Helpful Tips for Teaching Nonfiction in the Primary Grades
When I think of the primary grades, I think of fairy tales and picture books taking them on explorations through their imagination! I just never thought about how I would be teaching nonfiction text to little learners until I was teaching 2nd grade. Obviously, I knew I needed to be teaching nonfiction skills and it is so important for our students to be exposed to a variety of text, so I brainstormed the best way to reach my learners. Let me share a brief overview of my way of teaching nonfiction reading skills to give you an idea of where to start with your own students!
Teaching Nonfiction Skills
There are specific Common Core Informational Text Reading Standards that 2nd graders need to cover, so I make sure that I am continuously working on them with my students. You can read about those standards here. Overall, the reading comprehension skills I cover in 2nd grade are:
- main idea
- compare & contrast
- text features
- defining vocabulary
- determining importance
- text structure
- ask & answer questions- who, what, where, when, why & how
These reading strategies are important to improve reading comprehension and nurture strong independent readers.
Best Nonfiction Books for Kids
A struggle I found when teaching nonfiction reading skills to my 2nd graders was that a lot of the texts I wanted to use were above their reading level. These worked really well for shared reading, but I went on a hunt for age and ability level appropriate books for students to apply their reading skills to independently!
- Who Would Win Series
- Gail Gibbons books
- Times For Kids magazines
- National Geographic Look & Learn books– these are board books and are great for lower readers & to really inspect use of text features!
- National Geographic Little Kids First Big Books
- National Geographic Leveled Readers
Look around for books that appeal to your students’ interests, meet their reading level, and can be used with the skill you are teaching. Using books that appeal to your students is HUGE. They get so excited at the site of nonfiction text about their favorite animal, they will be happy to practice applying those amazing reading strategies you just taught them! If you have any great nonfiction book finds, send me a message! I would love to hear about it!
Follow me for lots and lots more nonfiction reading content coming soon. I hope that this brief overview helps you think about where you can get started with your students!
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