Charts, graphs, and diagrams are complex text features for students to decipher. Use this lesson to familiarize students with these features. It can be taught on its own or before the lesson Charts and Graphs and Diagrams, Oh My!
Students will be able to read and analyze charts, graphs, and diagrams.
Language
Students will be able to describe nonfiction text features such as charts, diagrams, and graphs, using visuals and sentence frames.
Introduction
(3 minutes)
Show students a few visuals of charts, diagrams, and graphs from nonfiction books in your class or printed from the internet. Ask them to turn to a partner to discuss what they see and where they have seen them before. Invite a few students to share their responses and record them on a piece of chart paper with the title "Text Features."
Tell students that these images are examples of text features, usually used in nonfiction texts, to give the reader more information about the topic.
Inform students that there are many (at least 15) other text features used in nonfiction but for today's lesson, they will focus on three types of text features: charts, graphs, and diagrams.