This types of text activity lets Kindergarten and 1st Grade students match clue cards to picture cards of everyday texts. Answer key included, so kids learn why we read each text.
This don't wake the librarian sorting books by genre activity is a quiet board game where 1st to 3rd grade readers sort fiction, nonfiction and poetry books. Answer key included.
This first grade informational texts activity has eight nonfiction task cards that help 1st grade readers find facts in a text and answer questions. Answer key included for quick checking.
This nonfiction fishin' activity gives 3rd-5th Grade readers six graphic organizers for different kinds of nonfiction text, a model article and practice, with an answer key included.
Using Informational Books Reading Log Activity, studentsread informational texts to build reading comprehension skills and their understanding of informational texts.
Using Reading Informational Texts Book Review Activity, students read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts.
This what have you read this year activity helps 2nd-5th grade students track genres, review each book they finish and choose their top three favorite books of the year.
Using this Three Amigos Poetry Drama Prose Activity, students sort the word cards by genre (prose, poetry, and drama). Use the sorted cards to label and fill out a Venn Diagram.
Using Fairy Tales and Fables Puzzle, students practice problem solving and logic skills to put together this fifteen piece puzzle.
The I've Read All These Books in Third Grade Activity helps students track every book they read with genre cards, a tracker and reflection pages. Made for 3rd grade independent reading.
Every book has a type
A genre is a type of writing, and knowing the genre helps readers know what to expect. Young readers start with the big split: fiction is made up and nonfiction gives real information. Then they meet genres like fairy tales, fables, tall tales, myths, poetry, realistic fiction, fantasy, biography and informational text. Each genre has clues, like once upon a time in fairy tales or a lesson at the end of a fable. Older kids compare genres and explain how the type of text changes the way they read it.
Genres make the most sense when kids sort real books. These moves bring the classroom library into the lesson.
Pull a stack of books from the class library and let small groups sort them into genres. They have to name a clue that proves each choice, like "it has a table of contents" or "animals talk." It is a lesson and a library cleanup in one!
Why it works: going from real objects to pictures to symbols is a core recommendation of the U.S. Department of Education's elementary math guide.
Try it withIdentifying the Genre of a Story WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Make a T-chart with features of fiction and nonfiction and add to it after every read-aloud. Kids quickly learn that headings, photos and glossaries usually mean nonfiction.
Why it works: pairing a picture with each word gives kids two ways to remember it, a well-tested principle of how people learn (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withFiction and Nonfiction Features WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Read the first page of a book aloud and think through the clues: "A talking fox and a lesson coming? I think this is a fable." Then let kids try it with a new book.
Why it works: handing over the work step by step, from teacher to student, is one of the most widely used teaching frameworks (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withFables Tall Tales WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Guessing the genre is a great game. These keep it lively.
ActivitiesFish for book cards and decide whether each catch is fiction or nonfiction.
Open Nonfiction Fishin' Activity →
WorksheetsRead short sentences and decide if they could really happen. Pigs that fly? Fantasy!
Open Identifying Fantasy and Realism Worksheet →
WorksheetsRead a short excerpt and guess the genre from the clues.
Open What Kind of Story Worksheet →Teacher favorites right now: Types of Text Activity, Don't Wake the Librarian Sorting Books by Genre Activity and First Grade Informational Texts Activity.
Common genres include fairy tales, fables, folktales, myths, tall tales, realistic fiction, fantasy, poetry, biography and informational text.
Fiction is made up by the author, even if it seems realistic. Nonfiction gives true information about real people, places or things.
Kids start learning fiction and nonfiction in kindergarten and 1st grade. They learn more specific genres like fables, myths and biographies through 2nd to 5th grade.
At the library, ask "Is this real or made up?" and talk about the clues. Try reading a different genre each week to keep it fun.
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