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How-To Book
How-To Book
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Page Content: |
Definition:
How-to books for children convey procedures for breaking down a process into sequential steps to direct thoughts for accomplishing an action or achieving a planned result.
Purposes:
- To direct thought or action
- To provide a sequence for an action
- To explain how to perform or complete a task
Characteristics:
- On variable topics
- For a range of purposes
- Informational text features
- Clear directions for achieving specific outcomes
- Trouble-shooting section
- Cautionary notes (e.g., “Adult supervision needed” )
- Forms: recipes, blueprints, rules, protocols, laws, handbooks, directions, instructions, manuals, etc.
- “Position” words and phrases
- Present or future tense
- Second or third person account
- Indirect speech
- Short sentences
- Numbering, bullets, arrows
- Technical vocabulary appropriate to topic: ingredients, method, procedure, assemble, construct, join, materials, equipment
- Ordinal numbers
- Clarifying use of definitions and/or appositives
- Diagrams
- Explanatory captions
- Numbered sequences
- Materials lists
Grade Level Instructional Scope for COMPREHENDING and USING the Genre and Text of a How-To Book:
| Grade 1
Opportunities to Teach: | Grade 2
Opportunities to Teach: |
Understanding the text
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Understanding the text
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Booklists:
- Grade 1
- Grade 2
Access to the Documents:
Complete K-8 Genre Project
From the Michigan Department of Education
Complete K-8 Genre Booklist
From Kent Intermediate School District
Page last modified on February 04, 2009, at 01:59 PM