Why nonfiction reading matters for young children
How reading nonfiction helps Grade 2 and 3 children build vocabulary and knowledge, and how to make factual texts enjoyable.
Many children read mostly stories at home. That is wonderful, but nonfiction deserves a regular place too. From Grade 3 onwards, more and more school reading is informational: science, history and how-things-work texts.
What nonfiction builds
- Vocabulary: words like "habitat", "seed" or "evaporate" rarely appear in stories.
- Background knowledge: children who know more about a topic understand new texts on it more easily.
- Text feature skills: headings, captions, diagrams and labels.
How to make it enjoyable
- Follow their interests: dinosaurs, space, pets, trucks.
- Read short texts. A one-page passage is enough.
- Link reading to real life: read about plants, then look at one in the garden.
- Let them ask questions you do not know the answer to, and find out together.
Reading nonfiction differently
Nonfiction does not have to be read front to back. Show your child how to use headings to find information, and how to look at pictures and captions first to get an idea of the topic.