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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.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 1.1.6.3; 1.1.5.3 · telling literary texts from informational texts, and what the pictures add

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A storybook tells a made-up story.
  2. A fact book tells true things.
  3. 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 Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 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.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Why do people read fact books?

    • to sing a song
    • to hear a made-up tale
    • to meet a dragon
    • to learn true things

  2. Question 2

    Which words might start a fact book?

    • Once there was an owl named Hoot.
    • One day, Owl lost his hat.
    • Owl said, “Let's play!”
    • Owls are birds that hunt at night.

  3. Question 3

    Which book would help you learn how to plant a seed?

    • The Giant's Garden Party
    • Mo the Magic Seed
    • The Bean That Could Talk
    • Growing Seeds

  4. Question 4

    Which one do you find in a fact book?

    • a dragon
    • a magic hat
    • true facts
    • a talking cat

  5. Question 5

    “Cats have whiskers.” Is this from a story or a fact book?

    • a story
    • a fact book

  6. Question 6

    A book has bold words and a glossary. What kind of book is it?

    • a poem
    • a story
    • a fact book

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