Text features, author's purpose, and reasons (grade 2) · lesson

Text features

💡 Captions, headings, bold words, glossaries, and indexes help you find and understand facts.

A caption tells about a picture. A heading names a part.

The glossary tells what words mean. The index tells which pages a topic is on.

🧠 How to think about it

Ask what you need. A meaning? Use the glossary. A page? Use the index.

🏡 Try it at home

Open a fact book. Find a caption, a heading, and the index.

💡 Authors write to tell, to teach, or to get you to do something.

Plant a Garden! wants you to plant a seed.

Night Hunters teaches facts about owls.

🧠 How to think about it

Read the first and last parts. What does the author want you to know or do?

🏡 Try it at home

Look at an ad or a sign. Talk about what it wants you to do.

💡 Authors give reasons, and details that back up each reason.

Reason: gardens give fresh food.

Support: pick a tomato and eat it.

🧠 How to think about it

Find the reason in a heading. Then find the sentence under it that shows it is true.

🏡 Try it at home

Give three reasons for a family fun day idea. Add one detail to each.

💡 Two texts on the same topic can share some facts and differ in others.

Both owl texts say owls hunt at night.

Only Text 2 tells about the barn owl's face.

🧠 How to think about it

Check each fact in Text 1. Then check it in Text 2. Same or only one?

🏡 Try it at home

Read two short pages about one animal. Name a fact both share.