Monday, October 12, 2015

Nonfiction Text Features

In Mrs. Essenburg's class we have been reading and learning about nonfiction. What is nonfiction?


There are lots of different types of nonfiction, such as books about animals, sports, history, biography, or different states or countries.

Mrs. Essenburg loves nonfiction books about history!

Authors write nonfiction in a different way than they write fiction. Authors use special text features to help the reader understand the facts they are reading about.

What are text features?

Text features are things like captions, which tell what a pictures is about.


 A text feature might also be a heading, which explains what the section of text is about.


Don't forget about the Table of Contents! The Table of Contents lets us know what each of the chapters are about and also what page they are on.


A map is one of Mrs. Essenburg's favorite text feature, because if we are reading about a place it shows us exactly where that place is.


Don't forget about bold-faced words. Bold-faced words are words that the author thinks are important, so the author makes them darker than the other words. 


Charts and graphs are very important text features. Charts and graphs organize information in a way that is very easy to read. 


 Glossaries are the last text feature we will talk about here. A glossary is like a very small dictionary just for the nonfiction book you are reading. A glossary tells you what the bold-faced words mean and how to pronounce the word.



Those are just some of the text features authors use to make nonfiction books more interesting and to help the reader understand the facts in the book.

Check out this great video Jordan and Cordelia made about the text features of this nonfiction book about animals!




We practiced using text features.  In Social Studies we were learning about the Midwest Region. After we read about the different food, fun activities, and music of the Midwest we used the Pic Collage app to make headings and captions about what we read. Here are some examples of what we made.

Here are Korin's and Mason W.'s headings and captions about food in the Midwest.


Here are Andrew's and Kaitlyn's headings and captions about things people do for fun in the Midwest.


Here are Sydey's, Riley's, and Addison's headings and captions about things people might do for fun in the Midwest.

Here are Omar and Julian's headings and captions about some food you might find in the Midwest.

Here are Dorothy and Jordan's headings and captions about the music you might hear in the Midwest.


Here are Lainie and Selena's headings and captions about the music in the Midwest.



Without text features nonfiction books would not be nearly as interesting! 

Think about the nonfiction books you like to read. What type of nonfiction do you like the best? Which text feature do you find helps you the most to understand the book? Why is that text feature so helpful? Please comment below and let us know. Make sure your comment is a Quality Comment

30 comments:

  1. Dear,class

    My favorite nonfiction books are football books because I really like football and I play it so I like it


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    1. Dear Andrew,

      I am not surprised that your favorite nonfiction books are about football! You are always checking football books out of the library and I know how much you like to play football. I am wondering, which nonfiction text feature you think helps you the most as you read through your football books? Are there any other sports that you like besides football.

      Delete
  2. Dear class,

    My favorite nonfiction books are about mechanical stuff;)
    What is your favorite?
    The best tool for me is the glossary.

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    1. Dear Mason W,

      That's great that you like mechanical things. What type of mechanical things do you mean? When I hear mechanical I think of machines like cars or cranes or trains but maybe you mean something like a bridge. Being able to create mechanical things that move is an amazing skill. Why do you say the glossary is the best tool for you?

      Delete
  3. Dear class,

    My favorite non-fiction books are about sharks and the table of contents helps me the most.

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    1. Dear Camden,

      You are doing a great job reading about your favorite topic, I think you've read almost all of the nonfiction books about sharks that we have in our classroom library. You may have to visit the school library or the public library to get more. Are there any other types of animals you might like to read about? Why do you like the table of contents the best?

      Delete
  4. Dear class,
    My favorite nonfiction books are baking because I like to make,cookies,cakes,cupcakes and lots of other things and just help with other things I can make.

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    1. Dear Shiloh,

      Your favorite nonfiction books sound delicious! I got hungry just reading about the types of books you like to read. Which text features do you think help you the most when you read books about baking?

      Delete
  5. Dear class,

    Nonfiction books i like to read are ones about the galaxy other planets stars stuff about the Blood Moon and the Sun. I like the table of contents cause I can see which planet I like the most like Mars and Earth also Jupiter. I like space because there are so many things we still have not found. it is kinda like how people believe aliens or not also UFOs. Also i have always wanted to see the core of the Sun.

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    1. Dear Jordan,

      What a great example of a quality comment! You shared so much detail about the type of nonfiction books you enjoy reading. I love how you shared why you like to read about space so much and I agree, the table of contents would let you go right to whatever planet you would like to read about. I am wondering, do you have a favorite planet? If you do, why do you like that one?

      Delete
  6. Dear Class,I like to read about animals like horses and zebras.Mrs.Essenburg I like the Table of contents too.Nice question but I have a question for you.Why do you like books?

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    1. Dear Meredith,

      What a great question! I like books for so many reasons, but two main reasons come to mind. First of all, I love books because they can take me all over the world without ever leaving my living room. I can travel to other worlds, other countries, and even get into the mind of another person as I read a book. I also love books because I can learn so much. I can't even begin to tell you how much I've learned from reading over the years. I don't know where I'd be without books, I love them that much! Thanks for a wonderful question.

      I notice that your favorite type of nonfiction is a specific type of animal---you seem to like horses a lot. Do you have a favorite kind of horse? Also why is the table of contents the most helpful text feature for you?

      Delete
  7. Dear class

    My favorite books are the books that are all about nonfiction. I love the books about animals. I like them because I think its nice if you take a break from fiction and learn new facts because i get ambitious about. The caption is healthful.

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    1. Dear Kaitlyn,

      I agree, sometimes it feels good to read some nonfiction books, especially if you've read a lot of fiction books all in a row. It's fun to read some facts about a topic that you are really interested in. I am wondering why you find captions the most helpful nonfiction text feature. Can you tell us more about why think they are helpful?

      Delete
  8. Dear Class,
    My favorite nonfiction book is about dogs and puppies because I have a dog. The table of contents is the text feature that helps me the most because it tells me what the chapter is going to be about.

    Omar.

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    1. Dear Omar,

      It is fun to read about animals that we care about. There are so many great books about dogs, both fiction and nonfiction. Can you tell us what kind of dog you have and your dog's name? The table of contents is very helpful I agree, it makes it easy to find what we are looking for in the chapter.

      Delete
  9. Dear Class,

    My favorite nonfiction book is a biography because I like to learn about people who changed the world. My favorite text feature is... I don't know. What is your favorite? Bye!

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    1. Dear Dorothy,

      I love biographies too! I read a biography not too long ago about President Kennedy and it was fascinating to learn more about the life of one of our presidents. A lot of biographies are a lot like history, especially if you're reading about a famous person who changed the world. What biographies have you read that you liked, and why did you like them?

      I like all of the text features, but I like captions a lot because sometimes when I look at a picture I'm not sure what it's about just by looking at it. A caption helps me understand more about what I'm reading by describing the picture.

      Delete
  10. Dear class,
    I like books about animals because they are so cute.The text feature that helps me the most is a caption because they tell about the pictures.Can you tell me yours?

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    1. Dear Joey,

      Do you like all animals or are there some that you like more than others? One of my favorite wild animals is a wolf. There's something lost and lonely and wild about a wolf that appeals to me. I like reading nonfiction books about wolves and I'm curious what animal you would pick if you had to choose just one and why you might choose that animal.

      Captions are a great text feature! A nonfiction book without captions wouldn't be much fun to read.

      Delete
  11. Dear Class,

    My favorite nonfiction book is animal book because I want to be a animal doctor.I think that my favorite text feature is the table of contents because it helps people see where the chapters are.

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    1. Dear Cordelia,

      What a great way to prepare to become an animal doctor (veterinarian)--by reading lots of nonfiction books about different animals! I agree that the table of contents are very helpful in nonfiction books. They make it easy to go right to the chapter that you are the most interested in. What type of animal is your favorite and why?

      Delete
  12. Dear Class,

    My favorite kind of nonfiction books are about basketball. I like basketball because basketball is my favorite sport. In second grade I played basketball and I was the only one who could block the ball when someone shot it.

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    1. Dear Mason,

      It sounds like you are a natural at basketball. You are nice and tall and you are probably very good at jumping so you are a good defensive basketball player and can stop the other players from shooting. What text feature do you think is the most helpful in books about basketball and why?

      Delete
  13. Dear class
    I liked your awesome ideas. they looked cool on the blog.
    form. Sydney

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    1. Dear Sydney,

      I agree, everyone has amazing things to share about the type of nonfiction they like to read! It is fun to have a class blog to share with one another, our parents, and our visitors about what we are learning. I am curious, what nonfiction text do you like to read? Do you have a text feature that helps you out?

      Delete
  14. Dear class
    My favorite nonfiction book is science. my favorite thing to do is science it looks cool to do so I like it.

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    1. Dear Sydney,

      I like to read about science too! My favorite type of science books are science books that tell me all about animals and also science books about the planets and stars, kind of like Jordan! They are my favorites because I love all animals and I think the planets and stars are fascinating to read about. Science is such a big topic. What are your favorite types of science books?

      Delete
  15. Dear class
    My favorites type of science books are books that tell me cool thing like making stuff. what kind of animals books
    do you like?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Dear class
    I think i will be a great blog er. do you think I will?

    ReplyDelete

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