Informational text is an important feature of teaching students about the natural and social world and a key element of Common Core in today’s classrooms. Informational text varies from general non-fiction because of a few features—most notably that the information is structured in a way that helps students learn. For teachers looking to learn more about what informational text is, Scholastic has a great article that gives a general overview and its importance in the classroom.
13 Informational Text Resources for Teachers
Students need to have a balance of literature and informational text. If you’re looking for sites that include nonfiction passages or high-interest articles here are a few worth exploring:
- Scholastic News
- Life on Earth
- Readworks
- Newsela
- Nearpod
- DOGO News
- CNN 10
- Time for Kids
- LeVar Burton Kids Skybrary
- Epic!
- News-O-Matic
- Smithsonian Tween Tribune
- Channel One News
How to Use Informational Text in Your Classroom
Informational text is a tool teachers can use to focus on close reading, teach vocabulary in context, and introduce students to a variety of rich and complex subjects through reading. Using this type of non-fiction literature as the introduction to critical thinking and discussion in your classroom is a great way to get your students ready for deeper understanding of topics.
- Ask students to use information from text documents to support their arguments when discussing or collaborating.
- Provide opportunities for other students to build on each other’s observations and insights gathered from text.
- Provide tools and resources for students to build on what they’ve learned from text, such as in-classroom experiments and activities that demonstrate what they’ve learned.
- Ask students to use the vocabulary they learned in text in their discussions and collaborations.
- Take students beyond the basics provided by text and dig into smaller details of what they’ve learned through additional activities.
- Ensure that the text provides new information and insight and is at the students’ reading level.
Informational text can be a great resource and jumping point to introduce your students to more complex and nuanced topics.
