Amanda Allen

ELD 308
Dr. McKool
Informational Reading Lesson Plan
Lesson Title: Reading Nonfiction
Grade: 3rd
Common Core State Standards:

RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text,

referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
RI.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs)
and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g.,
where, when, why, and how key events occur).
Objective: By the end of this lesson, you will be able to have a conversation with
yourself while studying the pictures, captions and graphics that are on each page of
an informational text and be able to know what this book is mostly about and what
it is also trying to inform us.
Materials:
Bobbie Kalman books on animals and habitats (one book for each pairing) A
Wetland Habitat (teachers book)
Procedure:
1. Lesson Introduction/ Objective and purpose:
a. Did you know that there is more than one kind of reading? Some
books require that we do the lost-in-the-story kind of reading but there
are other kinds of books, like non-fiction books, that require readers to
sit up and learn. In this unit we will come to know that nonfiction
readers read different things in different ways. Over the next few
weeks, youre going to read lots of different texts, in lots of ways and I
am pretty sure that by the end of the unit each of you will say, This
kind of reading is an important part of who I am as a reader.
b. Today I want to teach you that every great nonfiction reader reads
with energy, with power. One way that nonfiction readers do this is we
look over books and use the features to rev up our minds for reading.
Then, even before we shift into go and read a sentence, a paragraph,
of the text we think about what we know, what the text may teach us,
and check out how it is set up. We read the title and subtitles, look
over the text features and chunks of the text, and think, I think this
book is mostly about... and then it will also tell...
c. When we read expository text, we read to find out what the author is
teaching us on the subject. Some expository texts have text features
to support us in our understanding of the text. Others do not which
makes meaning difficult.
2. Teach and model (Modeling the thinking):
a. Tell the students that before your just dive in to reading you want to
give yourself some energy by warming up to the topic. I can rev up

my mind by previewing the text to see if it will have the usual

information Ive come to expect in animal texts: the animals body,
eating, habits, predators, habitat, etc. First I welcome the text by
previewing. I notice what the author highlights, in bold and the text
features he or she chooses when you first turn to a page: titles,
subtitles, photos, captions, and charts. These features help me get
ready to take in the new information on the page, thinking What is
this page (or two page spread or chapter likely to be about? What do I
think I know about this topic already?
b. Then think aloud as you skim and scan across the page, part-by-part,
and point to aspects you are paying particular attention to, anticipating
how the text might go and what the author wants to teach readers.
Use the title, back blurb, the table of contents, text features and skim
the book for subtitles, then read the first few pages.
c. You might give your students some phrases to use as they talk:
The title of this book is______, the back blurb says_______, the table of
contents says_____ so I think this book is mostly about____.
This heading says _______ so I think this page is mostly about ____________.
When I look at the text features I see that it will also teach about___. Or I
looked at this picture/caption/graph and saw _____________ so now I am
thinking ____________. I am ready read to see what I can learn about this.
3. Guided Practice (Example 1: Extensive Teacher Help):
a. Following the modeling, provide another example, and have students
assist you as you continue to take the lead in teaching the strategy.
The example might be something like this:
Page 8 & 9: Heading- What is a Wetland?, Bold Words- Wetland,
Marshes,
Visual- Picture of a wetland and a picture of
a turtle who lives in the
marshes of the wetland.
Then say something like:
Lets look at this example together. The author is trying to inform us
on a specific topic. So how are we going to anticipate how the text
might go and figure out what the author wants to teach us? Does the
author give us some clues? Yes, she uses headings, bolded words, and
visuals to help her teach us about wetlands. In order to use these clues
to figure out what the author is trying to teach us, we say to ourselves
This heading says What is a wetland? So I think this page is mostly
about wetlands and what a wetland actually is.
(Example 2: Less Teacher Help)
Say something like:
Now lets try another example, but this time I will not give you as
much help. You must do more of the thinking yourselves, and Im just

going to ask you questions to point you in the right direction.

Remember the secret to doing this: first, look for clues the author
provides, the think about what the author is trying to teach you. Heres
the example:

Page 10 & 11: Heading- Marshes, Bold Words- Freshwater Marsh,

Visual- Pictures of ducks living in a marsh and a deer living in a marsh.
In this example, the author is trying to teach you something that you
need to figure out for yourselves by looking further into the texts
provided. So what do we do to figure out what the author is teaching
us in this section? Are there clues? And you noticing what the author
highlights, in bold and the text features she chooses when you first
turn to a page: titles, subtitles, photos, captions, and charts? How are
you reading what the author provided for you?
4. Independent Practice (Example 3: No Teacher Help):
a. Once students demonstrate confidence studying the pictures, captions
and graphics that are on each page of an informational text and be
able to know what this book is mostly about and what it is also trying
to inform us, say something like: Turn to your partners, read the title
of your Bobbie Kalman book, back blurb and the table of contents of
your book and tell your partner what you think the book is about. How
do the cover and table of contents give us clues as to what the big
ideas of the text are and what the author wants to teach us?
b. I have to tell you what I see your classmates doing. For example, a
group of you discovered that nonfiction readers dont just read titles
and captions like thisModel scanning quickly. Instead, they read like
this Think aloud as you scrutinize the text features on a page. Think
about the things you noticed when you read the text features in your
text, really studying them. Using your pointing finger, point out,
without talking, specifics that you noticed.
5. Assessment (How will you know the lesson has been successful?)
You will be able to determine that the lesson was a success if, after
looking at Bobbie Kalmans nonfiction books, students are able to answer
questions that require studying the pictures, captions and graphics that
are on each page of an informational text and be able to know what this
book is mostly about and what it is also trying to inform us. If the student
is able to point our specifics and is able to properly use one of the phases:
The title of this book is______, the back blurb says_______, the table of
contents says_____ so I think this book is mostly about____.
This heading says _______ so I think this page is mostly about ____________.

When I look at the text features I see that it will also teach about___. Or I
looked at this picture/caption/graph and saw _____________ so now I am
thinking ____________.
Then they demonstrated that they are ready read to see what I can learn
about this topic.

Resources: West WindsorPlainsboro Staff Resource Site, Unit 3 Reading- Nonfiction