All You Need to Teach - Info Literacy 5-8

Second Year at School
Which book is likely to be for imagination and
which for information?
Summarise their observations using a Venn Diagram.
What do you expect to find in a fiction book?
What do you expect to find in a nonfiction book?
What do you expect to find in both?
Construct a chart about the characteristics of
nonfiction. Mix all the dinosaur books together and
sort them according to whether they are fiction or
nonfiction, explaining the choices.
Dinosaur data
Now investigate the ‘fossils’ that students have
found. Identify each and label it. Ask what they
would want to learn about their specimen. Model
some questions to demonstrate the difference
between questions and statements.
How big was it?
What did it eat?
How did it move?
Where did it live?
What does its name mean?
Distribute copies of BLM 17. Have students use the
nonfiction resources to answer the questions.
Reading the pictures
Display pictures of different types of dinosaurs.
Demonstrate the concept of reading pictures,
highlighting the differences between each dinosaur
and asking students to think about them.
Why do you think stegosaurus had those plates
all along its back?
Do this dinosaur’s teeth give you a clue about its
diet?
Can you find something as long as diplodocus?
Could Tyrannosaurus Rex fit through the library
door?
Make a list of the questions and have students
dictate their answers. Create a class Dinosaur
Database to be displayed with their ‘fossils’.
Information makers
Have each group use the information from their
database to create a slideshow. Set up slide
templates using an appropriate background picture
and scanned pictures of the dinosaurs, one for each
slide. Include a sentence starter on each slide as
a cue for students to type in the missing word or
delete those which are not applicable.
I am a. . .
My name means . . .
I am about as big as a. . .
I can run/walk/fly/swim
I live in the. . .
I eat . . .
I am a carnivore/herbivore/omnivore.
I am afraid of . . .
Have them insert the same transition effect
between slides. Burn the slideshows to CD for
inclusion in their portfolios.
Making meaning
Nonfiction books usually have glossaries which
provide definitions of the subject-specific words
used in the text. Have students develop a glossary
about dinosaurs adding new words and their
meanings to a large dinosaur outline. Apart from
the names of the dinosaurs it could include words
such as palaeontologist, palaeontology, fossils,
extinct, carnivore, herbivore, omnivore and reptile.
An alphabet of dinosaurs
Help students develop their awareness of
alphabetical order by displaying a blank A–Z wall
frieze. Challenge them to build an alphabet of
dinosaurs, adding a name or picture to each letter.
Finding facts and figures
Explain that nonfiction books are grouped together
so that all the books about the same subject are
near each other. Show them the nonfiction section
of the library, particularly where they can find those
topics that interest them most, such as dinosaurs,
pets, cars, planes, space and aliens.
Hint
Make independent access to nonfiction titles easier
by hanging lightweight signs above the relevant
section. Put those nonfiction series that are written
for this age group, and which are easily lost on the
shelves, into tubs for easy access.
Learning Log
Allow students time to reflect on all they have
learned about nonfiction, including the variety of
information sources they used, and share this with
parents through the school newsletter, website or
students’ portfolios.
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