Text Mapping Again and Still Loving It!

So, I am throwing caution to the wind and blogging even though I really have tons of other things to do. I'm in a mood because I get to go to a workshop tomorrow on Common Core for the "other" subjects. I'm really excited to see what they offer in the way of suggestions on how us non core subjects can help support the standards. Also, there is a possibility for a big snow storm here in New England so I have snow brain.
I know I have already been working hard to integrate the CCSS and one of my favorite new things is Text Mapping! (Click to see some great resources that some fabulous Pinners have gathered) I recently implemented it for my second and third time and the honeymoon is not over. The kids still love it and I have found different ways to change it up to keep it fresh.

The above is the work of my amazing paraprofessional. Look how great she is at text mapping!!!!

I did this activity with a section of my textbook, which I don't use. After I have the students do all the work of mapping for nonfiction elements, I finish it with a multiple choice or matching worksheet. Students answer the worksheet as normal, but they have to go back to the reading and highlight where they found the answer and number it, using the number of the question from the worksheet. Every time I have done this, I have seen increased understanding of the text and it makes the kids really slow down and dissect the information.
My next step was integrating this activity into articles to help with text complexity. I found a great article on the Battle of Fallen Timbers and created a guiding activity to help them break down the article on their own.

On the above sheet, when it says box over and over, my kiddos know to use a different color marker for the boxes and then they make a key right on this sheet.

Again.... Very successful! It's one of those activities where the kids know they're doing work but they actually enjoy it. Feel free to hustle on over here and download a copy of my nonfiction worksheet. You can download it as a PDF, a Word Document or straight to Google Drive so you can tailor it to meet your needs, age group and subject.    Click here if you would just like a PDF copy:)I have borrowed from sources all over the web to make it so let's keep the sharing going people! If you do download it, leave me a comment below and let me know what you think. Pray for snow my friends...... Pray for snow:)

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