The Power of Words: Exploring Narrative and Information · 3rd Year

Active learning ideas

Navigating Non-Fiction Text Features

Students absorb non-fiction text features best when they interact with them directly, not just observe them. Active tasks like scavenger hunts and gallery walks turn passive reading into purposeful investigation, helping students see these tools as practical aids rather than abstract concepts.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary - Reading
• NCCA: Primary - Writing

• 15–30 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Inquiry Circle
• 30 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The Non-Fiction Scavenger Hunt

Provide groups with various non-fiction books and a list of questions. Students must record not just the answer, but which text feature (index, heading, etc.) helped them find it the fastest.

Explain how text features help a reader find specific information quickly.

Facilitation Tip

During the scavenger hunt, assign mixed-ability pairs so students teach each other how to use features like the index or timeline efficiently.

What to look for

Provide students with a page from a non-fiction book. Ask them to identify and list three text features present and write one sentence explaining the function of each feature in locating information.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Gallery Walk
• 20 min · Pairs

Gallery Walk: Feature Critique

Display different examples of diagrams and charts from magazines or textbooks. Students use sticky notes to comment on whether the diagram makes the information easier or harder to understand than a text description.

Justify why an author might choose a diagram instead of a paragraph to explain a process.

Facilitation Tip

For the gallery walk, provide a simple feedback sheet with sentence starters to guide students in critiquing features rather than just labeling them.

What to look for

Present students with two short explanations of the same concept: one as a paragraph, the other as a labeled diagram. Ask them to write: 'Which explanation is more efficient for understanding the process and why?'

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

Activity 03

• Peer Teaching
• 15 min · Pairs

Peer Teaching: The Glossary Game

Pairs are given a complex paragraph with three 'expert' words. They must design a mini-glossary for that paragraph, explaining the words in simple terms for a younger student.

Analyze the relationship between the table of contents and the index in an informational book.

Facilitation Tip

In the glossary game, limit turns to 30 seconds per student to maintain urgency and prevent over-reliance on guessing.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine you are writing a book about animals for younger children. Which text features would you prioritize and why? Consider how a child would use them to learn about a specific animal.'

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach this topic by modeling how you yourself use text features in real reading scenarios, such as looking up a word in a glossary or scanning a diagram for a quick answer. Avoid over-explaining; instead, let students discover through structured tasks why these features matter. Research suggests that students retain more when they actively apply skills rather than passively receive information about them.

Students will confidently locate information using text features without reading every word. They will explain how features like headings, captions, and glossaries serve different purposes, and apply this understanding to real research tasks.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Collaborative Investigation: The Non-Fiction Scavenger Hunt, watch for students who skim the text line by line rather than using headings or bold words to guide their search. Redirect them by asking, 'Where would you look first if you needed to find out how fast a cheetah can run? Why?'

  During the Collaborative Investigation: The Non-Fiction Scavenger Hunt, if students skip the index and try to read the whole page, pause the activity and ask them to explain why they chose to start at the beginning. Then ask them to locate the same information using the index instead.

• During the Gallery Walk: Feature Critique, watch for students who assume captions only repeat what is written in the main text. Redirect them by asking, 'If you removed the main text, what details in the caption could still help you understand the image?'

  After the Peer Teaching: The Glossary Game, if students treat glossary definitions as optional notes rather than key tools, ask them to find the definition of a word they don’t know in a book’s glossary and explain how it helped them understand the topic.

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Methods used in this brief

• Inquiry Circle
• Gallery Walk
• Peer Teaching