Year 4 · Reading and understanding

Finding facts in non-fiction

Retrieve and record information from non-fiction

20 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Retrieve and record information from non-fiction

Key learning points

• Skim first, then scan
• Use the signposts
• Answer with the text, not your memory
• Recording what you find

This lesson at a glance

20 minutes
19 parts to scroll through
4 quick checks
No marked quiz yet
Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

retrieverecordinformationnon-fictionsignposts

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

Finding facts in non-fiction

Be a reading detective and work out the clues the words don't say.

In a nutshell

Retrieve and record information from non-fiction

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You can read a page of information and say roughly what it is about.

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

retrieve: To find a fact that is actually written in the text.
skim: Reading fast to see what a page is about.
scan: Looking for one particular word or number.
heading: The little title that tells you what a part is about.

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — Hunting for facts

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Skim first, then scan

Skimming means letting your eyes slide over the page to pick up headings, pictures and bold words, so you know what is where. Scanning is different: you already know what you want — a date, a name, a number — so you hunt only for that. Good readers skim once, then scan. Trying to read every word first is slow and you forget the question.

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Use the signposts

Information books are full of signposts: contents pages, headings, subheadings, captions under pictures, glossaries and index pages at the back. If a question asks 'How heavy is a badger?', the index will send you to the right page far faster than turning pages. Captions are worth reading too — they often hold facts that are nowhere else.

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

What does skimming help you do?

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

Which part of a book sends you to the right page for one topic?

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — Writing facts down

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Answer with the text, not your memory

Here is a short text. 'The barn owl hunts at dusk. It flies almost silently because the edges of its feathers are soft and fringed. A barn owl can eat up to four small mammals in one night.' If someone asks how many mammals a barn owl might eat, the answer is 'up to four' — that is retrieved. If you write 'loads', you have used your own guess instead of the text.

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Recording what you find

When you record a fact, write it in a short note in your own words and keep the number exactly as it was: 'Barn owl — silent flight — soft fringed feathers.' Notes are not sentences; they are reminders. Then say where it came from (page 12, 'Night Hunters'), so you or a teacher can check it later.

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

The text says 'up to four small mammals'. How many might a barn owl eat?

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

Which is a good note?

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

Reading the whole page slowly instead of scanning for the fact.
Answering from what you already knew about the animal instead of the text.
Changing a number when copying it into notes.

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

____ books are full of signposts: contents pages, headings, subheadings, captions under pictures, glossaries and index pages at the back.

When you ____ a fact, write it in a short note in your own words and keep the number exactly as it was: 'Barn owl — silent flight — soft fringed feathers.' Notes are not sentences; they are reminders.

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

No quiz for this one

This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Extract

The last bus

The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.

She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.

Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.

Original extract written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.

Reading response
Reading
Read the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
Writing
Write your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.
250–350 words
Reading log
Reading
Note the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.
20 minutes' reading

Write your answer, notes or working here

Saved as you type.

Photos of paper work, diagrams or working outHow many minutes did the written work take?

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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