Reading Nonfiction Activities: Text Features and Task Cards!

Teaching nonfiction reading comprehension skills can be a breeze with the right classroom resources. If you are looking for ways to supplement your reading curriculum during a nonfiction unit, there are a few easy to implement activities to try with your class during and after reading nonfiction texts! Read on to get some great ideas for nonfiction activities for your own classroom!

Nonfiction Reading Activities: Text Features Hunt

The next time you visit the school library, ask each student to check out a nonfiction book on a topic of their choosing. It doesn’t matter what the reading level is or the subject matter as long as it is age appropriate. Just be sure to have a good variety of books strictly for searching for nonfiction text features after your lessons.

Assign each students a buddy to work with. Then, give each group a task and tell them in advance that they will be responsible for sharing out in front of the class afterward. Your students will not know what they will have to share, so they understand it is important to stay on task and engaged. I like to keep my class on their toes so they are always accountable in some way! Send partners on their text features hunt through their own books.

As the hunt begins, tap each group on the shoulder and tell them to be ready to share an example of…and assigned one text feature that you spot a good example of in their book as you roam the room. 

Then, it is time to teach and share, only the students will be the ones doing the teaching! Each group shows their text feature and explains how the feature helps better understand the topic! By doing this, the children are able to see a great variety in text features and get some practice with speaking opportunities!

My class loved this reading nonfiction activity so much that I decided to create a set of task cards. These can be used with a variety of books so that we can repeat this text features hunt. 

There are task cards, letter cards for setting up rotation stations and cards to use to hand out to the children so they remember which task they are responsible for sharing.

It includes recording sheets, letter cards and share cards.

Prep your cards and have them ready to go for a hunt or as a scoot activity! 

If you’d like to preview it, click on the picture!

Guided Reading Groups and Book Clubs

We have been alternating between fiction and nonfiction books this year. I use RAZ-Kids printable books and other leveled books during guided reading.

Book Club Discussion Cards:

After reading fiction, the group uses Book Club Question Cards. 

Each student picks a card from the draw pile, reads it and answers the question or completes the task. It’s a quick way for me to assess comprehension. These task cards keep students accountable and engaged because they know they will get to participate within the reading group. 

While I am working with small groups, other students are running book clubs independently. These cards keep their discussions focused. I also use them after read-alouds! 

Nonfiction Book Club Discussion Cards:

Presenting…

 A NEW SET for our nonfiction books! 

They also come in a printer-friendly black and white version! 🙂

I hope that you were able to find some good activities to support your learners through learning nonfiction comprehension skills. Having ready made, easy prep task cards have been a game changer in my classroom.

However you keep your class engaged in learning, nonfiction reading activities can be interactive and fun for you and your students!