Over the course of four days, Mrs. Alina's first grade reading unit focuses on helping students learn to distinguish between fiction and informational texts. Students read and discuss four books - two fiction stories about snow and two informational texts about how snow is formed. Through comparing and contrasting the books, students identify whether each book tells a story or provides facts. By the end of the unit, students can recognize the difference between fiction and informational genres and understand that some books teach information while others tell stories.

1. Lesson Plans
Mrs. Alina’s Learning Commons
First Grade Reading Unit
Theme: Snow
Days Georgia Standards of Excellence:
ELAGSE1RL5: Explain major difference between texts that tell stories and texts that give
information.
Suggested Key Terms:
differences, fact, fiction, nonfiction text, compare, contrast, informational text, genre,
storybook
Day 1 Topic: fiction vs. informational
I can statement:
-I can identify the difference between fact and fiction.
Read: Snow by Marion Dane Bauer
Complete an anchor chart for students to share information about snowflakes and how
they are formed
Discuss how this book gave us true information about snowflakes and how snowflakes are
formed.
Discuss how some books teach us information and some books tell us a story.
Day 2 Topic: fiction vs. informational
I can statement:
-I can identify the difference between fact and fiction.
Read: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Ask who, what, when, where, why questions after story to discuss key details.
Ask if this storybook taught us any information about snow?
(No, it was a story about a boy playing in the snow.)
Discuss the difference in this storybook about snow and the informational book about snow
that we read yesterday.
Make a snowflake out of a coffee filter.
While the students are working on their snowflakes, discuss the differences in how we are
making a paper snowflake and how real snow is formed (recalling facts from the
informational text yesterday).
Review how some books teach us information and some books tell us a story.

2. Lesson Plans
Mrs. Alina’s Learning Commons
First Grade Reading Unit
Day 3 Topic: fiction vs. informational
I can statement:
-I can identify the difference between fact and fiction.
Watch The Story of Snow by Mark Cassino with John Nelson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ByoW0qUd1E
Discuss how this is another informational text that teaches us facts about snow and how
snow is formed.
Compare it to facts that we wrote on our anchor chart on day 1 and add any additional
information that we learned.
Review how some books teach us information and some books tell us a story.
Day 4 Topic: fiction vs. informational
I can statement:
-I can identify the difference between fact and fiction.
Read: So Much Snow! By Robert Munsch
Ask students if this they think this book is fiction or nonfiction.
Ask students if this book gives them information or tells a story.
Compare and contrast the four different stories read.
Discuss how some books taught us information about snow and some books told stories
about snow or a snowy day.
Remind students that we have different areas in our learning commons that provide books
with different genres just as these books did.
We have books that give us information and books that tell stories.
Complete a hoola-hoop venn diagram to label and review characteristics of books that are
fiction and books that are informational. Include characteristics that both genres share
in the middle.
Review how some books teach us information and some books tell us a story.
Photographs:

3. Lesson Plans
Mrs. Alina’s Learning Commons
First Grade Reading Unit