How to Teach Informational Text Features
Second graders need explicit practice using text features as tools for reading, not just noticing them. This instruction works best when students use real nonfiction pages to locate facts and explain how each feature helps.
📐 Standards Alignment
Know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.
Explain how specific images contribute to and clarify a text.
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
View all Grade 2 English Language Arts standards →
📦 Materials Needed
- Nonfiction books
- Printed articles
- Sticky notes
- Highlighters
- Anchor chart
🎯 Teaching Strategies
⚠️ Common Misconceptions
Students look at pictures without reading captions
Pair every image discussion with the caption and ask what new information both parts provide together.
Students think headings are only labels
Ask how the heading predicts the information in the paragraph below it.
📊 Differentiation Tips
Use highly visual nonfiction pages with one heading and one caption at a time.
Have students annotate several features on one page and explain what each one does.
Ask students to design their own nonfiction page with a heading, caption, and labeled image.
🚀 Extension Activities
- Go on a nonfiction feature hunt with books from the library.
- Create a classroom anchor chart of text features and their purposes.
- Design a mini informational page about an animal or weather topic.