Last January, fifth grade teacher Katie McEnaney (right) and schoollibrarian Ellen Bunn (left) wrote a post describing a collaborative nonfiction writing unit they’ve offered for several years at their school.Their article was very popular, so now they’re back with a more detailedexplanation.

Now they’re back, providing a step-by-step breakdown of activities thattook place in the library and sharing how those activities supported andenhanced the multi-week learning experience. You can scroll down for lastweek’s post, which focused on nonfiction book categories and writing styles.

Thank you, Katie and Ellen, for providing this additional information.

Lookingat Nonfiction Books Displayed by Category
During their first librarylesson (scroll down), students sorted themed sets of nonfiction books bywriting style (expository or narrative) and category (active, browsable,traditional, expository literature, and narrative). During this second session,the same books were displayed by categories instead of content.

Because our fifth graders arewriting nonfiction to share with second-grade buddies, books on the traditionalnonfiction table included titles intended for younger readers (front row,below) as well as titles written at a fifth-grade level (back row, below).Including the two levels of books helped students see how simple text, largefonts, and plenty of white space make a book easier for young children tonavigate. These simpler books were also a good fit for fifth graders who wereready to learn about the craft moves in nonfiction as they prepare to write itthemselves.

ExploringText Structures
To prepare students for theirinvestigation of nonfiction text structures, Ellen shared a guiding quotepulled from 5 Kinds of Nonfiction (page78).

We wanted students tounderstand that the way a writer structures their text can guide how theyresearch and take notes—and at the same time, the research and notes can help awriter decide which text structure might work best (Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep).

Next, students participatedin a modified version of Activity 6.2 in 5Kinds of Nonfiction. After looking at several different books about frogs,Ellen read aloud a short passage from one book and students worked with anelbow buddy to determine its text structure. Then, the class moved onto anotherbook.

To ease students into thisprocess, Ellen initially chose books with structures that are easier toidentify and worked up to trickier ones. Here is the order she used: Question& Answer, Sequence, Compare & Contrast, Description, List (3 examples),Cause & Effect, Problem & Solution. The two latter structures are themost challenging for students to identify.

Before: Books left to rightin alphabetical order by book title

After: Books left to right inalphabetical order by text structure

Finally, students participateda text structure scavenger hunt, rotating through seven sets of books (eachwith four titles) from 5 Kinds ofNonfiction (pages 79-82). Working with a partner and using the twoworksheets below, they read enough of each book to determine the text structurethat the four books in each set have in common.

After completing theactivity, students took some time to review the research notes they’d gathered sofar in Katie’s classroom and decided which text structure felt like the bestfit for the book they wanted to write.

IdentifyingCraft Moves in Expository Literature
During the next library lesson,student volunteers took turns reading aloud from slides (like the ones below) withbook passages highlighted in 5 Kinds ofNonfiction (pages 99-109). After viewing each slide, the fifth gradersturned and talked with an elbow buddy about any craft moves they noticed. Thenthe class worked together to identify voice, vivid verbs, repetition, rhyme,alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, sensory language, metaphors, and similesin the excerpts.

Next, each student selected abook from the expository literature or narrative book tables. After reading italoud with a classmate, the partners identified, discussed, and savored thecraft moves in the book.

Selecting Mentor Texts to Enrich Student Writing
During the final librarylesson, students spent time browsing among the five category book displays,which include all the nonfiction books they’ve interacted with over the lastfew weeks. The library is like a Fourth of July fireworks show—bright,exciting, and full of variety. Each book bursts with its own style andpersonality.

By the end of the period,each fifth grader headed back to the classroom with one or more mentor texts inhand, everything from traditional nonfiction for younger readers to top-notchexpository and narrative nonfiction picture books.

As an author, archaeologist,and fifth grade teacher, Katie McEnaney is always on a whirlwind huntfor the perfect artifact to illustrate a point and teach about the past. Herstories have been featured in LittleThoughts Press and the middle grade anthology Clio’s Curious Dash Through Time. When she’s not traveling theworld and geeking out over archaeological sites, you can find her at home inWisconsin with her husband, son, and two very-demanding cats. You can read herand her students’ book reviews at https://www.thelogonauts.com/.

As a school librarian, EllenBunn enjoys engaging K-8 students in research. She was a committee memberfor the Charlotte Zolotow Book Award (2016, 2017), Sibert Medal Award (2022),and South Asian Book Award (starting 2025). Previously she excavated andpublished about ancient hominin archaeological sites and hunter-gatherers ineastern and southern Africa, before teaching elementary science. Sheparticipates in rural land-use planning in Wisconsin, where she and her husbandhave raised three children, farm animals, and organic vegetables.

Socialmedia links for Katie:
https://www.instagram.com/katie_mcenaney
https://bsky.app/profile/katiemcenaney.bsky.social

Socialmedia links for Ellen:
https://bsky.app/profile/ellenbunn3.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/ellenbunn3