Navigating Non-Fiction

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

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. The Research Process Students school-wide created their own non-fiction books 5th and 6th grade students used books and databases for their research 7th and 8th grade students used books, databases, and websites for their research

13. Book Research

14. Database Research

15. Database Research

16. Database Research

17. Website Research

18. WebsiteResearch

19. WebsiteResearch

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 WorkshopText Structure Mentor text included… Descriptive-Explanatory Problem/Solution Cause/Effect Compare/Contrast Sequence

25. Reading Work- Text Structure

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

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

31. The Writing Process Begins in the notebook – flash drafting, trying out strategies. Moves to drafting – zooming in and stretching out. Revision is next. Editing 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