Text features are an essential part of teaching nonfiction text. The reason being is that this skill can help students to better understand writing. Many times nonfiction text can be difficult to read and understand and these text features can help their understanding. Also, understanding these features can help students to research quicker, which is a life skill that they will use forever. I am going to share five easy activities that will help your students understand text features in nonfiction.Â
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Book Hunt for Text Features
The first step is getting students to recognize each feature. Start by teaching students the name of the text features and then have them go on a book hunt to find each feature.
You can do this in two ways.
- Place nonfiction books all around the classroom. Then, have students go through and find each feature by just moving around the room and checking out different books until they find each one. A bingo board is great for this!
- Allow students to get on EPIC and read nonfiction books. You can try this EPIC collection here! They are doing the same thing, looking for each text feature. Just have them write the name of the book and the page number they found the text feature on!
Text Feature Rap
One great way to get students to remember each feature is through singing. Or rapping!
Try this video below with your kiddos to help them to remember the names of the nonfiction text features.Â
News Articles to Show Text Features
The news is a GREAT way to really get students to look for and use the features in nonfiction text. By using the news they can also see how this relates to their real life. I have the kids read a news article and then find any text features and explain how it helped them to better understand the news. Let me tell you, kids LOVE reading about real-life things that are happening in the world right now!
There are some great news websites you can try for kids! Click the links below!
Create their Own
The best way to get kids to really understand text features in nonfiction is to create their own! You can do this in several ways.
- Have students research and do their own informational writing and add text features to it.
- They can read a book/article and create a text feature that could be added.
- You could read them a book without showing them the text features. Have them create some text features and go back to show them what the author created.
Text Feature BINGO
My favorite way to review is with BINGO! I will have kids make a bingo card with all the text features written on it. Then, I will give a small description of the text feature and they will find it on their bingo card! Easy way to make sure students understand what each text feature is.
Grab it All Prepped for You
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Hannah Wilde
I am so glad you’re here! I love helping 3rd-5th grade teachers by providing ideas, engaging resources, and professional development they need. I am a literacy coach who is here to help lessen the workload for teachers while making them more confident! I want students to be continually engaged in a rigorous environment!