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This week, I am posting a series called 5 Days of Teaching Text Structure. Text structure is one of those important topics to teach, but what exactly is it? Why is it important? At what ages should I start teaching it? What are some hands-on resources for teaching text structure? We will explore all these questions this week. For more 5 day series posts this week on teaching specific topics, visit iHomeschool Network's January Hopscotch!

*Please note that this post contains affiliate links. To read more about this, visit my full disclosure policy.

What is Text Structure?

I will never forget the day that I was talking to a fellow teacher about the 4th grade student I was tutoring in reading. I explained how much he struggled with comprehending non-fiction text. I had focused heavily on comprehension strategies, but something still wasn't clicking. She said, "Have you worked on text structure?" I just stared at her like she had asked me a question in a foreign language. She was kind enough to talk me through it a little and I knew right away, this was something I needed to research further. As I began focusing on text structure with him, I realized it was the missing piece to his puzzle of comprehension. And it is for many young readers!

What exactly is text structure? Simply put, text structure is the way in which the author has organized the information in the text. Text organization. "The physical layout," as Emily Kissner puts it in her book, Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Retelling. When you want to write a recipe, you format it like a recipe. Not a narrative story. When you write a note to a loved one, you typically format it like a letter. Not a descriptive passage.

Three BIG Reasons Text Structure is Important

1. Comprehension. It gives readers a specific purpose for reading. Different kinds of texts are organized differently because they are to be read differently. We don't read a letter the same way we read an instruction manual. Our purpose for reading directly affects our comprehension. The text structure is a signal to our brain to read the text in a certain way.

2. Comprehension. It helps the reader understand what is important in the text. Authors usually organize their text so that readers can clearly see what is important or isn't important. (With non-fiction, they also use text features to do this.)

3. Comprehension (notice a theme?). Knowing the text structure helps readers to comprehend, looking for important topics and ideas so that they can retell and summarize the text. Once a student understands what the overall text structure is, he is better able to retell the story or summarize the text because he uses the structure of the text to guide his retelling. For example, a good retelling of a story includes the events in sequence; starting with the introduction, moving on towards the climax, and finishing with the resolution. When summarizing a non-fiction text that compares and contrasts whales and sharks, we want young readers to summarize the text by using a compare/contrast kind of structure.

"Talking about text organization helps students see the macrolevel, or overall structure, of the text, and gives them a framework to figure out how all the small pieces of information fit together." -Emily Kissner (Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Retelling, pg. 49-50)

When Do I Start Teaching Text Structure?

Text Structure. Just the sound of it seems like it should be a middle school term, right? But in reality, you actually start modeling text structure when you read to your baby, toddler, and/or preschooler! By listening to stories with a clear plot line (such as introduction, problem, character faces the problem, & problem solved at the end), we are helping our youngest readers become familiar with the structure of a story. When reading stories, we may talk about how the character got into trouble, but in the end, the problem was solved.

In Kindergarten, the books a child reads independently are typically more predictable in nature, such as the emergent readers you find in my Reading the Alphabet curriculum, so continuing to model is key. But as the child is able to read more difficult texts, the child can begin to take over some of the work with text structure. How exactly do you do this, especially in the younger grades? As we move forward this week, I hope to give you some tools and tips for teaching fiction and non-fiction text structure to kids K-5th grades.

"Text organization is something that students of all ages can and should learn." -Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Retelling by Emily Kissner, pg. 49

5 Days of Teaching Text Structure Links and Other Resources:

1. Introduction to Text Structure and Giveaway {you are here}
2. Fiction Text Structure Resources {FREE Fiction Text Structure Printable Pack*}
3. Nonfiction Text Structure Resources: {FREE Non-fiction Printable Pack for Problem/Solution and Cause/Effect*}
4. More Nonfiction Text Structure Resources {FREE Non-fiction Printable Pack for Time/Sequence, Compare/Contrast and Descriptive/List*}
5. Beyond Identification: Four Ways to Move Forward with Text Structure {Guest Post from Emily Kissner}

*Pictured Below are the FREE Printable Text Structure Organizers you will find for Fiction and Non-fiction on Days 2, 3, and 4. Click on the picture to view the post and download the pack!

- Fiction Story Elements and Text Structure
- Teaching Kids How to Retell with Fiction (Fiction Text Structure)
- Teaching Young Readers how to Summarize
- Nonfiction Text Features and Text Structure

~Becky

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5 Days of Teaching Text Structure to Readers

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This week, I am posting a series called 5 Days of Teaching Text Structure. Text structure is one of those important topics to teach, but what exactly is it? Why is it important? At what ages should I start teaching it? What are some hands-on resources for teaching text structure?

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Teaching Students To Determine Importance! - Miss DeCarbo

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As a first grade teacher, we spend A LOT of time working on retelling skills. With lots of practice and constant retelling instruction throughout the year, I

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Determining importance is a critical skill as we approach testing season, and with my classes, I try to practice this by modeling with mentor texts/think aloud and practicing with shorter articles quite a bit from February to April.

I don't know about your students, but some of mine "paint the page" with their highlighters. Teaching them how to determine importance really cuts down on that. They have great difficulty determining what information is most valuable, and I've even had kids say, "But, all the information is important." Yes, but some information is more useful for certain comprehension skills. This year, I've worked quite a bit on close reading strategies and citing text evidence, so hopefully we'll be in better shape as we close in on our state assessments.

What Text Works Best for Determining Importance?

So what texts work best for determining importance? Well for my groups, I typically choose books that:

Have lots of details to sift through.

Include headings and subheadings to help with categorizing information.

Have main ideas that are clearly defined.

Include quite a few characters and lots of action in fiction.

Introducing Determining Importance

Determining Importance Next Steps:

Practice with Texts

While we're on the topic of our packing list, this book might be useful for modeling. When we think about gardening, there are things that are essential to know.

Here's what the Amazon description says,

Lydia Grace Finch brings a suitcase full of seeds to the big gray city, where she goes to stay with her Uncle Jim, a cantankerous baker. There she initiates a gradual transformation, bit by bit brightening the shop and bringing smiles to customers' faces with the flowers she grows. But it is in a secret place that Lydia Grace works on her masterpiece - an ambitious rooftop garden - which she hopes will make even Uncle Jim smile. Sarah Stewart introduces readers to an engaging and determined young heroine, whose story is told through letters written home, while David Small's illustrations beautifully evoke the Depression-era setting.

Stop and Jot During Reading:

Here's a video clip of the book that can be used for modeling. I love using this as the students can read along and yet, the teacher can stop and discuss what would be most important and record those points on a determining importance organizer.
Other texts I've found that you might use are listed below:
Resources for Determining Importance

I also found the organizer on the left if you want something to project that has color. I am thinking you could insert it into Smart Notebook and write/type in the boxes for modeling.

Determining importance takes lots of practice, and hopefully, with this long list of mentor texts, you'll have plenty of options.

other posts you'll like:

Determining Importance with Nonfiction

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How to Teach Determining Importance with The Gardener

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Determining importance is a critical skill as we approach testing season, and with my classes, I try to practice this by modeling with mentor texts/think aloud and practicing with shorter articles quite a bit from February to April. I don't know about your students, but some of mine "paint the page" with their highlighters.