Nothin' but Nonfiction!

Enter the exciting world of nonfiction! Children love to learn about the world around them, but too often, in the classroom, students are not taught the necessary strategies for reading and comprehending informational texts.

Guide your students to become engaged readers and writers of nonfiction. Get ideas for selecting quality nonfiction and learn strategies to set up both nonfiction readers’ and writers’ workshops.

Get tips for mini lessons and simple publishing ideas. As adults, often our reading centers on short nonfiction: newspapers, magazine articles, memos, essays, etc. It is essential for our students to learn to read both “real-world” reading as well as content reading. Help your students build the skills necessary to become life long readers and writers of nonfiction. 

 Audience:  Primary

Classroom Teachers in grades 2 - 5

 Workshop materials:

Presenter:

Jodi Bonnette

Singapore American School

Intermediate School Literacy Coordinator

jbonnette@sas.edu.sg

Jodi Bonnette is currently the Intermediate School Literacy Coordinator at Singapore American School where she has worked for the past 7 years. Jodi began her teaching career in the United States but has been teaching internationally for the past 23 years. Jodi’s “international tour” has included six years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where she worked to establish literature based readers’ and writer’s workshops. The following ten years saw her in Osaka, Japan teaching grades one through four. She was instrumental in helping her school develop student-led conferencing and portfolio assessment.  Jodi has presented workshops at several international teachers’ conferences. Topics have included: Readers’ Workshop, Student-led Conferences, Portfolios, Teaching Nonfiction, Balanced Literacy, and Supporting your Child’s Reading Development at Home. Jodi’s passion is getting kids excited about learning and helping them become lifelong learners. 

A computer with PowerPoint software, projector/screen, and clicker for PowerPoint.