g 3.5a,c,g,k-m 3.6b-d,f-j 3.8a-j 3.10a-f Fourth Grade: 4.1a-e 4.4a,d-e 4.6a-e,h,i 4.7a-e,g-i,m 4.9a-f Fifth Grade: 5.1a,b,f 5.4a,f 5.6a-d,k 5.7a-e,l 5.9a-f

5. Turn and Chat with buddies What are some of your favorite nonfiction books you are using in your classroom? Do you use any mentoring text (fiction or nonfiction) to drive your instruction? How do your students response when you use mentoring text in a lesson?

6. What is mentoring text? • “Mentoring texts are pieces of literature that we can return to again and again as we help our young writer learn how to do what they may not yet be able to do on their own.” • “Mentor text serve to show, not just tell, students how to write well. They along with the teacher, provide wonderful examples that help students grow into successful writers through supportive partnership.”

7. What is mentoring text? 2 • Mentoring text does not have to be a picture book but can be a newspaper, magazine or any other piece of writing. Mentor texts: Teaching Writing through Children’s Literature, K-6

8. Why use mentoring text? • Writing nonfiction text helps our students to refine their thinking skills and organize their ideas and understanding about topics around them. • Reading mentoring text allows teachers to “think out loud”. • Using nonfiction mentor texts allows us to go beyond the classroom walls and helps develop a desire to learn more about topics that lead us to read, ask questions and seek out answers.

9. Why use mentoring text? 2 • It is important that we engage in the experience of the researching/writing process that authors go through. • We read nonfiction text to find answers to the burning questions our students have.

10. Quote 1 “The best nonfiction writing begins with a writer’s passionate curiosity about a subject” - Joann Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher Nonfiction Craft Lessons: Teaching Information Writing, K-8

11. Creating a list Have children create an expert chart or a love list.It is helpful to start from a place of interest and knowledge when beginning to research and write.

12. Determining a Topic • What I KNOW, Want to KNOW, Learned (KWL chart) • Taking notes from an Illustration • Research - Read - Remember - Recite – Write • Fact-Questions-Respond Chart (F-Q-R)

13. KWL chart

14. Taking Notes from Illustrations A picture can show you what something looks like or how it works so why not use it in research? How to: Using the pictures in a nonfiction book, give students post-it notes and have them write down what they have learned from the picture or questions they might have about the top

15. Taking Notes from Illustrations 2 SHARP TEETH ALL OVER THE WORLD ATTACK PEOPLE = FOOD PREDATORS

16. Research-Read-Remember-Recite-Write • Research and generate a topic • Read to find information out about the topic • Close the book! Talk to a buddy about the information you discovered • Write about the topic from your discussion

17. Research-Read-Remember-Recite-Write 2 • Some can be dangerous • Large sharks attack and kill • 30 types of sharks • Shark attacks are rare • Don’t like the taste of people • Bite humans by mistake • Don’t splash or kick if you fall into the ocean for safety After reading The Best Book of Sharks by Claire Llewellyn “Shark Attack!

18. Examples

19. Fact-Question-Respond 1 • Helps student synthesize information AS they read by asking questions, determining important facts and adding their own thoughts and opinions • Helps determine a focus for future research

20. Fact-Question-Respond 2 • Different ways to use FQR • Students can record questions, facts they have learned and responses to their questions • Students can record questions, facts and respond with their opinion about what they read and learned

21. What F-Q-R looks like

22. F-Q-R text

23. Example of F-Q-R

24. quote “Understanding the question the author was exploring will help us think about what the author wants us to know. It can also help us to think about what questions we have that we can write about.” Dorfman, L. R., & Cappelli, R.

25. What are you wondering? 1Building essential questions and purpose • Guide students when constructing their own essential questions (I do, we do, you do). Questioning is at the heart of research. • Guide students through the “funneling” process so they can create a piece that has depth and interest for readers.

26. What are you wondering? 2Building essential questions and purpose • Forming an essential question helps students set a purpose for their writing and research

27. Key questions to ask: • What is the main idea I am trying to convey? • What structure/writing style am I going to use to share the information?

28. Big Book of the Blue Models a question that narrows the research field. If we just research sharks, our writing will be shallow and vague.

29. Writing about a topic • The ocean is a really interesting place. There are many animals that live in the ocean. Fish, crabs and sharks live in the ocean. Some animals live near the top and some animals live way down deep. The ocean is a home to many animals.

30. Writing about a topic 2 Sharks are fish. They live in oceans all over the world. They are carnivores, which means they eat meat. There are more than 400 different kinds of sharks. They can be very aggressive. Some sharks have attacked humans. Be careful if you see a shark in the water.

31. Writing about a topic 3 • We all know sharks are fierce hunters and incredibly strong, but have you ever wondered how smart they are? Sharks are very social, highly intelligent animals. They are naturally curious. Compagno, a scientist who studies sharks, says they will pop their heads out of the water and look him directly in the eye. He also states that they feast on other large brained animals such as seals, and dolphins and in order to do that they must have more mental capacity than an ordinary fish. Now we can think about sharks’ brain power as much as we think of their bite power.

32. “Without sufficient detail, my students tend to write paragraphs that may have an impressively relaxed tone, but that lack force, or memorability because there’s nothing to sink one’s teeth into as a reader.” -Laura Robb, Nonfiction writing: From the Inside out

33. Turn and chat with buddies 2 How do you feel about writing? Do you spend time writing in your classroom? Do you model writing in front of your students?

34. What should our classroom culture look like? Writing takes guts. What must be in place so children can make the jump? It is risk taking love choice relationships • trust

35. Steps for writing • Formulating purpose and essential questions ( I do, we do, you do) • Research and preparing final outcome- varies depending on lesson format, how in-depth the essential question is and grade level. Center activity, with conferences - teacher and research buddy • Share findings

36. Sharing Writing Allow students to be creative when they are presenting their writing; this gives them a sense of ownership. Expose students to a variety of writing styles. Make sure to model different styles so they can showcase their research in the best suited way.

37. Applying research in various forms • infographics • Report • Posters • slide shows • chatter pix • design a questions and answer book • informational ABC book

38. Great nonfiction mentor books Question Time: Explore and Discover Series Eyewitness Books How Big Is it? Who Would Win? Picking topic/essential questions: The Big Book of the Blue The Big Book of Bugs The Big Book of Beasts

39. The Revolution The researching, reading and writing processes are circular. They work together in a reciprocal fashion to inform each other.As we continue to read, research and write, new ideas will strike and old ideas will be revisited. • Keep the revolution • alive!

40. Keep in touch Maureen Houser 2nd grade teacher Barron Elementary School Hampton, VA mbhouser@hampton.k12.va.us Elizabeth Ross Reading Specialist John B Cary Elementary School Hampton, VA eross1@hampton.k12.va.us

41. Bibliography Dorfman, L. R., & Cappelli, R. (2017). Mentor Text: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6 (2nd ed.). Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publisher. Portalupi, J., & Fletcher, R. J. (2001). Nonfiction craft lessons: Teaching information writing K-8. Portland: Stenhouse. Dorfman, L. R., & R. C. (2009). Nonfiction Mentor Texts: Teaching Informational Writing Through Children's Literature, K-8. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publisher. Markle, S., & McWilliam, H. (2017). What if you had animal teeth!? New York, NY: Scholastic. Koestler-Grack, R. A. (2017). 10 fascinating facts about sharks. New York, NY: Childrens Press, An Imprint of Scholastic.

42. Bibliography cont’d Davies, N. (2011). Monsters of the deep. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. MacQuitty, M. (2008). Eyewitness shark. London: Dorling Kindersley. Eyewitness Ocean. (2006). Dk Pub. Pallotta, J. (2009). Polar bear vs. grizzly bear. Toronto: Scholastic. Savage, S. (2004). Sharks. New York: Scholastic.

43. Disclaimer • Reference within this presentation to any specific commercial or non-commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise does not constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Virginia Department of Education.