determining importance with story elements anchor charts

Inspired Owl’s Corner/map example via Ī map can help readers locate events in a location or period of time.

Photos and captions can also give more context about a topic. Pictures show what the text is discussing, and captions help students understand the context for those images. Sidebars often include features like graphs, charts, and timelines, which can be helpful for putting information into another form for students to digest. It includes information that isn’t contained within the general text. SidebarĪ sidebar is an informational text box outside of the main text.

So, if a student is working on a report about pandas but has a book about Chinese animals, the index is a good place to look for the pages where pandas are discussed. IndexĪn index is also at the end of a text, but it has a list of topics that are included in the book and where to find each. A student can use a glossary to understand vocabulary, and often where to find more about that vocabulary in a book. GlossaryĪ glossary is at the end of a book and gives information about what’s included in the book through key words or concepts. So, if they’re skimming a table of contents and notice that they’re interested in each of the chapter titles (say: The First Submarines, Today’s Submersibles), then they’ll know that this is a book they want to read, rather than diving into the text and getting bored or frustrated because it’s not something they’re interested in at all. It also gives students an idea of what they will learn in each chapter. The table of contents is there to help students see how a text is organized so they can go right to the chapter or section they need. If they have a question about what koalas eat, they can look at the table of contents and don’t have to read the entire book to learn about koala’s diets. When students are able to use text features, they can access the information they need faster and easier. In short, text features help students get information from a text. Here’s a helpful video you can share with students: A table of contents or a glossary allows them to get to the section of text they want without having to skim the entire text. Text features also help students efficiently navigate a text. For example, a photo caption helps students understand more about what’s happening in the picture, so they understand that the photo is not of just some old guy on a boat, but of George Washington crossing the Delaware River. They’re most common in nonfiction texts and help readers find information quickly and get more out of the text they’re reading. Text features are parts of a text that aren’t in the main story or body of text. Teaching With a Mountain View/anchor chart via

Determining importance with story elements anchor charts