Non-fiction Texts

• What are the key features of non-fiction texts?
• How are they different to stories?

The children explained that non-fiction books tell you about things. They share true information or facts. They teach us about different things in real life.

We looked at non-fiction books to see how authors and illustrators use pictures and photographs to share information. We noticed how a lot of information can be found by “reading” the photos within nonfiction texts. They noticed the labels, close-ups of pictures and different ways information may be displayed.

While looking through the mentor texts (examples) we brought the children’s attention to the following:

• The cover of a non-fiction text has a title, pictures or drawings about the topic and the authors and/or illustrators name.

• There may be a ‘blurb’ at the back of the book that gives you a clue about what the book might be about.

• Non-fiction books may have a contents page that tells us where each section or chapter begins. The glossary is like a dictionary as it provides an explanation of key words in the text. The index lets you know where to find words.

We began to put down the different features the children noticed about the non-fiction texts.

Some of them include:

• Photographs
• Drawings
• Numbered pages
• Many pages
• Writing about the topic
• New/different information
• Facts
• Labels
• Arrows
• Captions
• Headings
• Close up – Zoom in

When creating non-fiction books we need to:

• Think of a topic
• Plan (what we want to include in the book)
• Think about questions the readers may have.
• Include pictures and information across pages.

The children were invited to think about a non-fiction book they can make on nature. They used a graphic organiser to help them plan their ideas. We used a KWL Chart to:

• Share what we KNOW about the topic
• Reflect on what we WANT to KNOW
• Share what was LEARNED

We will use a checklist to help us plan and create our non-fiction books.

The children wanted to learn more about the rain, animals, insects plants and more!

Through this process, we will explore a range of non-fiction texts. We will begin to create our own non-fiction texts. We look forward to sharing these books with the community.