Mini-Lesson

Mini-Lesson: Grades 4-6

Non-fiction Literacy

Objective: Students will explore non-fiction text elements.

1. Show students the seal photographs that appear online with the latest timeforkids.com news story, Gone Forever. Explain that photographs are just one of several different text elements, such as illustrations, maps, charts and graphs, that can be included in a news story.

2. As you read the article, stop after each paragraph to ask students to come up with ideas for new text elements. Examples include photographs of a juvenile hooded seal and a Caribbean monk seal for comparison, a map to show where the different seals mentioned in the article live, a diagram of a Caribbean monk seal and a bulleted list of things humans can do to protect monk seals. These kinds of text features are used to provide the reader with additional information and to grab his or her attention.

3. Extend Learning: Have students select and create the text elements discussed in the mini-lesson. For example, assign one group the task of searching online and in books for additional photos for the article. Make another group responsible for drawing a diagram of a Caribbean monk seal. A third group can create a list of ways to protect monk seals.