Genre 1st Grade Unit

Lessons & Units

Lesson 1: Classifying Texts as Fiction or Nonfiction Classify and categorize books as fiction or nonfiction.

Froggy Goes to School

Life Cycle of a Frog

Lesson 2: Purposes of Reading Fiction and Nonfiction Identify and describe the purposes of reading a fiction book.Identify and describe the purposes of reading a nonfiction book.

Nature's Food Chains: What Polar Animals Eat

Froggy Goes to School

Life Cycle of a Frog

Lesson 3: Identifying Information in Nonfiction Identify facts learned from a nonfiction text.

Nature's Food Chains: What Polar Animals Eat

Life Cycle of a Frog

Froggy Goes to School

Discuss whether books are fiction or nonfiction in read aloud sessions and reading groups. Have students explain how they determined the genre.
In the Genre Studies unit, discuss if a specific genre (fairy tale, biography) is fiction or nonfiction and how you determined this. Have students make a list of books for each genre and post the list in the classroom.
If Classify and Categorize has been introduced, have students sort books in the classroom library based on genre.
Have students explaining the purpose of reading their favorite fiction or nonfiction book.
If Classify and Categorize has been introduced, students can sort books based on the purpose of reading them (learning new information, enjoying the story, or getting scared).
Create a list of characteristics of nonfiction and fiction books and post it in the classroom. You may also want to create a Venn diagram comparing fiction and nonfiction books. (See Additional Activity A in Teacher and Student Materials below.)
In shared writing, write two versions of a short story about a familiar activity (gym class), making one a fiction story and the other a nonfiction story. Ask students to explain the differences between the two versions.
Challenge students to write both fiction and nonfiction versions of an event. Trade stories and have students determine which version is fiction and why.