5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children’s Books

The Common Core recommends that 50% of classroom reading time be devoted to nonfiction, yet we often fall short of this goal (Common Core, Appendix B). After all, nonfiction is a bit dry and boring and our students prefer fiction, right? Nope! In this course, you will discover how children’s nonfiction has undergone a complete transformation over the past decade. Nonfiction authors now use lyrical language, engaging text structures, and suspenseful page turns to hook student interest. Furthermore, research shows that 42% of students prefer reading nonfiction while 75% of students equally prefer fiction and nonfiction. (Repaskey, Schumm, and Johnson, 2017)

This course is a book study with the text: 5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children’s Books. By reading the text, considering peer-reviewed articles, and watching instructor videos, you will learn the research-based benefits of reading nonfiction, how to introduce and explore nonfiction with your students, and how to improve your students reading and writing using nonfiction mentor texts. During the course you will choose whether to experience activities found in the book with a “student hat”, to implement them with your students, or to do both. You will also develop a nonfiction unit plan to guide your implementation and will create a nonfiction advocacy flyer to share your new knowledge with colleagues.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, participants will…

• Explain at least four research-based reasons to incorporate more nonfiction into your reading instruction
• Create a text set to build background knowledge that aligns with a science unit
• Analyze student, classroom, and library nonfiction surveys and develop recommendations for nonfiction selection additions guided by Stewart and Correia’s book collection balancing table
• Design nonfiction advocacy flyer using research-based evidence
• Create lesson plans that utilize book activities to:
  • facilitate exploration of nonfiction
  • introduce the 5 kinds of nonfiction
  • analyze text features, sentence structure, and text scaffolding
  • analyze nonfiction text structures and apply new learning to writing assignments
  • analyze voice and point of view and apply new learning to writing assignments
  • encourage and celebrate nonfiction throughout the school year
• Create a nonfiction unit implementation plan using Stewart and Correia’s activity planner

Required Texts & Materials: 

This is a book study course. You must purchase this text to participate:

5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children’s Books by Melissa Stewart and Marlene Correla 

Throughout the course, we will be reviewing dozens of picture books. Most of these books are available at your local library. While some of the texts will be required reading, others will be optional depending on the activities you choose. While it is important to have physical books for your students to explore, it may not always be feasible. In addition, there are instances where you will be completing an activity with a “student hat” and having the physical books isn’t necessary. In these cases, you can often find videos of the books read aloud online.

Also, students are expected to read relevant journal articles and engage with videos assigned throughout the course as needed.

Course Details:

Date: Available for registration anytime
Instructor: Emily Starr (emily@growprofessionally.com)
Number of Graduate/License Renewal Credits:  1
Higher Ed Partner for Graduate Credit: Morningside University