Text Features and Navigation: Non-Fiction

Active learning works for text features because these skills demand practice beyond reading alone. Students need to physically interact with headings, indexes, and diagrams to see how they organize and clarify complex information. Hands-on activities build the muscle memory required to navigate non-fiction texts efficiently.

• Year 5
• English
• 3 activities
• 25 min–35 min

Learning Objectives

1. Analyze how specific subheadings in a technical passage help predict its content.
2. Explain the unique information provided by diagrams that is not present in accompanying text.
3. Compare the organizational structure of an index to the hierarchy of information within a non-fiction text.
4. Demonstrate efficient information retrieval from a non-fiction text using headings, subheadings, and glossaries.

Ready-to-Use Activities

Simulation Game

⏱ 30 min·Pairs

Simulation Game: The Information Scavenger Hunt

Give students a complex non-fiction book or website and a list of five specific questions. They must use only the index, contents page, and sub-headings to find the answers as quickly as possible, recording which feature helped them most.

Prepare & details

How do subheadings help a reader predict the content of a technical passage?

Facilitation Tip: During the Information Scavenger Hunt, set a visible timer to create urgency and model how to skim subheadings like search engine keywords.

Setup: Flexible space for group stations

Materials: Role cards with goals/resources, Game currency or tokens, Round tracker

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Gallery Walk

⏱ 35 min·Small Groups

Gallery Walk: Diagram Detectives

Display several complex diagrams (e.g., a water cycle or a cross-section of a traditional First Nations dwelling). Students move in groups to write one piece of information that the diagram provides which is not found in the accompanying text.

Prepare & details

In what ways do diagrams provide information that text alone cannot convey?

Facilitation Tip: In Diagram Detectives, provide magnifying glasses or digital zoom tools to focus attention on specific parts of diagrams.

Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter

Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Think-Pair-Share

⏱ 25 min·Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Feature Flip

Give students a plain piece of text without any features. Pairs must decide where to add two sub-headings, a bolded keyword, and a caption for a hypothetical image. They share their choices and explain how these features would help a reader.

Prepare & details

How does the organization of an index reflect the hierarchy of information in a book?

Facilitation Tip: For Feature Flip, assign pairs to swap their flipped text features and explain their choices to each other.

Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor

Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Teaching This Topic

Approach this topic by treating text features as tools, not decorations. Teach students to treat subheadings as signposts and diagrams as data sources. Avoid assuming students will transfer skills from one text type to another by explicitly comparing how features function in digital and print formats. Research shows that guided practice with immediate feedback helps students internalize these strategies faster than passive exposure.

What to Expect

Successful learning looks like students using text features independently to locate information quickly. They should explain why they chose a particular feature and how it helped them. Students should also recognize when a diagram or chart conveys information that the text does not.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During the Information Scavenger Hunt, watch for students who read every word on the page before answering.

What to Teach Instead

Pause the activity and model skimming the subheadings first, then scanning the highlighted sections. Ask students to time themselves reading only the relevant parts to see how much faster they find answers.

Common Misconception

During Diagram Detectives, watch for students who ignore the diagram and only read the caption.

What to Teach Instead

Have students cover the diagram with a blank sheet and try to explain the process using only the text. Then reveal the diagram and discuss what details were missing without the visual.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

After the Information Scavenger Hunt, give students a new unfamiliar non-fiction article. Ask them to identify three subheadings and write a prediction for each section’s content, then locate one specific piece of information using only the index.

Discussion Prompt

During Diagram Detectives, present students with a science text’s diagram and its accompanying text. Ask: 'What information does this diagram provide that the text does not? How does the diagram help you understand the text more clearly?'

Exit Ticket

After Feature Flip, give students a glossary from a sample text. Ask them to choose two words, write sentences using each word correctly in context, and explain how the glossary helped them understand those terms.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge students who finish early to create a 'text feature guide' for a peer using a new article.
• Scaffolding: Provide a partially completed diagram for students to label using the text as a reference.
• Deeper exploration: Have students analyze a historical map to identify how labels, legends, and scales work together to convey information.

Key Vocabulary

Subheading	A secondary title that divides a section of text and gives the reader a clue about the content within that section.
Glossary	An alphabetical list of terms related to a specific subject, with definitions provided. It helps readers understand specialized vocabulary.
Diagram	A simplified drawing or illustration that shows the parts of something and how they work, often including labels and captions.
Index	An alphabetical list of names, subjects, etc., with the page numbers where they can be found in a book. It helps locate specific information quickly.
Caption	A brief explanation or description accompanying an illustration, photograph, or diagram.