Non-fiction for the win! Encouraging readers with facts galore
Getting children to enjoy reading, and to maintain that enjoyment throughout their school lives and beyond, is no small task. There will always be the ones who take to it with ease, devouring book after book and relishing the stories they tell. For others, the reading habit is not so easily come by, and requires careful nurturing and creative approaches.
I do think it is important to acknowledge that, just like adults, the reading habits of children naturally fluctuate over time. Many factors contribute to this, but it is unrealistic to expect children and adults to have an entirely consistent approach to their reading lives.
If you have children in your class in a reading slump, non-fiction books just might provide the spark they need to get back into their reading groove. Thankfully, BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, is on the case. BookTrust’s new Writer in Residence from March 1st, Rashmi Sirdeshpande, an award-winning creator of both children’s picture books for pre-schoolers and factual books for primary school age children, has decided to dedicate her six-month residency to “Using factual books to fascinate young readers” by exploring the unique power of children’s non-fiction books to inspire children and grown-ups to read together.
For Sirdeshpande, there is much potential for supporting reading through non-fiction texts. She explained, “There’s so much scope to use non-fiction books to spark activities in the classroom – whether that’s supporting important discussions that open students' minds to new perspectives about the world or stimulating their imaginations for a creative writing session. Why not kick off a lesson with a fresh and interesting fact that’s connected to the subject matter of the day and have a reading recommendation for those who want to find out more?
“If you have a classroom reading corner, offering students access to a wide range of non-fiction titles will allow them to explore their specific interests as well as discovering new ones. BookTrust’s website has plenty of expertly-curated booklists of the latest factual reads for different age groups and is a great place to start.
“Factual books can also create playful scenarios for independent learning and engagement with reading. If you have a school library, why not encourage pupils to take it in turns to share the most fascinating fact they’ve discovered from a book that they have come across that week? Or challenge them to visit their local library and bring in a factual book that has really caught their eye?”
Take a look around the children’s section of any bookshop or library and you are bound to be inspired by what’s on offer on the non-fiction shelves. The rich variety and quality on offer is sure to tempt. Incorporating these books in your daily classroom life can be inspiring and ultimately perhaps improve inclusion.
To enhance your use of non-fiction books in teaching, these ideas may work too:
- Help children to understand the features of a non-fiction book and how they can be laid out. Look at the chapter or section heading, the index and the glossary if the book has one. Look out for other features such as lists of illustrations or graphs. Explore when they book was published and help children to make a judgement on how up to date the book might be.
- Encourage children to dip into non-fiction books. They don’t have to start at the very beginning! Explore the index, flick through the pages, or choose a page at random – there are no rules!
- When children choose fiction books to read, encourage them to grab a non-fiction book too. Is there one that will complement their fiction reading? For example, a book on birdwatching might go well with Twitch by M.G. Leonard or a book on rivers might be nice with The Wind in the Willows.
- Promote the idea of carrying a book with them wherever they go. Going for a walk? Take a nature reference book. Love sport? Take a how-to guide to practice sessions. Have a train or bus journey to school? Read some non-fiction on the way and share cool facts with friends.
- Encourage parents to read non-fiction to children as well as bedtime stories. Biographies (written for the children’s market) are a great place to start as they are usually inspiring and accessible. Think of favourite athletes or scientists, astronauts or musicians – the list is endless!
- Aim for a 50/50 fiction/non-fiction split in your use of books in the classroom. It is likely that most classrooms favour fiction above non-fiction, but it need not necessarily be like that.
- Use non-fiction to help children to pursue passions. What grabs them? Take that as a starting point. Help them to use one book to identify the next book they want to enjoy. Inspire that sense of wonder about where they will go next – one thing leads to another. These literary trails can inspire for weeks if not more.
- Encourage children to make their very own non-fiction books. What subject would they like to write about? What reference books exist to help them? What will be the balance of text and illustrations? What will the cover look like?
- Think about using quizzes or presentations to enhance the role of facts and non-fiction texts in your classroom.
- Help children to understand that they don’t have to devour non-fiction in one go. They can dip in and then put the book aside for a while if that suits, while they move onto another book.
Find out more…
BookTrust: Getting children reading | BookTrust
About the author
Elizabeth Holmes
After graduating with a degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Reading, Elizabeth Holmes completed her PGCE at the Institute of Education, University of London. She then taught humanities and social sciences in schools in London, Oxfordshire and West Sussex, where she ran the history department in a challenging comprehensive. Elizabeth specialises in education but also writes on many other issues and themes. As well as her regular blogs for Eteach and FEjobs, her books have been published by a variety of publishers and translated around the world. Elizabeth has also taught on education courses in HE and presented at national and international conferences.
