Lesson: Ah Man! Using the Table of Contents and Index to Navigate Non-Fiction

State Standard:

5.IT-E.4. Identify and use knowledge of common textual features (e.g., title, headings, key words, captions, paragraphs, topic sentences, table of contents, index, glossary).

Objective

Students will know and be able to use the table of contents and index

Do Now

Name three things you want  to know more about. One of these topics may be your research topic for the remainder of this unit.

Hook

Show students a big encyclopedia or large reference book. Tell them you want them to read it to learn about_____. 

Direct Instruction

T: Students I notice that you guys often get really heavy or upset when I ask you to do a research project and read about a certain topic. I often hear tons of moans and groans. I think it is because you think you have to read the whole book! However, today I am going to show you how to use the table of contents and the index to so that hone in and read only the parts you need to read and want to know more about. 

Let me show you how I use a book to hone in on only the parts that are important to me.  I am thinking of getting a dog. I found this book called The Complete Dog Book for Kids. This is a really great book because it tells me about all kinds of dogs. Now, I could read the whole book and try to learn about the best dog for me, but I already know what kind of dog I want. So I am going to use the table of contents and learn more about greyhounds. I see that greyhounds can be found on p. 82. I am going to write p. 82 on my post-it note so that I remember. Then I am going to go the index and see if there might be anymore information on greyhounds. Yup, page 221 and 225. Ok. now I am only going read these pages to learn more about greyhounds. 

Readers did you see how instead of reading all 500 pages of this book. I used the table of contents and index to focus my reading on the information that was important to my purpose.  Ok, let’s practice together. 

Guided Practice

Have several other students pick something they want to know about dogs. Have them search the table of contents and index to find the information they are looking for.

Independent Practice

Have a variety of non-fiction text available.

Have students choose one of the books you have available.  Have them think of something they want to know about that topic and then have them use the table of contents and index to find the information.

Closing

Share how this strategy helps the reader. Have students share what they discovered. Ask: How does the table of contents and index help you?

Quiz/Assessment

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/research/book/contents/