Summary
In this lesson, students will learn to identify the difference between fiction and nonfiction texts and to determine the importance of knowing the difference between the two types. The students use book sorts, videos, and fun activities to come to their own understanding of fiction and nonfiction texts.
Essential Question(s)
How do you identify the difference between fiction and nonfiction books? Why do you need to know the difference between fiction and nonfiction books?
Snapshot
Engage
Students listen to a fictional story and draw pictures of things that are real and not real.
Explore
Students share their drawings and explain their reasoning for placement in the real or not real column on their Anchor Charts. In a subsequent book sorting activity, students work in groups to sort the books and explain their rule for how they sorted.
Explain
Students are introduced to and use the words FICTION and NONFICTION. They watch a video highlighting the differences between the two and respond to questions about the characteristics of each genre. This leads to a discussion based on the essential questions.
Extend
Using the instructional strategy, Not Like the Others, students look at a set of 3 book covers. Students identify which book doesn’t belong and share their reasoning.
Evaluate
Students participate in a book scavenger hunt with a mix of fiction and nonfiction books placed around the classroom. Students find one they'd like to read and then discuss its genre characteristics with a partner in a discussion circle.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Anchor Chart handout (one column fiction; one column nonfiction)
8 strip Card Sort (attached, optional)
Projector and Internet
Books that are both fiction/nonfiction
Blank paper - 1 per student
Chart or bulletin paper
Engage
30 Minute(s)
Start the lesson by reading a funny story that blurs the lines between fact and fiction. For instance, you could use one of Mo Willems’ Pigeon books, or any other tale about a fictional character doing something absurd. Display Slide 5. After reading and enjoying the story together, examine the story by discussing the actions and items that are real compared to those that are not real.
Next, pass out the Anchor Chart handout to each student. Explain that the left-hand column is where students will draw pictures of things that are “real.” In the right-hand column, they will draw pictures of things that are “not real.” Display Slide 6 to show this. Ask students to draw pictures of real and not real things that belong in each category. This activity can also be completed as a center activity.
Explore
25 Minute(s)
Students share their drawings with an Elbow Partner. Ask each student to cut out one drawing. On the chart paper, duplicate the Anchor Chart and ask students to take turns taping their drawings onto the chart in the appropriate column. Ask them to explain to the class why their drawing belongs in the Fiction or Non-Fiction category. For example, one student might explain, “My unicorn goes in the not real column because it is a made-up animal” or “This car is real because you can see them on the road.”
Next, put students into groups of 4. Give each group a mixed pile of fiction and nonfiction books. Have the students sort the books however they choose. Call on groups to share with the class how they sorted their books and why they chose that sorting method. (e.g., by color, presence of pictures, board books, fat and skinny, and etc.).
Explain
20 Minute(s)
Tell students that when books are written about not real things and events, they are called fiction, and books about real things and events are called nonfiction. Add these words to your "Real" and "Not Real" Anchor Chart.
Display Slide 7. Watch the video about fiction and nonfiction genre.
Discuss the following 2 questions with the class and add student ideas to the Fiction and Nonfiction Anchor Chart.
What is something in a book that tells you a book is fiction?
What is something in a book that tells you a book is nonfiction?
Read the essential question: How do you tell the difference between fiction and nonfiction books? Revisit the book you read in the Engage portion of this lesson. Ask students to explain why this story is fictional.
Find a nonfiction book about a similar topic, in this case birds or pigeons, and read some of it to the students. Ask the students the second essential question: Why do you need to know the difference between fiction and nonfiction books?
Extend
15 Minute(s)
Use slides 8-14 to do the activity Not Like the Others. Slide 8 is a practice slide.
Have students look at a set of 3 book covers. In each slide, one of the book covers does not fit with the others. Ask students to identify which book doesn’t belong and explain their reasoning. There may be multiple valid answers depending on the students’ reasoning. You can find some possible responses in the notes section of the slides, but you will want to continue to emphasize how we can tell whether a book is fiction or nonfiction.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Book Scavenger Hunt: Create a book scavenger hunt by gathering a variety of fiction and nonfiction books. Place them around the classroom. Have the children walk around the room and locate a book they might like to read. Once they find a book, have them bring the book to the discussion circle and discuss with an Elbow Partner what makes their book fiction or nonfiction.
Next, ask for all of the students who found a fiction book to stand and have a few share what makes their books fiction. Ask someone who has selected a nonfiction selection do the same.
Opportunities for Advanced Learners
1. Use the strategy Collaborative Word Clouds to make an Anchor Chart. Write the word Fiction inside a cloud and have the student(s) list words that would identify a book as fiction. Do the same with a nonfiction cloud. (If students are not reading or writing on their own, you can do this 1-1 or with a small group and have them dictate to you.)
2. Cut the sentence strips apart on the attached handout. Mix the strips up. Give each pair of students a complete set of 8 strips and have them sort them by fact or fiction. Feel free to adjust or modify these statements based on the specific concepts you want to emphasize or the level of difficulty suitable for your students.
The sun is hot enough to melt ice.
A cow’s stomach can be full of grass.
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
Bears ride bicycles in a circus for fun.
Horses can write and read books.
The moon is made of green cheese.
Dinosaurs still exist and hide in caves.
If you eat watermelon seeds, a watermelon will grow inside you.
Ask students to discuss their reasoning for their book sort with each other. Afterward, they can pick a sentence to turn into a story or create a book cover for.
Resources
Growing Primary. (n.d.). Fiction nonfiction genre: Story elements. Video. YouTube. Fiction Nonfiction Genre: Story Elements (youtube.com)
K20Center. (n.d.) Elbow partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/116
K20 Center. (n.d.). Anchor charts. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/58
K20 Center. (n.d.). Not like the others. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/77
K20 Center. (n.d.). Collaborative word clouds. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/103
Willems, Mo. (n.d.). Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus. Reading Pioneers Academy. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-dHeNfXtgc&t=2s