Nonfiction Craft Lessons: Teaching Information Writing K-8

A great resource book for any educator that teaches writing. It has so many wonderful ideas for mini-lessons. I couldn't teach without it!

Thank the Heavens for this book! This is my ninth year teaching special education students in a self-contained middle school class and for the first time the clouds have parted and I can see my way to teach writing. The lessons are specific enough to teach skills yet easily adaptable to a teacher's own style and favorite non-fiction literature. I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! A great, inexpensive resource that I will turn to again and again. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Nonfiction is such an important part of literacy, and sometimes easily overlooked. This book has practical lessons and excellent mentor text to illustrate the mini-lessons being taught. Even if you can't find the particular book they suggest, you can easily find examples from your own list of favorites. I especially liked how the book was divided so that you can efficiently find lessons appropriate for your grade level.

I bent many pages in my copy because the lessons are easy to use and effective! Another plus, these lessons are "boy friendly".

I'm a relatively new teacher, and have switched grade levels every year. Teaching writing has been one of the biggest challenges for me. I believe in a writing workshop model, and use a lot of 6 Traits ideas. I knew that both relied on the idea of the writing "mini-lesson" but I really didn't know what those should look like or what kinds of topics they should cover. This book has been a godsend. I disagree with those who say that this book is too rigid. Yes, each lesson identifies particular literature resources which can be used. If you have that book, that's awesome. If not, just adapt the lesson for use with a different book that illustrates the same concept. The point is, these are concise 15 minute mini-lessons that really help your students recognize writing craft, and give them accessible ideas which they can use to improve their own writing.

And, incidentally, if you're building up your classroom library, your school library, or your bookroom, the literature selections that ARE mentioned in this book are uniformly fabulous. I carry a copy of the list of books used in these lessons each time I go to a used book store.

This book is a wonderful tool for writing teachers. Portalupi and Fletcher are very thoughtful in the way that the book is organized so that teachers can share with students lessons dealing with the craft of nonfiction. Since so many writing books deal primarily with narrative writing, this is one of the first I've seen to deal specifically with nonfiction and its craft. This book will change nonfiction writing in all K-8 classrooms. It seems to be a great book for teachers who are comfortable with Writing Workshop as well as those who are new to writing process.