It’s been a while, so I figured I would start this off with a freebie. Head over to my TPT store to grab the Text Feature Hunt Freebie, which I’m going to explain right about….now.
Ok, so this past month, it was time to really get my kids understanding and using text features as they read. I’ve talked about text features nonstop since the beginning of the year, but we finally came across a text in Reading Street that heavily focused on text features. It was the perfect opportunity to get my kids on a hunt for text features. It was too much fun to see the lightbulbs go off as they realized “So, I HAVE looked at graphs before!” or “So that’s called a subheading, huh? Never knew!”
After introducing the topic, going through some examples together, and finishing up whole group instruction for the day, it was time for them to go on their hunts. I had them complete this worksheet in 2 days at Read to Self. (I could go on a separate rant about how I like Read to Self to simply involve kids reading a book they enjoy as research shows that is one of the biggest factors in creating fluent and happy readers, but how I was told that did not require enough “rigor”, so now I have to give them tasks to do, but I can leave that for another post.)
Anyway! On the first day, they completed the left side. Their job was pretty simple. They picked a Time For Kids magazine (I had several issues available to them, as some magazines did not have graphs, but others did, for example) and then flipped through the whole thing. Every time they came across one of the features, they tallied it. On a side note, I had to help out their math teacher and review tallies, as some claimed to have never heard of it before, even though they took a test months ago on tallies.
This would have been incredibly difficult for them, but I created a flip book for them. You can see a few examples in the product preview below. I printed out, laminated, and punched holds in the sides. I used a binder ring to keep them all together. This was ridiculously exciting for them, for reasons I won’t even try to understand, because they were excited and that’s all I cared about.
You can see this tallying in action with my adorable little munchkins, who will happily work anywhere other than their tables. I love looking around the room during centers and seeing them working feverishly in the most cramped, awkward places. Ah, to be 8 again!
As you can see, they really relied on the flip book. And that’s exactly what I wanted them to do, rather than guess and hope for the best.
The next day, they completed the right side of the worksheet. They went back and picked their 4 favorite text features and titled the box with the name of that feature. They drew a quick picture to show what they were looking at, and then explained how it helped them. I had to encourage them to be specific, and use the flip book to remind themselves of how each feature is helpful, but they did get there on their own eventually. Most did, at least!
By the end of the week, they were pretty good at explaining a good amount of text features to each other and me. Overall assessment? They enjoyed the discovery process and the idea of a “hunt”. I mean, let’s just say there was an audible gasp when I announced they were going on a hunt AND got to use a flip book. More and more reasons to adore third grade.
I hope your babies get a kick of this simple idea just as mine did! And if you are so inclined, I am throwing a sale with TPT Monday and Tuesday. Everything in my store is 20% off for two fantastic days!
Take a look around and enjoy your shopping spree! 🙂
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