Tuesday, September 24, 2013

5W's Nonfiction Story Cards: Product Review

I am always looking for good listening comprehension activities for my students. Of course, I love reading books with them and asking comprehension questions but sometimes I don't want a whole book. Sometimes I just want a little passage with a few questions. Short passages mean I can get through several mini stories in one session or use them in RtI groups. At the beginning of the year I ordered 5W's Nonfiction Story Cards and so far I absolutely love them! 






The package comes with 20 different nonfiction stories with 3 copies of each story inside so you can pass them out and students can follow along as you read. Each story also has 5 WH questions to check for comprehension and 5 additional questions on the back targeting main idea, vocabulary, and identifying facts vs. opinions. 

One of my favorite things about these cards are the "find out more" questions. Each story has a question that requires the students to do some research of their own. For example, one of the stories is about a hippo and the "find out more" question is "How do hippos keep from getting sunburned?". This is a great opportunity to target predicting and reasoning skills. My students use the iPad to look up answers to these questions after everyone has shared their predictions. 

I have had such a great experience with these cards that I am ordering the fiction version too!

If anyone else has a listening comprehension activity that they are loving this year, tell me about it in the comments! 

2 comments:

  1. I love using these! Even though they are at a 2nd-4th grade reading level, my 5th and 6th graders have found these cards pretty interesting (birds can talk with their feathers??). I've also found they are especially useful for my kids who struggle to find the main idea. Thanks for a great purchase Meredith! I can't wait to borrow the fiction version :)

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  2. These remind me of an ancient set of 5Ws worksheets that I still won't send to the dumpster. I wonder if it's the same company? I will have to check these out, as I like the idea of the cards vs. worksheets...and I'm sure they are updated!

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