Primary teachers. Teaching non-fiction.

[Icanonlytry]

I was wondering if any primary teachers would be able to give me their opinions of the key issues of teaching the reading and writing of non-fiction text and any good resources you can recommend for teaching this aspect of literacy . I am at the end of my second year of my teacher training and am really struggling to complete my assignments. My mentor is off sick and has been since February and no-one at uni seems to want to know .
Thanks

www.sheffield.gov.uk/EasySite/lib/serveDocument.asp?doc=66037&pgid=83257
Sue Palmer's Non Fiction writing skeletons

Taken from Pie Corbett conference

"If children are to be able to write non-fiction, they need to become so immersed in a text that they internalise the underlying linguistic patterns.....

Reading non-fiction as a writer involves close reading to help children internalise and
become increasingly aware of specific language patterns and writing ideas such as
how to persuade by using powerful language....

how to help children develop the ability to create their own writing frames, gather and develop ideas and make progress through
shared writing."

Yes to the Sue Palmer books.

Has this got anything useful?

Here's one of our Y2 activities this year:
We did non-fiction about Peru as a spin off of Paddington Bear. Did character studies of the main characters, work on 'what does Paddington keep in his pocket?', a Jeremy Kyle type show of 'why the Browns should get rid of Paddington' (!), hot seating, creative writing about a 'situation' Paddington found himself in... at the same time we had a look at Peru - it's really interesting with jungle, desert and mountains - and also learnt a bit about the Incas. We also did some Inca art and water colour paintings of the Brown family. The children did non-fiction writing about Peru and the Incas.

We introduced n-f writing this year learning about dung beetles - there are some REALLY DISGUSTING videos on the internet!!

BTW, (very simply) we generally start with post-it notes to see what children know already; then we move on to work with highlighters and simple text, highlighting important parts; then we move on to categorising different headings (e.g. for dung beetles, use the 3-4 (!) feet of a spider diagram for lifecycle, habititat, etc); then we make notes (modelled, shared then independent); then we do the writing (modelling and sharing first).

This year we also used Venn diagrams to find similarities and differences between animals, which was really useful.

Thanks I really appreciate your suggestions, I will have a better look when I get back from work tonight.