Do you have extra Scholastic News Magazines lying around your classroom?
I
Well, I finally buckled down and thought of some ways to use them!

Non-fiction Text Features
Go through old magazines and cut out examples of text features. The big teacher versions are especially great for this.
Tape those examples onto chart paper and, after introducing text features to your class with books (you’ll want to do this activity after you have had several discussions about text features), go through each example on the chart and ask kids to tell you what that text feature is and how it helps the reader. Label as you go.

It’s ok if you don’t find examples of all text features. Make sure you have the ones children will most likely encounter in their magazines and books: headings, labels/diagrams, bold words, photographs, captions. You can discuss new ones as they come up: charts, maps, ‘power words’ (vocabulary), timelines, etc.
There are a few
After labeling your poster, you can have students work with a partner to find text features in your extra student magazines (if you’ve been holding onto them for years like me, you will have plenty!).


They can cut the examples out and together you can tape them to the corresponding poster. Afterward, discuss the posters and how these text features helped them understand the text. **For older grades, you can have them create their own mini-posters, showing different examples of text features.

Of course, you can then have them read their informational books and find the text features in those as well. Ask them to

As we read informational texts, we often discuss

You can find the graphic organizers on this page in my Main Idea and Details bundle.
A few more ideas…
- Use book order catalogs to sort fiction/ non-fiction books, author’s purpose, or make a wishlist.
- I always keep an extra full set for a sub. They’re pretty self-explanatory so no lesson plans needed!
- Send them home! Some kids would love to have extra ones to play school at home.
- Have kids write their own captions for photos.

- Collect new vocabulary words in a notebook.

- Pick an article and identify the main idea and details.

- Think of alternate headings.

- Have kids label them with post-it notes.

For my blog post chock full of labeling ideas, click here: Labeling for Emergent Writers
Maybe one day I will actually fulfill my dream of creating task cards with specific scavenger-hunt type questions to go with each edition. But in the meantime, I will let them go.
Do you have extra magazines you’ve saved over the years? How do you use (or plan to use) them? Comment below to share your ideas!
When I taught kindergarten and we were allowed to have “play” centers, I put laminated Scholastic Magazines in a bin in the Kitchen/Home Center. It gave the children a pretend magazine rack to add a bit of Literacy to their play. This could still be done in preschool. I also used a small set of the laminated copies for literacy centers and/or small groups. They were great for Guided Reading with nonfiction text and to follow a theme. Children could mark on them with dry erase or water erase markers.
Great ideas! The photographs are so rich, they are perfect for emergent readers. Thanks for sharing!
This is so smart! Thank you for sharing!
Hi, Cathy! Thank you. Glad you liked the ideas!