4 Anchor Charts for Teaching Nonfiction

As much as I love teaching with my beloved Harry Potter, my students have to be able to read and analyze informational texts as well! With the right tools, nonfiction can be just as engaging and accessible as fiction texts. Here are a few of my favorite anchor charts I use to introduce my students to nonfiction skills & strategies:

Introducing Nonfiction

I prepared the first 2/3 of the poster beforehand and uncovered the bullets line by line as I modeled observing these aspects in a nonfiction text. I brainstormed nonfiction topics with my students and added them to the chart during our lesson.

Identifying the Main Idea

Identifying the main idea is an important skill for students in any grade. This was a really challenging concept for a few of my students, and they kept getting slammed on running records and standardized tests. The "clues" listed on this anchor chart helped make the main idea more concrete for some of my students who couldn't just simply answer what the text was mostly about.

Identifying Fact vs. Opinion

I was really taken aback that my students had such trouble differentiating between fact and opinion! They kept defaulting back to true and false. This chart helped them see the difference.

Non-Fiction Text Structure

This chart was inspired by The Classroom Key's wonderful Nonfiction Text Structures Pack! We spent several weeks on this, and the students constantly referred back to the chart to independently identify the text structure and describe it using the appropriate graphic organizer.

If you're looking for more anchor charts, check out my post on Cultivating a Growth Mindset in Your Students!