1. Maria Muhlbauer – Library Media Specialist Amy Schaper – Sixth Grade Teacher Pioneer Middle School – Yorkshire, NY Navigating Non-Fiction

2. The Project A school-wide unit of study incorporating: Non-Fiction Immersion Activities Research Skills Writing a Non-Fiction Book Family and Community Celebration

3. Non-Fiction Immersion Activities

4. 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

7. 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

8. 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

11. The Research Process

12. 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

13. Book Research

14. Database Research

17. Website Research

21. Grade 6 Nonfiction Project

22. 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.

23. The Reading Skills Highlighted in Nonfiction Unit Determining Importance Finding Main Idea Summarizing Synthesis

24. Reader’s Workshop Text Structure Descriptive-Explanatory Problem/Solution Cause/Effect Compare/Contrast Sequence Mentor text included…

25. Reading Work- Text Structure

29. The Writing Skills Highlighted in Nonfiction Unit Text Structure Text Features Author's Style Author’s Purpose Mentor text included…

30. Pick a topic and research. Research helped guide chapter selection. Text structure was descriptive. Encouraged the use of text features. Nonfiction Book Project

31. 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

34. CELEBRATION!

37. 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

38. 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

39. Thank you! Maria Muhlbauer mmuhlbauer@pioneercsd.org (716) 492-9383 www.pioneerschools.org Click on Middle School LMC under the “Libraries” menu Amy Schaper aschaper@pioneercsd.org