When responding to reading, you may need to know which genre the text is. Here are some helps that we regularly use during our reading groups. Scroll down to check out a description of each genre.
Non-fiction: Biography:
Fairy Tale: Tall Tale:
Fantasy Poetry
- true facts * about a real person/real people
- time line * true facts
- diagram * timeline
- map * captions
- chart * photographs
- table * headings
- side bar * beginning/middle/end
- photograph * tells about a struggle AND has a resolution
- captions
Fairy Tale: Tall Tale:
- good vs. evil * exaggeration
- special #s 3 and 7 * works very hard but doesn't give up
- "Once upon a time...." and "The End" * extreme bravery, strength, cleverness
- set in the past * life is tough
- happy ending * combines fact with fiction
- fantasy (magic, talking animals) * explains a natural phenomenon
- magic * hero
- fiction * many have American West settings
- animals acting like humans
Fantasy Poetry
- have a problem/conflict and solution * repeats words/phrases/sentences
- good vs. bad * rhyme - at the end of lines
- more than 1 main character * free verse - no rhyme
- magic * stanza - groups of lines, like a pargraph
- strong setting - good description * Epic: long, story-like, has a hero
- imaginary world(s) * Ballad: song-like, tells story, legend
- fiction - not true * Cinquain: 5 line poem
- animals acting like humans * Haiku: 5, 7, 5 syllable pattern
- ordinary characters do extraordinary things