Nonfiction lessons this week

We have been talking about the different kinds of nonfiction books we have been reading in class. This week we did a lesson focusing on facts and opinions and wrote a Question and Answer book about our class. 

When reading  nonfiction text, we have been using this chart to figure out what kind of nonfiction writing it is. I do plan on adding a picture of that type of book next to the definition.

Nonfiction Writing
 
This was a lesson focusing on facts and opinions.  I asked the students if they knew what a fact was and what an opinion was.  One child knew the definition of a fact, and I helped define what an opinion is. I said a few statements and had students talk to their neighbor if they thought my statement was a fact or opinion. 

We shared with the large group by raising one finger for a fact and two fingers for an opinion. 

Later in the day, I read the story Gorilla. We then wrote statements that were facts and opinions about Gorillas. They did an excellent job creating opinions.  
The goal of this lesson was that when we are writing nonfiction stories we need to provide facts.

As writers, we need to be careful because 
facts and opinions are different.

This lesson and the Question and Answer lesson comes from Linda Hoyt's nonfiction book. 

We read some nonfiction books that gave us examples of what a Question and Answer book is. 

We made a map of important things 
to put in our Question and Answer book.

We gathered facts and opinions about our class.

 We talked about the importance of telling the answers in the pictures. On different days, we answered the questions together. 

When I was writing their ideas, I did a lot of talking/thinking about spacing, using lower case letters in the right spot and rereading. 

We talked about what words needed to be capital letters.

When we were writing this page, I pointed out to them how we kept starting the sentence with the word we and that writers try to start their sentences differently.

Making this book was a fun lesson to do, and I know all of my K's truly understand what a Question and Answer book is.  I think it would be great to share this book with new parents next year!