Lessons & Units

Author's Purpose 4th Grade Unit

Lessons

Lesson 1 Identifying Author’s Purpose in a Newspaper Identify the author’s purpose in different sections of a newspaper.
Lesson 2 Categorizing Texts According to Author’s Purpose Classify and categorize examples of each of the three purposes: to entertain, to inform, and to persuade.
Lesson 3 Changing an Author’s Purpose Change an author’s purpose.

Unit Extension Ideas

  • Have students read a reading passage provided on the website, identify the author’s purpose, and give examples from the text to support their answers. Then, have students rewrite the passage with a new purpose.
  • Provide students with a controversial topic such as, “Should boys and girls go to school together?” or a topic based on a current event. Have students write an editorial supporting their opinions. Students can share their editorials with classmates or send them into a local newspaper.
  • Have students write an advertisement for a made-up product, persuading the class to use the product.
  • Students can write poems or create comic strips as a way to practice writing for the purpose of entertaining the reader.
  • Show students short clips of movies, sitcoms, cartoons, documentaries, and news broadcasts. Have them identify the purpose of each clip.
  • Have students explore the Internet and give examples of websites they find that have the purpose of entertaining, informing, and persuading.

Teacher and Student Materials

More Books for Teaching Author's Purpose

Indian in the Cupboard

Indian in the Cupboard

Fountas and Pinnell
R
Lexile
780L
The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle: and Other Surprising Stories about Inventions

The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle: and Other Surprising Stories about Inventions

Lexile
1080L
A Weekend with Picasso

A Weekend with Picasso

Stuart Little

Stuart Little

Fountas and Pinnell
R
Lexile
920L
Sideways Stories from Wayside School

Sideways Stories from Wayside School

Fountas and Pinnell
P
Lexile
460L
A Cache of Jewels

A Cache of Jewels

Earthquakes

Earthquakes

Fountas and Pinnell
T
Lexile
540L
Double Fudge

Double Fudge

Lexile
450L

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Submitted by saundraglenn_1246937 on 2/14/15

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