1st grade · English Language Arts · Unit 13 of 13
Story or Facts?
Tell storybooks from fact books, and learn from pictures and words.
What your child practices
Children practice telling books that tell stories from books that give information, and noticing what pictures add to the words.
Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 1.RL.5; 1.RI.6 · telling stories from information books and what pictures and words each tell
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- A storybook tells a made-up story.
- A fact book tells true things.
- Photos of real things are often in fact books.
Example: “Bees make honey.” Is this from a story or a fact book? This is true about real bees. True things are in fact books. Answer: a fact book
Story or Facts? in Arizona
In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 13 of 13 in 1st grade English Language Arts, after Messages All Around.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
- 1st grade guide for Arizona parents
- Printable 1st grade English Language Arts sheet
- Arizona report cards explained
Source: Arizona Department of Education
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What do captions in a fact book do?
- tell about the pictures
- name the villain
- sing a song
- tell the ending
tell about the pictures
Hint: A caption is the words by a picture.
Question 2
Why do people read fact books?
- to meet a dragon
- to hear a made-up tale
- to sing a song
- to learn true things
to learn true things
Hint: Fact books give information.
Question 3
“Once upon a time, a mouse found a key.” What kind of book is it?
- a story
- a fact book
a story
Hint: “Once upon a time” starts many stories.
Question 4
A fact book says frogs lay eggs. The picture shows eggs. What is true?
- the picture is wrong
- the words and picture tell the same fact
- frogs lay rocks
- the words are made up
the words and picture tell the same fact
Hint: Words and pictures can give the same information.
Question 5
Which book is most likely a fact book?
- The Frog Who Sang
- All About Frogs
- Freddy Frog's Big Day
- The Frog Prince
All About Frogs
Hint: Fact books often say “all about” or “facts.”
Question 6
A book has bold words and a glossary. What kind of book is it?
- a story
- a poem
- a fact book
a fact book
Hint: Bold words and glossaries help you learn facts.