[MOSAIC] starting the year with non-fiction

[Kukonis at aol.com]

As a first grade teacher I find many of my kids, and especially the  
strugglers, prefer non-fiction. They have more schema for it because they have  
observed and wondered. The pictures and photos are engaging and comprehension is  a 
bit easier because there is a lot of literal interpretation. Things make  
sense. 
 
Fiction can be daunting especially when there are nonsense words,  humor, 
deep meaning, conversation, no illustrations and the list can go on. 
 
I guess what I am saying concurs with others: kids need both fiction and  
nonfiction. They need to understand the similarities as well as the differences.  
The conventions need to be explicit for both. They need to talk and write 
about  both. First graders can and do both from the get go.  



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