Strengthen informational reading skills with this engaging Rooted in Reading companion for Creature Features by Steve Jenkins! This week-long resource gives students meaningful practice reading nonfiction, identifying important information, and using supporting details to deepen their understanding of a topic.

Over the course of 5 days, students will explore the characteristics of nonfiction text and practice identifying facts and supporting details. Students learn to distinguish important facts from the details that explain, clarify, or provide additional information about those facts.

Students will also explore the paired nonfiction topic Watching Wild Creatures, extending their learning about animals while providing additional opportunities to apply informational reading strategies.

Vocabulary instruction is woven throughout the week with activities focused on the words unfurl, threatened, burrow, inflated, impress, and territory. These content-rich words help students build both vocabulary and knowledge as they explore the animal world.

Each day includes a Daily Deep Dive where students interact with a mentor sentence, practicing close reading, editing, grammar, noticing language, and thinking about the meaning and structure of a sentence.

The week's grammar focus is coordinating conjunctions, helping students understand how conjunctions connect words, phrases, and ideas and how they can use them to create stronger sentences.

This resource includes:

• 5 days of detailed lesson plans for comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar
• Comprehension lessons focused on characteristics of nonfiction text
• Activities for identifying facts and supporting details
• Comprehension focus posters, anchor chart templates, and discussion questions
• Reading response activities, printables, and assessments
• Paired nonfiction learning with Watching Wild Creatures
• Vocabulary activities featuring the week's targeted words
• Daily Deep Dive mentor sentence activities
• Grammar lessons and activities focused on coordinating conjunctions
• Engaging text-based response activities