Grades 3–5 Reading Activities

When we read nonfiction, we discover ideas and opinions that are based on facts and real-life events. Often we read nonfiction to learn about history and science and to develop our ability to reason from factual knowledge or evidence. As you talk with your child about history, science, or other subjects, encourage her to elaborate on the ideas and facts that most interest her. Why did dinosaurs disappear? Where do stars come from? What is the path of butterfly migration? As your child explores the world of facts, encourage her to question them and draw conclusions based on the information given and from her own prior knowledge. Encourage your child not to accept facts uncritically. When exploring the world of a particular character, ask your child to describe how the character’s actions and experiences reveal the character’s feelings.

	A good dictionary and a set of encyclopedias (available in the public library, along with many other reference materials)

	Paper

	Pen or pencil

Help your child identify the important facts in a nonfiction piece (an article in the newspaper, part of a biography, a book about the physical world, a book on an historical era). It can sometimes be those stories that contain disputed facts that most challenge a reader to infer her own opinions or ideas. If she is reading a book about airplanes, for example, encourage her to read about the stories of famous pilots that contain disputed facts. Amelia Earhart and Richard Byrd are two examples of such figures. If she is reading a book about icebergs, encourage her to inquire about the history of icebergs. What is mysterious about them? What big events have taken place with boats and icebergs? What are some stories about icebergs that contain disputed facts?

As you talk with your child about such areas as history and science, encourage her to elaborate on the ideas and facts that most interest her. Who are the characters in history who are most compelling to your child? What are the words or actions of a favorite character that challenge your child to determine the character’s traits? Encourage her to think about how often facts begin as opinions, and, as they are proven, become facts. A good dictionary and encyclopedia will help her answer her questions. Also, she might start with the encyclopedia, read about her topic, and then come up with questions she wants to pursue.

This activity highlights the importance of two things: figuring out the difference between facts and opinions, and using facts to draw inferences. As your child develops her interest in nonfiction, she will learn about how one must base opinions and ideas on reliable facts and how an idea must be supported with evidence to be factual. She will quickly discover that facts don't always start as facts, and so there are often interesting stories behind facts and their development — stories of how others made both reliable and unreliable inferences. Your child will see that there's an important relationship between facts and opinions. We support opinions with facts, and some opinions become facts when they are supported with evidence. Talk with your child about her opinions. Get her to think about what facts would support them. Also, encourage her to consider why her opinions are not factual.

 Grades 3–5 Reading Activities