4 Helpful Tips for a Text Structure Lesson in Primary Grades
Are you an organization nut?! No way, me too! Text structure is the perfect skill for us then! I get so excited planning a text structure lesson because it lets me mix my loves of organization and teaching reading!
Our students love structure and routine, so they thrive at learning text structure. I’ll never forget my 2nd graders first aha moment when I showed them how each text structure helps us to better read and comprehend what is happening in the text. It just clicked and made so much sense to them! So let’s dive into some tips that I have learned along to way to help our young readers utilize this important non- fiction reading strategy.
It seems that a specific text structure lesson is not often taught in primary grades. Typically, the 5 text structures are taught as separate independent skills. I try to bridge that gap and show the students how the skills connect by this reading strategy.
Tips for Planning a Text Structure Lesson
1. Share a clear expectation of text structure
You may be wondering, what is text structure? Well, it is how a text is organized and information is presented. It is helpful to know the text structure of what you are reading. You can get in the mindset for how to interpret the information. Get students excited in your text structure lesson that this strategy is going to help them learn and get the most out of the texts that they read!
I have found that when you first explain the definition of text structure to students, it does not make much sense. Use examples and mentor texts to best show this reading strategy. First, I tell students what the five text structure are. After that, we dive into looking at each one individually to master them one at a time.
2. Teach each text structure separately
I teach one text structure at a time. During our shared reading, I tell them what the text structure of the book is. This way, during our interactive read aloud, they are noticing all of the components of that structure.
Then after we know two, we do a text structure lesson. We look at a text and determine which of those two text structures we see in how the book is written. We do the same after we know four, and then again after we know all five! I have found that this is the best way to help my 2nd graders master each text structure while still using them together to deepen their understanding of the overall reading strategy.
The five text structures are:
- Cause and Effect– explains an event (cause) and the effects that follow
- Problem and Solution– describes a problem and gives one or more solutions
- Description– details, features, characteristics and examples of a topic
- Sequence– specific order of events or steps
- Compare and Contrast– shows what is the same and different about two or more topics or ideas
Your text structure lesson should explain what the text structure represents, clues to look for in the text that will identify that structure, and mentor text examples. Each of these skills are important reading skills in primary grades. However, usually 2nd graders see these skills in isolation in short paragraphs rather than in a book.
Don’t get me wrong, it is VERY important to practice these five skills in short on-level paragraphs with your students. I have found it is more impactful and meaningful to first teach them in the context of a book.
I often use graphic organizers in a text structure lesson to help students work through the information given in the text. This helps them organize it in context with the structure.
3. Text Structure Lessons should be rooted in mentor texts
Mentor texts are key to engaging students in meaningful learning. During our shared reading time, I model think alouds while reading the mentor texts to teach our focus skill in context.
On this blog post, I share ideas of what mentor texts pair well with each of the text structures!
It really helps my students to see how the text structure changes the information given and set up of the books. We often look back at all of the books at the end and talk about how they are similar/ different.
Using a sentence frame to model and encourage students to discuss text structure within these books is the KEY to cultivating true understanding in our students. This is where Teagan the Text Structure Manager (a member of my Comprehension Crew resource) plays such a crucial role in being a concrete representation of the skill and how to implement it.
4. Explain text structure with a concrete example
I LOVE incorporating real life examples and concrete connections with reading strategies.
Discussion starter to connect a text structure lesson to everyday life:
When we open a drawer in the classroom or walk into a grocery store, how can we tell where to find something? Do we always know how something is organized before we use it? What do we do if we are not sure how to understand how it is organized? Can we look for signs?
If we want to buy cookies in the grocery store, what kind of signs would we look for to try to take in the information around us and navigate through? We are navigating through texts as we read and the signs of text structures help us to take in the information correctly and efficiently.
Check out my Comprehension Crew resources for teaching fiction and non-fiction reading strategies to use this type of concrete connection teaching style to cultivate strong independent readers in your classroom!
Looking for more information about non- fiction reading strategies? Check out these blog posts!
