Maria Muhlbauer – Library Media Specialist Amy Schaper – Sixth Grade Teacher Pioneer Middle School – Yorkshire, NY Navigating Non-Fiction
The Project A school-wide unit of study incorporating: Non-Fiction Immersion Activities Research Skills Writing a Non-Fiction Book Family and Community Celebration
Non-Fiction Immersion Activities
Fifth Grade Non-Fiction Scavenger Hunt Collaborative (partner) activity Mini lessons from teacher and librarian about text features and the parts of non-fiction books Used high interest books about outer space
Sixth - Eighth Grade Non-Fiction Refreshers E-Books were used to provide a brief mini lesson about the parts of a non-fiction book and text features wegivebooks.org
Speedbooking Students are given 30 seconds to visit with a non-fiction book in the library (repeat process as time allows) At the end of the activity, students had a listing of non-fiction books that they may like to read
The Research Process
Students school-wide created their own non-fiction books 5 th and 6 th grade students used books and databases for their research 7 th and 8 th grade students used books, databases, and websites for their research The Research Process
Book Research
Database Research
Website Research
Grade 6 Nonfiction Project
The Gist…Why Nonfiction? 60% of the reading on our state test is nonfiction. Opportunity to collaborate with LMC. Students need to be well versed in all types of expository and informational text. This unit of study introduced students to a variety of informational text and structures.
The Reading Skills Highlighted in Nonfiction Unit Determining Importance Finding Main Idea Summarizing Synthesis
Reader’s Workshop Text Structure Descriptive-Explanatory Problem/Solution Cause/Effect Compare/Contrast Sequence Mentor text included…
Reading Work- Text Structure
The Writing Skills Highlighted in Nonfiction Unit Text Structure Text Features Author's Style Author’s Purpose Mentor text included…
Pick a topic and research. Research helped guide chapter selection. Text structure was descriptive. Encouraged the use of text features. Nonfiction Book Project
The Writing Process 1.Begins in the notebook – flash drafting, trying out strategies. 2.Moves to drafting – zooming in and stretching out. 3.Revision is next. 4.Editing 5.Publishing
CELEBRATION!
What went well? Students were extremely proud of their work! The opportunity to show their books to their families and the community was a huge motivator Research skills remained consistent across grade levels, built on skills learned in previous years Circulation of nonfiction books increased dramatically
Drawbacks Having the entire school researching at the same time led to a shortage of the more popular nonfiction books TIME ISSUES! Difficult for one librarian to cover all classes in the given timeframe Many research lessons were taught in a large group setting, which isn’t the best teaching strategy for this type of project
Thank you! Maria Muhlbauer (716) Click on Middle School LMC under the “Libraries” menu Amy Schaper