I am probably in the minority of most readers, but I prefer to read non-fiction. I enjoy a good guilty pleasure (read all the Sookie Stackhouse books the week I had the swine flu) but what I consistently read is non-fiction. This has translated over to my 3rd grade classroom so much easier than it did in Pre-K. I have incorporated nonfiction reading centers into my science and social studies classes. My mid-year AR reports showed my class read 51% fiction and 49% non-fiction. You can't get much more balanced than that!
I have not really taught my students
how to read non-fiction. I found a great preview technique on
ReadWriteThink called "THIEVES" and being a sucker for acronyms, I'm stoked to try it. Yes, stoked. =P
I can use this with our text books, or expository texts, with our Georgia Studies Weeklies (SS newspapers). I lurve it! I hope someone else lurves it too!
Thank you for the non-fiction writing questions. It goes well with the book I just read about non-fiction reading and writing in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteA Place for Wonder: Reading and Writing Non-Fiction in the Primary Grades by Georgia Heard and Jennifer McDonough. I really liked it. You can read what I thought on my blog if you are interested.
http://highhillhomeschool.blogspot.com/2012/02/method-for-encouraging-writing.html