Increasing Non-fiction R eading Levels the Easy Way

1. Joanne Kaminski Increasing Non-fiction Reading Levels the Easy Way

2. Non-Fiction Book Features

3. Non-Fiction Features Bold Headings Captions Cut-away diagrams Glossary Table of Contents

4. Ask Questions

5. Types of Questions kids are expected to answer.

6. How to Teach Kids to Ask Questions • Teach the difference between a statement and a question. • Start with who, what, when, where, why, how • These questions will require the reader to write down more details than just yes or no. • Don’t start with is, are, or do. • These questions will simply give a yes or no answer.

7. Types of questions kids can ask from the front cover • Turn the title into a question. • Ask a question about something in the picture. • If a child does not know the meaning of a word, they can ask • What does _____ mean? • (Only have the child come up with 2 or 3 questions from the front cover) • Think about whether the question you are asking would get answered in a book like this.

8. Books about Animals • How they have babies? • What they eat? • Where they live? • How long they stay with their mothers? • Who are their prey? • How do they protect themselves?

9. Books about Holidays • Where it originated? • Who celebrates it? • How long have people been celebrating it? • What customs or traditions are part of the holiday?

10. Books about people • Where they were born • Who they married • Where they lived • What great thing they are famous about • How they became famous for it • When they did the famous thing they are known for.

11. Books about places • When was it established? • Who founded it? • Who lives there? • What kind of animals live there? • What kind of plants can you find there? • Why do people travel there? • Why do people live there? • What is that area famous for? • What kind of food is grown there?

12. Types of questions to ask from the Table of Contents • Take 4 of the headings and turn them into questions using who, what, when, where, why, or how. • If there is a heading that is already in question form, you can use that. If there is a vocabulary word the child does not know, they can write what does ___mean?

13. How to unpack difficult vocabulary before reading • Go to the glossary • Write down three unknown words. • Write down the definition. • Draw a picture of that word so that you can remember it when you come across it. • Write the sentence that the word appears in. • Write a summary of the book and use the vocabulary words as many times as you can without being redundant.

14. Benefits after the intervention • Learn how to take notes. • Learn how to skim and scan. • Learn how to go back to the text to find information they need. • Dig deeper into unknown vocabulary without being prompted to do so. • Learn how to highlight properly. • More purposeful reading. • Be able to take any non-fiction passage test at the appropriate reading level and ace it.

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