Joanne Kaminski

Increasing Non-fiction Reading Levels the Easy Way

Non-Fiction Book Features

Bold Headings

Captions

Cut-away diagrams

Glossary

Table of Contents

Non-Fiction Features

Ask Questions

Title Table of Contents Headings Glossary

Types of Questions kids are expected to answer.

In your head

Author’s Purpose

Right there

Vocabulary

How to Teach Kids to Ask Questions

• Teach the difference between a statement and a question.

• Start with who, what, when, where, why, how– These questions will

require the reader to write down more details than just yes or no.

• Don’t start with is, are, or do. – These questions will

simply give a yes or no answer.

Types of questions kids can ask from the front cover

• Turn the title into a question.

• Ask a question about something in the picture.

• If a child does not know the meaning of a word, they can ask – What does _____ mean?

• (Only have the child come up with 2 or 3 questions from the front cover)

• Think about whether the question you are asking would get answered in a book like this.

Books about Animals

• How they have babies?• What they eat?• Where they live?• How long they stay with

their mothers?• Who are their prey?• How do they protect

themselves?

Books about Holidays

• Where it originated?• Who celebrates it?

• How long have people been celebrating it?

• What customs or traditions are part of the holiday?

Books about people

• Where they were born• Who they married• Where they lived• What great thing they

are famous about

• How they became famous for it

• When they did the famous thing they are known for.

Books about places

• When was it established?

• Who founded it?• Who lives there?• What kind of animals

live there?• What kind of plants can

you find there?

• Why do people travel there?

• Why do people live there?

• What is that area famous for?

• What kind of food is grown there?

Types of questions to ask from the Table of Contents

• Take 4 of the headings and turn them into questions using who, what, when, where, why, or how.

• If there is a heading that is already in question form, you can use that.

If there is a vocabulary word the child does not know, they can write what does ___mean?

How to unpack difficult vocabulary before reading

1. Go to the glossary2. Write down three

unknown words.3. Write down the

definition.4. Draw a picture of that

word so that you can remember it when you come across it.

5. Write the sentence that the word appears in.

6. Write a summary of the book and use the vocabulary words as many times as you can without being redundant.

Benefits after the intervention

• Learn how to take notes.• Learn how to skim and

scan.• Learn how to go back to

the text to find information they need.

• Dig deeper into unknown vocabulary without being prompted to do so.

• Learn how to highlight properly.

• More purposeful reading.

• Be able to take any non-fiction passage test at the appropriate reading level and ace it.

www.joannekaminski.com

jbkaminski@gmail.com

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