Activities for Non-Fiction Books
The following activities can be used with non-fiction books (see suggested titles below) in order to foster research skills in students of all grades.
Acting/Writing in Role
Step #1: Ask students to read a non-fiction book (see suggestions below) and take what they feel is important from the text. Ask them to highlight important action words, and note historical dates, titles and events.
Step #2: Ask students to great a time line where they note dates chronologically, associate important events with above mentioned dates and choose a focus for their time line.
Step #3: Have students choose an interesting individual to emulate through acting or writing in role. If students choose to act, encourage them to stage a scene in which them act in role using costumes and props. If students choose to write, encourage them to write a letter or journal entry to express what they think the historical character might have said or felt.
Portfolio Assignment
Step #1: Have the students pick a topic, place or issue that is of interest to them.
Step #2: Have the students write poetry, short stories, essays and dramatic skits about their topic.
Step #3: Encourage the students to express themselves through visual arts.
Step #4: Have the students assemble a portfolio of their written and artistic work.
Suggested Books
Brewster, Hugh. At Vimy Ridge: Canada's Greatest World War I Victory. Scholastic Canada, 2006. ISBN: 978-0439949828
Cotter, Charis. Kids Who Rule: The Remarkable Lives of Five Child Monarchs. Kids Can Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-1554510610
Greenwood, Barbara. Factory Girl. Kids Can Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-1553376491
Gorrell, Gena K. In the Land of the Jaguar. Illustrated by Andrej Krystoforski. Tundra Books, 2007. ISBN: 978-0887767562
Rivera, Raquel. Arctic Adventures: Tales from the Lives of Inuit Artists. Illustrated by Jirina Marton. Groundwood Books, 2007. ISBN: 978-0888997142
Shannahan, Colleen. Mission! The Extraordinary Adventures of Sir Wilfred Grenfell. Illustrated by Raidel Bas and Willie Stevenson. Belle Isle Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-0978131302