New 5 Kinds of Nonfiction Book Lists
A recent question on social media made me realize that, although I updated the sample book lists included in 5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children’s Books at the end of 2022, I never shared them here on my blog or on social media. So today I’m rectifying that. Here are Sample […]
Nod to Nonfiction: Using Focused Library Displays to Elevate Nonfiction by Marcie Flinchum Atkins
In a recent Chalk + Ink Zoom chat (an offshoot of the awesome podcast hosted by fourth-grade teacher Kate Narita), uber-dedicated elementary school librarian and children’s book author Marcie Flinchum Atkins described an idea I love—Nod to Nonfiction book displays. I thought other librarians and teachers would be interested too, so I invited Marcie to share […]
Crafting Mega-fun Informational Writing: Text Features
As you can see in the sample below, most of the spreads in Mega-Predators of the Past present information in five different ways—main text, main illustration, a comparison box, a caption box, and a Mega Fact File. Why did I include so many text features? Because I had a lot of goals for the book, and […]
Exploring the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction with Students Majoring in Education by Valerie Bang-Jensen
A few weeks ago, Professor Valerie Bang-Jensen let me know about a great activity she’d developed for her undergraduate education students, and I asked if she’d share more details in a blog post. I’m so grateful that she agreed. Thank you, Valerie, for this wonderful way of introducing the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction classification system […]
The Power of a Book Match Survey by Meredith Inkeles
Recently, uber-dedicated teacher-librarian Meredith Inkeles let me know how much 5 Kinds of Nonfiction and the related Book Match Survey had transformed the way she thinks about sharing nonfiction with students. She told me a wonderful story about one of her 6th-grade readers, and I invited her to write this blog post so more educators could […]
Investigating Nonfiction Like Detectives by D’Anne Dwight Mosby
Recently, school librarian D’Anne Dwight Mosby tagged me on Twitter so I could see the great activity her students were doing to think more deeply about the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction. I knew other educators would want to give D’Anne’s idea a try, so I asked her to write a blog post. When I received D’Anne‘s piece, […]
How the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction Can Enrich Student Writing
Imagine this scenario: A second grader named Kiyana has seen ladybugs in her yard and is excited to write a report about them. Since she doesn’t know much about these little insects, she begins her research process by reading Zoom in on Ladybugs by Melissa Stewart. This traditional nonfiction (all-about) book features information about where ladybugs […]
Nonfiction Kids with Dyslexia Can Love by Elizabeth Steinglass
Today I’m featuring a post in which poet and children’s book author Elizabeth Steinglass shares an insider’s view of how we can create books that help children with dyslexia experience reading success. Thank you, Elizabeth. Light shines through the crack under the door. It is well past bedtime. I peek in to find our son reading. A tired […]
Combining 5 Kinds of Nonfiction and #Disrupt Texts
Last May, uber-fabulous librarian Jennifer LaGarde, aka Library Girl, had a terrific idea. She wrote a series of blog posts that bring together the ideology of #DisruptTexts and the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction classification system. Her articles have received a lot of attention, but in case you haven’t had a chance to read them, I […]
Narrative Nonfiction Is 100% Verifiable
During a recent discussion on social media, I realized that some educators seem to be confused about the meaning of the term “narrative nonfiction.” First and foremost, narrative nonfiction is meticulously researched and every single fact and idea is true. In other words, the information presented in the text is 100 percent verifiable. Period. The […]