Students read nonfiction to LEARN and to become experts on one topic of study. Most importantly, they celebrate what they have learned by sharing it with others.

Students love to read nonfiction text almost as much as they love to learn about ocean life.

However, retelling nonfiction text can be difficult for young readers. Using the Most Important Words (MIW’s) strategy allows students to easily determine the importance of what is read.

Before Reading:

Begin by assigning your students with a nonfiction text on a chosen topic. Allow them to peruse the Table of Contents to decide what they wish to learn about.

During Reading:

After reading the chapter, have the students reread to determine which words are “most important” about their topic.

Provide your students with the fun sticky notes. Be sure to limit your students to 4-6 post-it notes to challenge them to record true MIW’s. These cutesy sticky-notes are seriously a huge motivator for your kiddos-especially since they have a picture of their topic printed right on them! Again, don’t give them too many, you want them to really think about what is most important. If you give them a sticky note pad, they will use them ALL!

After Reading:

Once they have chosen their MIW’s have them practice retelling what they have learned using the MIW’s recorded on their sticky notes. This is where the magic happens! Your students will be able to communicate the most important information IN THEIR OWN WORDS using the MIW’s.

See it in Action:

The Writing Connection:

Now that they have verbally summarized what they have learned they are ready to share their ideas as an author. Encourage your students to share that information in a Nonfiction writing piece. Model how to write a topic/main idea sentence with supporting details and of course a closing sentence.

Finally, celebrate their learning by creating a class book on Ocean Creatures using the publishing paper included. If you are able to photocopy the final product for each child….you are a Super Teacher! They will read and reread this class book over and over since their friends are the authors and they contributed as well! Have them keep a copy in their Book Box for Reader’s Workshop and they will return to this book for days! What an awesome opportunity for them to see their peers’ writing, learn about various non-fiction topics and take pride in their work!

This strategy has truly helped my readers successfully determine the most important information when reading a nonfiction text. What is so wonderful about this strategy is that it can be used at any grade level.

What do you need?
engaging text
post-its
writing paper.

However, if you would like the fun writing papers and sticky note templates that you have seen in these photos, you can find the complete set at my TpT shop by clicking HERE. Take a look at what is included:

31 different ocean creature templates:

1. Sticky note template for each ocean animal
2. Publishing paper for each ocean animal (one blank page for additional space)
3. Poster for each ocean animal.