Go Facts Middle Primary: Polar Regions integrates the study of environments and societies with reading and writing. These downloadable PDF resources are ideal for use as part of a literacy program, or during a unit about one of the four topics in the set: The Arctic, Antarctica, Polar Animals and Polar Explorers.

This teaching guide includes teaching notes and student work sheets on reading and writing nonfiction for each title in Go Facts Middle Primary: Polar Regions. To teach the reading and writing of information reports systematically, work through the lessons in the order in which they are presented in each resource of the set.

The Reading Nonfiction Lessons

The reading lessons are suitable for the whole class or a small group. They explicitly teach effective strategies for processing information reports. The teacher introduces the text and selects the teaching points, and then students read the text independently.

The Writing Nonfiction Lessons

By following up each reading lesson with one in writing nonfiction, students learn to use in their own writing the structures and strategies as modelled in the Go Facts resources. If the writing lessons are taught in sequence, by the end of the series students will have worked on information reports through all stages of the writing process.

Assessment

The work sheets provide opportunities for informal assessment throughout the lessons. Teachers can use the Assessment Checklist to record a student’s progress by entering dates and/or comments.