This week in reading we've been working on comparing fiction and non-fiction when reading.  My kiddos still get the two confused (I think when they hear non- they think "not" and then automatically say not real) - we've been working on this plus much more!

This week during guided reading, we read two articles - one fiction and one non-fiction - both about soccer.  We talked about how pictures can give us clues (i.e. - cartoon pictures are usually for fiction stories and real photographs are for non-fiction) before reading.  We made predictions based on the pictures and then read both stories.  I have several kids this year that are into soccer and play on teams so it was high-interest for them (even the non-fiction!)

We read and answered five questions together about each story and almost all of the questions required students to look back in the passages - they like using different colored highlighters to find evidence for their answers.

The third day we laid both stories side by side and used four different graphic organizers that show up on our end of the year state tests.  We completed each one together by using the stories we read.

We compared both of the stories using a Venn Diagram.  We filled in events on a timeline that went with the non-fiction story (which was about the history of soccer and used many dates).  Then we used a sequencing flowchart and I had the kids go through and highlight the five events and showed them how easy it was to put them in order once they highlighted them all.  We didn't get to do the cause and effect chart because we ran out of time!  Oh how I wish there were more hours in the day sometimes!

You can get this high-interest fiction/non-fiction set in my TPT store by clicking on the link below.  Be sure to check out my other set on Sharks as well!

Fiction & Nonfiction Test Prep - Soccer

Happy Friday!