PK1 Inquirers Exploring Fiction and Nonfiction

You might have heard your PK1 student use some new vocabulary recently when talking about their (library) books, describing their book as either fiction or nonfiction/informational. A few weeks ago, we began exploring the differences between these two categories of books, introducing the terminology but putting our main focus on the different purposes the books serve. Not only do we want our young inquirers to know about the difference between fiction and nonfiction books, we want them to make conscious choices when they are choosing books, asking themselves whether what they have selected is meeting their wishes and needs: are they looking for a story to read or for facts to learn more about a topic of interest? Getting into the habit of doing this is a great way of preparing them to be reflective information seekers later on.

For this purpose, we have had...

... paired read-alouds - one fiction and one nonfiction book about the same topic - that allowed conversations about the differences between the two books;

... sorting activities - allowing students to practise identifying fiction and nonfiction books and the respective purposes they serve;

... exploration time - letting students take a closer look at some fiction and nonfiction titles;

... and giving our students lots of opportunity to apply this new learning when checking out books each week.

You might like to encourage your child to use the vocabulary and share their learning by using the words yourself and by asking your child about the respective book checked out, whether it might be fiction or nonfiction - and most importantly, with what purpose in mind it was selected: to hear a story or to learn something new about a topic.