Boost Comprehension with Essential Text Features Skills! Equip your students to navigate nonfiction like pros with this comprehensive Text Features Mini Unit for 3rd Graders. Featuring anchor charts, worksheets, posters, and interactive scavenger hunts, it’s the ultimate resource to make text features engaging and easy to understand.
This unit is also part of the Reading Mini Units Bundle for 3rd Grade
Click here for the 4th-5th Grade version
What's Included? Topics Covered: Headings, subheadings, captions, labels, diagrams, charts, maps, indexes, glossaries, and more essential text features found in nonfiction texts.
- Teaching Slides (Google Slides/PowerPoint): Three versions—teaching slides, student review slides, and an answer key—lead students from modeling text feature identification to independent practice with exit slips.
- Text Features Scavenger Hunt (two versions): These organizers guide students through a nonfiction text to identify various text features, such as the title page, captions, maps, labels, and more. Students are prompted to note down the page number and provide evidence.
- Text Features Analysis Chart: This organizer allows students to list specific text features they find in a nonfiction text, cite examples from the text, and explain how each feature aids the reader. It encourages deeper comprehension by connecting text features to their purposes.
- Text Features Anchor Chart: Perfect for student handouts, reading center, or teacher reference, this chart features clear definitions and visual examples of key text features.
- 23 Text Features Posters: Each poster highlights a different text feature—such as bold print, bullet points, captions, charts, close-ups, diagrams, footnotes, and more—with a clear definition and visual example. Perfect for reading centers, student handouts, or classroom displays, these posters help students recognize and understand how text features contribute to their comprehension of informational texts.
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5 Reading Passages + Questions: Each passage includes questions designed to guide students in applying text features to aid comprehension.
- All About Clouds
- The History of Money
- Porcupines
- Presidential Elections
- Wilma Rudolph
- 6 Practice Activities: Five pages dedicated to identifying and using text features in real-world contexts.
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- Labeling Text Features
- Name that Text Feature
- Meet the Fennec Fox Passage Color Code Q&A
- The Moon + Comprehension Questions
- 5 Exit Slips: Quick assessment tools designed to check students' understanding of nonfiction text features. Each exit slip presents a short reading passage with related questions that prompt students to identify and analyze text features, such as diagrams, captions, and maps. These slips provide an effective way for teachers to gauge students' comprehension and reinforce their ability to navigate and interpret informational texts. Perfect for end-of-lesson reviews or quick assessments.
- Recommended Book List: tips and a curated list of books and series to support educators in teaching text features effectively.
Text Features Covered:
- Appendix
- Bold print
- Bullet points
- Caption
- Chart or graph
- Close-up
- Cross-section or cutaway
- Diagram
- Footnote
- Glossary
- Guide words
- Heading
- Illustration
- Index
- Italics
- Labels
- Map
- Photograph
- Sidebar/textbox
- Subheading
- Subtitle
- Table
- Table of contents
- Timeline
- Title page
- Title
Need More Support for Key Reading Skills? This Text Features Mini Unit is part of the full Reading Mini Units Bundle for 3rd Grade. Each unit targets essential reading skills with high-quality materials that equip students for reading success.
Unlock the full bundle to access even more essential reading skills like Theme, Main Idea, Text Structure, Inferences, and Story Elements. These units make teaching, reviewing, and reinforcing reading strategies simple and effective for your classroom.