1. NON-FICTION UNIT 5th Grade
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

2. Essential Question #1
How can specific text features help a reader to navigate and understand Non-fiction texts?

3. Talk with your partner.
Brainstorm different text features and their purposes (how they help readers)

4. Headings help readers form questions or identify topics
Boldface or italics can signal important vocabulary
Graphs & charts provide visual clues to determine important information
Maps help locate important places
Photos can reveal specific details

5. Specific text features help you:
Read Non-fiction texts more efficiently
Focus your reading by providing clues
Make predictions
Determine important information

6. Essential Question #2
How does knowledge of the structure of a Non-fiction text help a reader to gather information?

7. Talk to your partner
Brainstorm 5 main Non-fiction text structures.
Discuss how each helps you gather information

8. Compare & Contrast structure helps you identify similarities & differences between two topics
Problem & Solution structure helps you identify challenges, while exploring potential answers.
Cause & Effect structure helps you see the relationship between events
Sequence structure helps you follow the order of events taking place
Main Idea & Details helps you sort information

9. Understanding text structure helps a reader:
Take organized notes
Recognize relationships among ideas

10. Essential Question #3
How can knowledge of main ideas and supporting details help a reader to summarize a text?

11. Answer:
Summaries are constructed using main ideas and supporting details in a reader’s own words.
The main ideas form the outline to build the summary.
When summarizing a longer text, the reader identifies the main idea of each section and links them together