One of the things I love most about the new Common Core standards is its focus on non-fiction texts. Don't get me wrong. I love teaching great fiction, but I know that my students will probably need better non-fiction skills to survive college and in the workplace. Part of teaching non-fiction is introducing students to the different parts of non-fiction books, so they can gain information in an efficient manner.
One way I have been teaching this over the past few years is by relating the parts of non-fiction to the parts of the body.
First, I have students grab a big piece of paper. They find a partner to trace them on the paper. I don't tell them anything else and ask them to put it away to build their anticipation. Next, we do a KWL type activity where I ask students to tell me what they think they know about non-fiction. These two parts are it for Day 1. Over the course of a week, I begin to introduce the parts of the non-fiction and we put them on our "bodies". I start with the beginning of a book and discuss that each book has a title, author/illustrator, and title page. These are all things that get put on the head. On the neck goes the Table of Contents because it is the gateway to the rest of your body (book). Next we skip down to the feet and learn about the glossary and index. These come at the end of books and help support our body (book). Finally, we begin to cover all that makes up the "meat" of the book on the main body including chapter headings, keywords, maps, drawings, photographs, charts, diagrams, labels, etc.
I think the multi-sensory component of drawing and visualizing each part really helps give meaning to students. Every time I have taught non-fiction parts this way all of my students have scored a 100% on their assessments, so I'd highly recommend it to other teachers.
P.S. - Shout out to Lori Desautels, my student teaching advisor, for inspiring me to try this idea my very first year of teaching. It's been a staple activity ever since. I'd highly recommend checking out Lori's website called How May I Serve You. It has great insights for teachers.
Candace Burckhardt is an international education consultant with an emphasis on special education, English learners, and social-emotional learning.