Nonfiction Writing in K-2

							                  Nonfiction Writing
                        in K-2
                                Ileetha J. Groom
                                       K-2
                        English Language Arts Consultant
                              Instructional Services



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 Presentation Overview

What is nonfiction?
Authentic Literacy Events
Writing nonfiction text about
narrative text
Writing Across the Curriculum
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                    Nonfiction

The new standard course of study will
use the term nonfiction rather than
expository.
Nonfiction Text – The literature of fact
- The product of an author’s inquiry,
research, and writing. Its primary
purposes are to provide information,
explain, argue and/or demonstrate.
      K-2 Certified Writing
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     Nonfiction Writing
“The impulse toward research and
  nonfiction writing needs to be
  nurtured during the early childhood
  years…Out of what comes to school
  in children’s pockets and backpacks,
  out of what they see and wonder
  about and poke into, their nonfiction
  writing emerges.” Lucy Calkins, 1994
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     Informational text?

Text whose primary purpose is to
convey information about the natural
or social world and that has
particular linguistic features to
accomplish that purpose.
Nell Duke

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         Nonfiction

                        Informational
                            text



                                        Biography
        Procedural
          manual




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   The importance of
    nonfiction text
Information Age
World Wide Web
Adult Reading
Academic achievement



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 Benefits of Nonfiction
          text
Entertains
Preferred by some
Answers questions
Solves problems
Builds background knowledge


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Nonfiction text in First Grade
 Written Language Activities




                                        (from Duke, 2000)
                                 Duke, 2000


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Is there enough Nonfiction
  text in your classroom?
Children learn writing strategies
from mentor text
Books should be at different levels




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 DIFFERENT KINDS OF
 NONFICTION BOOKS

Alphabet books              Survey books
Counting books              “How To” Books
Activity books              Informational
Concept books               Storybooks
Journals, diaries,          Biographies
and interviews              Life cycle books
Photo essays                Reference books
Pop ups                     Series books
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       Study authors of
        nonfiction text
Aliki                          Patricia Lauber
Melvin Berger                  Milton Meltzer
Franklyn Branley               Charles Micucci
Joanna Cole                    Ann Morris
Allan Fowler                   Ifeoma Onyefulu
Rita Golden Gelman             Mary Pope Ocborne
Gail Gibbons                   Jerry Pallotta
Linda Glaser                   Laurence Pringle
Ruth Heller                    Seymour Simon
Barnabas and Annabel
Kindersley

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  Features of Nonfiction Text
Timeless verb                   Index
constructions                   Headings and
Table of contents              subheadings
Specialized vocabulary          Definitions
Graphical devices               Bulleted information
Realistic illustrations or      Diagrams
photographs                     Captions



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Organizational Structure
  of Nonfiction Text
Enumerative
Sequential
Chronological
Compare and Contrast
Cause and Effect
Question and Answer
Narrative
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  Overarching Principles of
    Nonfiction Writing
1. Reading and writing are inextricably linked

2. Children need help making informational
   text their own

3. Function and features are different from
   many other forms of text
                                Duke and Bennet-Armistead, 2003

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            Principle I
      Reading and writing are
        inextricably linked
Use reading to support writing by:

Exposing children to many models of
informational writing
Engage students in “Innovations” based on
informational text
Study authors of informational text

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           Principle I
     Reading and writing are
       inextricably linked
  Expose children to good models
       of nonfiction writing

Intertextuality- drawing from and making
connections among multiple sources of
text to enrich one’s own writing


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           Principle I
     Reading and writing are
       inextricably linked

    Engage students in “Innovations”
      based on informational text

Innovations are frames from a particular
genre. Students use these frames to
create their own text


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                 Principle II
    Children need help making
  informational text their own

                Strategies
Write about familiar topics
Use some sources that are harder to copy,
like interviews
Text Remodeling – using a graphic organizer
to rather than writing the response in prose
forms

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                Principle II
   Children need help making
 informational text their own

                Strategies
Genre Exchange – Write about a topic
different than the original source
Pictorial Forms – Draw pictures and
diagrams after reading but before writing
Distance students from any one source by
using multiple sources and discussion

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           Principle III
   Function and features are
   different from other text

                   Function
Convey information about the
natural or social world from one who
has knowledge to one who needs or
wants to know


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           Principle III
    Function and features are
    different from other text
                       Features
Timeless verb and generic noun constructions
Index and/or Table of contents
Specialized vocabulary
Bold and italic print
Text structure
Description of attributes

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                     Principle III
      Function and features are
      different from other text
                      Features
Realistic illustrations or photographs
Headings, subheadings, captions, labels
Classification and definitions
Bulleted information
Graphical devices such as diagrams, tables, charts
and maps



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Authentic Literacy Events

Authentic literacy events are those that
replicate or reflect reading and writing
purposes and texts, specific to the
genre, that occur in the world outside of
a schooling context


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                            (Purcell-Gates & Duke, 2001)
Motivating students to write
   authentic nonfiction
Discrepant events to generate
questions (prisms on the overhead)

Demonstrations of phenomena to
generate questions (volcanoes, caterpillars)

Serendipitous events brought from
world outside (broken arm)
      K-2 Certified Writing   (Purcell-Gates, Duke, Hall,
      Trainer's Institute          & Tower, 2002)
       Writing nonficton for
        authentic purposes
Announcing topic and asking for
questions (K-W-L charts)

Literacy in response to a community
need (pond brochure)

Literacy as part of problem-solving
  (dying tadpoles)


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                               (Purcell-Gates, Duke, Hall, & Tower, 2002)
    Shared Writing of
     Nonfiction text
               Ideas
How to identify nonfiction text by its
features
How is nonfiction text different
from fiction?

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  Modeled Writing with
      Nonfiction
Determine the nonfiction feature to model during
the lesson
Select mentor text that models this feature
Decide what to write based on the feature
Explain the purpose of the feature being studied
Think aloud during the process
Discuss the process


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 Tips for writing nonfiction

Before writing nonfiction, good writers:
Select topic Select research method
Select research materials
Organize information using a graphic organizer
Select type of nonfiction text and organizational
structure
Get ideas from mentor text

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Tips for writing nonfiction
While writing nonfiction, good writers:
Begin with a strong lead
Select and chunk information to fit their
structure
Select information to be displayed visually
Support generalizations with details and
explanations
Distinguish fact from opinion
Incorporate features of nonfiction text
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  Tips for writing nonfiction

After writing nonfiction, good writers:

 Request a teacher, parent or peer to edit
 Ask an expert to review for accuracy
 Share the piece so others can learn



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      Nonfiction writing
    in the Content Areas
Science and Social Studies provide
 great themes to use in nonfiction
 writing. We are going to complete an
 activity now using the Science and
 Social Studies SCOS


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                   Resources
• Reading & Writing Informational Text in the
  Primary Grades: Research-Based Practice by
  Nell K. Duke, V. Susan Bennett-Armistead

• Nonfiction in Focus: A Comprehensive
  Framework for Helping Students Become
  Independent Readers and Writers of
  Nonfiction, K-6
  by Janice V. Kristo, Rosemary A. Bamford


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