Teaching Text Structures

Hello Bloggy Friends, I hope that you all have had a good start to the new year.  If you are like me, it has been SUPER busy.  Sometimes I don't feel like I even know which way is up.  It seems like there are always TONS of meetings and just STUFF to do after Christmas break.  I don't know....maybe it's just the realization that the school year is half over and I am left wondering where the time went. 

I have also been busy preparing presentations for teachers concerning writing.  I recently presented at a school in my district, I have an upcoming presentation at my own school, and then a regional training at the end of February.  I must admit, I am a little nervous about that one.  I have a tendency to break out in hives when I get nervous.  For my last presentation, I wore a turtleneck because I knew the teachers would be just staring at my "red" neck.  ;) 

So, what's been going on in my classroom???  Well, we have focused on nonfiction reading since we returned from the break.  We recently finished up with text structures and are now working on primary and secondary sources.  I thought I would share with you some of the things we did during our study of text structures. 

The first thing we did was look at the different types of text structures.  I have a Common Core Reading resource book that the kids used to learn about the five types of text structures.  Then, we created a layered flipbook of the structures.  We included information such as a definition to describe the structure, key words/signal words, and then a diagram to represent the text structure.  Here is what these looked like: 

Then, I used several resources from my TpT seller friends.  I downloaded an adorable freebie from The Science Penguin using text structures.  This cutie had an ocean theme.  I loved this little packet so much, I ended purchasing her text structure packet on penguins.  It was absolutely perfect because I had articles for all of the text structures from kids' magazines that were penguin themed.  I highly recommend these two resources. 

And, of course, I can't go without mentioning my gal, Rachel Lynette.  I LOVE her task cards and her text structure cards are no exception.  :) 

The last thing I wanted to share is a little freebie.  I have been contacted by several readers who have seen my post about the Reading Olympian Program and how to get the little signs I made for my bead container and file folder box.  I am sharing these with you.  Click here to get the labels like the ones I have posted in the pictures below. 

Happy Friday Ya'll!  :)