Taking Grades 4-8 Presented by Annie Weissman

1. Identify nonfiction features that enhance gathering information: fonts, textual clues (therefore, on the other hand, etc.,) illustrations and photographs, graphics (maps, charts, graphs, etc.,) and text organization (table of contents, preface, glossary, index, appendices.) 2. Model enthusiasm for nonfiction, the entire research process, read nonfiction aloud (including the newspaper,) and give students the job of following magazines in the classroom for information relevant to topics being studied. 3. Connect nonfiction to students by pointing out connection to yourself, other text, and the world. 4. Explain the forms of expository writing so students will recognize them: cause and effect, problem and solution, question and answer, contrast and compare, descriptive, and sequential. Use graphic organizers to illustrate as seen in reproducible #1: 5. Teach students to distinguish between important ideas and interesting details. 6. Read nonfiction aloud, reread the important sections; have students retell the information in their own words