Procedural texts? Have you heard this term? Simply put, we’re talking about directions. Following directions is HARD! Do you have a teen? It’s especially hard for them! LOL! Texts that give directions are called procedural texts, and they’re the focus of today’s post. I am teaching procedural texts and nonfiction text structures, sequence  this week. The books I’m sharing in this post will eventually be pulled in for us to use. I hope you find them helpful too!

Introducing Procedural Texts:

To begin, the first step is to learn what procedural texts really are.  I used this graphic organizer to help my children wrap their brains around the content, how it’s organized, and what information from the texts we read are most important.  One feature I love from our Benchmark leveled readers is that they begin with a nice explanation page that sorts much of the information out for the children. The pages map out the type of information included, how it’s organized, and why we need to read them.

Sequencing Practice with Stop and Jot

The next step I used in our lesson is the comprehension strategy, Stop and Jot. I have my students use it to summarize each step and record it on a flow chart.  Then, we compare these to other nonfiction books that are organized chronologically or in sequential order. We talk about what these big words mean.  You might find this handout on text structures handy to use as you explain these terms. I chose to use this foldable set for during reading this week, and I was happy Third Grade Galore included an article too so that I could model for the students how they could mark the text for sequence.

Once we complete our study of these books, the next step will be to write our own procedural text.  I love having a variety of books to use as mentor texts for ideas, and these may be helpful to my readers too. After all how many of you have read a bazillion papers about “How to Make a Peanut butter and Jelly Sandwich”??  These may get the wheels turning into a different direction.

Nonfiction Titles for Teaching Sequencing

Most kids need more than one lessons to full grasp a skill, so you’ll likely need additional book titles. Titles that work well for teaching procedural texts can be books about building things, cooking, how to draw cartoons, or anything with steps.

My favorite out of this group is definitely How to Babysit a Grandpa.  If you do not have this book in your library, The Story Lady on Youtube has shared it.  You can use the link below.

and because this is one of my favorite procedural texts, here’s the unit I created to go with this book.

Other Mentor Text Posts:

• Teaching Nonfiction Text Structures with Mentor Texts
• The Ultimate Guide to Spring Mentor Texts for Comprehension
• Mentor Texts for Teaching Kids to Make Predictions

Which books are your favorites for teaching sequencing? Share your thoughts in the comments.