Is That a Fact?: Teaching Nonfiction Writing, K-3

by Tony Stead

The book you are about to read is destined to be the first, middle, and maybe even the last word on nonfiction writing for young, young children. It is certainly a text that you will return to over and over again as you do with a beloved cookbook.
—from the Foreword by Tomie dePaola

Over eighty- five percent of the reading and writing we do as adults is nonfiction, yet most of the reading and writing in K–3 classrooms is fiction or personal narrative. In Is That a Fact? Teaching Nonfiction Writing K-3, Tony Stead shows you how to open the door to the rich world of nonfiction writing that goes beyond "what I did" narratives and animal reports. And he convincingly demonstrates the importance of introducing nonfiction writing in the primary grades.

Nonfiction inspires enthusiasm in young children because they can choose topics that are of interest to them personally. Is That a Fact? explores a variety of authentic purposes for writing nonfiction, such as describing, explaining, instructing, persuading, retelling, and exploring relationships with others. You will learn how to introduce each purpose using a variety of forms, including letters, reports, poetry, captions, directions, and interviews.

Part One provides a complete overview of teaching nonfiction writing in the primary grades and includes:

practical ways for organizing nonfiction resources within the classroom; how to assist children in collecting information for research; ideas for helping children keep their sense of voice when writing nonfiction; a chapter on spelling, with examples of how to guide students at each stage of spelling development; strategies for assessment and evaluation that guide teaching and learning engagements.

Part Two provides five different explorations that were implemented in actual K–3 classrooms. Each focuses on a specific purpose for writing nonfiction and features:

examples of whole-class, small-group, and independent instructional engagements; a comprehensive assessment rubric that will help teachers tailor instruction to the needs of all learners; an extensive resource section that includes lists of books in the exploration, grouped by readability levels; answers to the most commonly asked questions about teaching nonfiction writing.

The appendixes include a self-assessment questionnaire, reproducible pages for exploring specific writing forms, and letters to parents.

Children need to be introduced to the different purposes of nonfiction writing. They need to know how to plan, compose, revise, and publish nonfiction beyond narrative. Is That a Fact? guides you in achieving these goals with your students.

Genres: Education

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so glad I still had this, and took the time to reread it. I am making the move from general classroom teacher to science specialist next year, and I really want the kids to do a lot of writing in the 2 periods a week I will have them. Tony Stead's close examination of 5 nonfiction genres in primary classrooms lays out how to get young kids excited about writing. By giving them an authentic purpose and providing some basic structures, including a pre-assessment, a whole class project and demonstrations based on student needs, writing becomes a choice instead of a chore. I hope to follow his structure for teaching descriptive reports, explanations, and persuasive pieces or instructional writing next year in my science classes. I am looking forward to it, and it's been a long time since I could say that.
Some of the best examples given by Tony in this book are the times when the students themselves took a lesson in a different direction than he had planned. The importance of student engagement through choice really shines in this book. The structure is in place, but instead of restricting students it gives them the freedom to grow and explore. Teachers need to see more work like this.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really thoughtful. Discussed teaching nonfiction writing to grades K-3. Specifically instructional writing, descriptive reports, scientific explanations, persuasive writing, and nonfiction narrative. It gave me a lot of beginnings of ideas for what to do with research. I'll have to go back and reread to get a better handle on it. Not as specific as I might have wished, but it was a pretty easy and conversational read--not a Debbie Miller, but still pretty good.

[Jen Munnerlyn]

This was recommended by Katherine Casey who led the NESA Literacy Coaching group meeting in Jordan in November, 2008.

[Darlene Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I teach 5th grade, but found many of the ideas in this professional book on writing for grades K -3 helpful. I will keep it handy as a reference for Writer's Workshop.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greta book to help students think about writing non-iction.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic resource for teaching non-fiction. Wonderful and easy ideas to use in the classroom. Tony Stead writes an easy to read text book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 - This resource is very informative but repetitive.