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Lesson Plan

Nonfiction Genres

In this lesson, your students will explore the library in search of various genres of nonfiction texts. Teach this lesson at the beginning of the year to familiarize your students with the structure and organization of the library.
Need extra help for EL students? Try the Compound Sentences in Nonfiction pre-lesson.
Grade:
Fourth Grade
Subjects:
English Language Arts
Writing
Writing Types
Writing Organization
Research Writing
Supporting Details
View aligned standards
RI.4.10
Need extra help for EL students? Try the Compound Sentences in Nonfiction pre-lesson.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to define and distinguish the various nonfiction genres in the classroom or school library.

Introduction

(5 minutes)
  • Ask students what they think of when they hear the word nonfiction.
  • Have students turn to a partner to respond to the question, and invite a few students to share out. Record students' responses on the board.
  • Confirm or correct students' explanation of nonfiction, emphasizing that nonfiction is a category of text that is based on facts and usually serves to inform or educate people. Tell them that today they will explore different types, or genres of nonfiction texts.

Beginning

  • Pre-teach the words "nonfiction" and "genre" to the ELs prior to teaching this lesson.

Intermediate

  • Allow ELs to use bilingual resources, such as glossaries and dictionaries, if they are literate in their home language (L1) to look up the meaning of unknown words.