Understanding Text Features and Their Purpose
Understanding Text Features and Their Purpose Objective: Students will learn to identify and explain how different text features (such as headings, subheadings, captions, and diagrams) help readers understand informational texts.
Learning Objectives
- Identify common text features in an informational text.
- Explain how each text feature helps the reader understand the information better.
- Use text features to answer questions about the text.
Materials Needed
- A short informational article or nonfiction book appropriate for 5th grade
- Printed copies of the article/book for each student
- Highlighters or colored pencils
- Notebook or paper for writing
- Pencil or pen
Key Vocabulary
- Text Features
- Parts of a text like headings, subheadings, captions, diagrams, and bold words that help explain the information.
- Heading
- A title at the beginning of a section that tells what the section is about.
- Caption
- Words near a picture or diagram that explain what it shows.
Detailed Activities
Discovering Text Features
- Read the short informational article aloud with your child or have them read it independently.
- Together, look through the article to find different text features such as headings, captions, and diagrams.
- Use highlighters to mark each type of text feature with a different color.
- Discuss how each feature helps explain the information or makes it easier to understand.
Using Text Features to Answer Questions
- Ask your child questions about the article that can be answered by looking at the text features (for example, ‘What does the diagram show?’ or ‘What is this section about?’).
- Encourage your child to point to the text feature that helped them find the answer.
- Have your child explain in their own words how the text feature helped them understand the information.
Parent & Instructor Notes
- This lesson focuses on helping your child use tools within informational texts to improve comprehension.
- Encourage your child to take their time looking at the pictures and headings before answering questions.
- There is no need to rush; understanding how text features help is more important than reading speed.
Assessment Questions
- Can you find a heading in the article? What does it tell you about the section?
- Look at the picture or diagram. What information does the caption give you?
- How did the text features help you understand what you read?
Extension Ideas
- Have your child create their own short informational page on a topic they like, including headings, captions, and a diagram.
- Explore different types of informational books or articles at home and identify text features together.
- Use magazines or newspapers to find examples of text features in real-life reading materials.
Frequently Asked Questions
Start by focusing on just one type of text feature, like headings, before moving on to others. Use a colored marker to highlight them and practice together.
Focus on the text features themselves rather than the content. Ask your child what they think the text feature means or why it might be helpful.
Teacher’s Guide
Common Misconceptions:
- Students may think pictures and diagrams are just decorations and not important for understanding.
- Some children might confuse headings with the main idea or summary of the entire text.
- Students might overlook captions or think they are part of the main text.
Scaffolding Ideas:
For Struggling Students:
- Provide a text with fewer and larger text features to identify.
- Use a checklist or graphic organizer to help them mark each text feature.
- Work one-on-one or in small groups to model identifying features.
For Advanced Students:
- Challenge them to find additional, less obvious text features such as bold or italicized words.
- Have them explain how different text features work together to help the reader.
- Encourage them to compare text features in two different articles on the same topic.
Pacing Recommendations:
- Spend about 15-20 minutes reading and identifying text features together.
- Allow 10-15 minutes for the question and answer activity using text features.
- Reserve the last 5-10 minutes for discussion, review, and assessment questions.
Standards
- 5.RI.5 — Explain how a text feature (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) helps locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
Printable Worksheet
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