Lesson video

Hi there.

My name is Mr. Charlesworth and in today's reading lesson, we're using the text "Crazy About Cats." I'm really looking forward to exploring this nonfiction text with you.

Let's get started.

The lesson outcome for today is I can identify the features of a nonfiction text.

The key words are my turn your turn.

Features, peritext, paratext, purpose, layout.

Let's say those once more.

Features, peritext, paratext, purpose, and layout.

Well done.

The features of a text type refer to the distinctive characteristics that belong to it.

The peritext is the elements around the book, including its cover title and blurb.

The paratext are the elements within the text, including the index and glossary.

They're not part of the main text.

The purpose of a text refers to the reason it was written and the desired impact.

The layout of a text refer the way the information is organised on the page.

Don't worry if you're unsure about any of these words.

We'll be exploring 'em throughout the lesson.

In today's lesson, we're going to be identifying the features of a non-fiction text using the book "Crazy About Cats." We're going to begin by having an introduction to the genre and the text itself using our prediction skills to think about what might be inside.

We're then going to have a look at reading the first few pages before we identify the features of a non-fiction text in a little more detail using the text to support us.

Let's begin by looking at an introduction to the genre and the text.

"Crazy About Cats" is a non-fiction text.

When we're reading a non-fiction text, it's important to think about its purpose.

The purpose of a nonfiction text is to inform, explain, or provide factual information about a particular topic or subject.

In this case, cats.

The purpose of "Crazy About Cats" is to share interesting facts all about species of cats inhabiting our planet.

I wonder, what do you notice on the front cover? What can you see? Have a discussion with your talk partner.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Fantastic work.

I wonder if you noticed similar features to me.

The first thing I noticed was four different species of cat on the front cover.

There's also a range of different habitat types and fauna.

That's another web for plants and vegetation.

In the middle of the text, there's a four by four vehicle.

It looks like it might be going on safari.

I noticed a pair of binoculars at the bottom of the front cover.

Perhaps this allows people to study cats from far away so they don't disturb them.

Finally, I noticed the name of the author, Owen Davey.

and the publisher Flying Eye Books.

The front cover of a nonfiction text is part of the peritext.

Well notice it's one of our keywords.

The peritext includes the title, front cover, and the blurb.

Here's our first check for understanding.

Which of the following are usually considered examples of peritext? Is it A, the index, B, the title of the text, C, the front cover, or D, the contents page? There may be more than one here.

Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done.

The answers are B and C.

The title of the text and the front cover are examples of the peritext.

Do you remember the other one? Yes, it was the blurb well remembered.

It can be helpful to think of the peritext as everything on the outside of the book before you start reading.

Also included in the peritext is the blurb.

This is usually located on the back cover.

I'd like you to read the blurb with your partner.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Well done, let's reread it together.

"Did you know that the fishing cat has partially webbed paws? Or that Margays can copy the sound of other animals to all lure prey? With roughly 38 different species of cats inhabiting the planet, there's plenty to discover.

Owen Davey's bestselling series continues with this captivating illustrated guide to our feline friends." In this task, I'd like you to discuss the following question from examining the peritext.

What predictions can you make about the text's content? Remember, a prediction is a thought or idea based on what we've read so far.

Predictions can be based on the extract, any illustrations or your own personal experience, you might like to use the sentence stem.

I predict because.

Have a discussion with your partner.

Pause the video now whilst you complete the task.

Great work.

I wonder what predictions you came up with.

Let's explore some examples.

Alec says, "I predict that the text will focus on some of the big cat's camouflage because of the markings of the cats and the inclusion of the binoculars." June says, "I think 'Crazy About Cats' will contain lots of interesting facts about cats because the blurb makes you want to read on." Were they similar to some of your ideas? If your prediction can be justified using the text illustration or your own personal experience, then it's a good prediction.

Well done.

We're now going to begin by reading the first few pages.

I wonder if your predictions will be correct.

"Crazy About Cats" opens with an illustration of a myriad of different cats located on the end papers.

The end papers are usually beautifully designed or illustrated and are the first and last page of a text.

I wonder, can you see any cats that you know already on pages four and five? We can find the contents page.

I'd like you now to read the contents page with your partner.

Have a look through.

Is there anything that interests you? Pause the video now whilst you do so, I'd now like you to discuss the following question, which subjects or topics interest you most and why? Pause video now while you discuss.

Great work.

You might have said, I'm interested in cat mythology.

I know that cats are worshipped by ancient Egyptians.

There are lots of deities with cat-like heads.

I wonder which heading most interested you? On pages six and seven, readers are introduced to the cat family.

They're known as felids.

Let's say that word again.

Felids.

Felids.

Well done.

I'd now like you to read pages six and seven.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Great work.

I hope you're curious about cats already.

I'd like you to share an interesting fact that you've discovered from your reading.

Pause the video now and share it with your partner.

Well done.

This text is giving me lots of new information about cats too.

I enjoyed finding out that cats are obligate carnivores.

They rely primarily on a meat-based diet to meet their nutritional needs.

I wonder which fact you chose.

Here's our next check for understanding.

It's based on what we've read so far.

True or false, cats can only survive in one type of habitat.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done, it's false.

Now, I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it because A, cats can live in a variety of habitats, including waterlogged swamps and rainforests? Or B, cats eat a range of food including rodents, hares, monkeys, deer, and even alligators? Have a think back to the statement above which justification best fits.

Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done.

It's A, cats can live in a variety of habitats, including water logged swamps and rainforests.

They do eat a range of different animals.

However, this isn't related to the statement above which says that they can only survive in one type of habitat.

We're now going to continue exploring the text.

Cat-like animals have existed on our planet for an estimated 50 million years.

Wow, what a big number.

They have evolved over time.

I'd like you to read pages eight and nine titled "Paws for Thought." Did you like the play on words? I did too.

Feed the text with your partner.

Pause video now whilst you do so.

Well done.

We're now going to use what we've just read to answer our next check for understanding.

Can you match the lineage to the feline example? Use pages eight and nine to support you.

The lineage is on the left hand side and your felid example, your feline example, on the right.

Pause the video now whilst you match them up.

Well done.

I wonder if you've got them all correct.

Felis, links to the Chinese mountain cat, panthera links to the tiger, and Ocelot links to oncilla.

The lineage helps us see where different species of cats have originated from.

I wonder, can you think of any other species of cat? Which lineage do you think that they might belong to? In our next task, I'd like you to look at pages eight to nine and answer the following questions.

The first one is, "How many groups are modern species of cats split into?" The second, "Provide a reason as to why house cats became domesticated." That means that they started to live in homes and looked after by humans.

And finally, "List two of the features of the Smilodon populator," that's the saber-tooth tiger, "That made it into a powerful predator." Write down your responses.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Well done.

Let's have a look at the answers.

Modern species of cat are split into eight different groups.

There are many reasons that house cats might have become domesticated.

In the text, it suggests that wild cats became domesticated when humans began to farm.

Rodents were attracted to the grain being stored in the buildings.

Cats acted as efficient pest control eating the rodents.

Finally, two features of the Smilodon populator was that it was built like a bear and it had large knife-like teeth.

I wonder if you got all the answers correct.

Well done if so.

We're now going to explore how "Crazy About Cats" includes lots of features of nonfiction texts.

There are several features that nonfiction texts have in common.

Some features can be included in the peritext and the paratext.

Well notice that's two of our keywords.

The Tex is usually considered to be on the outside of the text, the paratext on the inside.

Some of the features include an introduction or preface.

These contextualise what we're about to read and are examples of peritext.

There's usually a list of contents with read ours already.

That's an example of paratext nonfiction text usually include an index.

These are examples of paratext.

There's a glossary of terms. These offer us definitions of some of the subject specific or scientific language.

This is another example of paratext.

There's also footnotes or appendices.

These offer the reader additional reading or tell the reader where the information is from.

These are examples of paratext.

Interestingly, a preface is usually found on the inside of the book.

You'd have thought that makes it paratext, but a preface is usually considered pretext because it's closely tied to the presentation of the book and the reader's initial engagement with it.

The layout of a nonfiction text is designed according to its purpose and target.

Audience pages have several features to help readers locate information.

These include headings and subheadings, text boxes, captions, bullet points, or numbered lists, charts, graphs, and tables, and factual information.

Here's our next check for understanding.

Which of the following are usually considered examples of paratext? Is it A, the author, B, the index, C, a glossary, D, the blurb? Have a think back to what we've learned already about the peritext and the paratext.

These are examples we're looking for of paratext.

There may be more than one.

Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done.

It's B and C, the index and glossary.

These are usually found on the inside of the text and they add to the main text itself.

The author and the blurb are both examples of paratext.

It could be helpful to think of the paratext as the extra information inside the book.

That's not part of a main text.

It helps you to understand the text better.

An index in a nonfiction text serves as a valuable tool for readers to quickly locate specific topics, terms, or concepts that are discussed in the book.

It contains an alphabetical list of keywords or terms along with page numbers where those terms can be found.

I'd like you to explore the index now.

Read pages 36 and 37.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Well done.

I'd now like you to think about the following question.

What do you notice about how the index is grouped? How is it organised? How is it presented? Have a chat with your talk partner.

Pause the video now whilst you answer the question.

Well done.

Let's have a look at an example.

You might have noticed that the index is grouped by cat lineage.

It means you can find pages where each cat is mentioned or illustrated.

Indexes can be grouped in many different ways.

I thought this was a really clever way of showing the different species of cat and where they are located in the text.

Here's our final check for understanding true or false, and index enhances the accessibility of non-fiction texts.

Accessibility means that it's easier to read, easier to access the information.

Is it true or false? Pause video now whilst you decide.

Well done, it's true.

Now, I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it because A, readers can efficiently locate and access information on a particular topic without having to read the through the entire text? Or B, an index can be grouped by cat lineage.

Have a think back to the original statement.

Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done.

It's A, the index means that readers can efficiently locate and access the information that they need.

They can be grouped in many different ways, not only by cat lineage.

In our final task, we're going to be reflecting on how non-fiction texts can make us really curious about the wider world.

Referring to the index and what we've read so far, I wonder what do you want to find out? What questions would you like to find out the answers to? Come up with three questions with your partner.

You can use the sentence stems. Why, how, what, can where, and are there? An example of a question that I had was "How does the ocelot adapt to its habitats in North, Central and South America?" My question was based on information found in the index, but yours can be from anything that we've read so far.

Note down three questions with your talk partner.

Pause the video now whilst you complete the task.

Well done.

Let's have a look at some potential questions you might have come up with.

Why do cats have different markings? How do cats see so well at night? What does the African golden cat eat? Can cats survive in any habitat? Where do snow leopards live? And are there any endangered species of cats? I wonder if your questions match with any of these examples.

Let's see if we can discover any of the answers to these questions in the book as we continue to read in future lessons.

In today's lesson, we've been identifying the features of a non-fiction text with "Crazy About Cats." We know that the purpose of a non-fiction text is to inform, explain, or provide factual information about a particular topic or subject.

There are several features that non-fiction texts have in common.

Some features can be included in the peritext, some in the paratext.

The peritext is the elements around a book, including its cover title and blurb.

The paratext is the elements within the text, including the index and glossary.

They're not part of the main text.

Finally, we've looked at how an index in a nonfiction text serves as a valuable tool for readers to quickly locate specific topics, terms, or concepts discussed in the book.

We have used it to develop our curiosity too.

I'm really looking forward to exploring this text in more detail with you.

Thanks for all your hard work.

See you soon.