National Non-Fiction November is the Federation of Children’s Book Groups’ annual celebration of all things factual. Born out of National Non-Fiction Day, the whole month now celebrates all those readers that have a passion for information and facts and attempts to bring non-fiction celebration in line with those of fiction. The theme they have chosen for National Non-Fiction November (NNFN) for 2022 is ‘Communication’.
They explain that humans have the unique ability to communicate through spoken and written language. Our amazing ingenuity and creativity have also resulted in the development of a wide range of other ways to communicate using science and technology, different art forms and transportation networks. Their booklist highlights the myriad of ways in which we communicate ranging from hieroglyphics to emojis, sign language to language learning and secret codes to mass media. It will also include books about some fascinating examples of communication in the natural world.
Whilst many of us enjoy the escapism we get from narratives and fiction, it’s certainly worth keeping in mind that many people prefer non-fiction. In particular, many learners with conditions such as autism prefer non-fiction to fiction so National Non-Fiction November is a great opportunity to celebrate literature that means the most to those who prefer to read about real people, places and events rather than imaginary ones.
The site has a section containing resorces from past years which are still relevant. Click here to download the activity pack. (The activity pack mentions several additional resources which you can download for free: Author Selfie-Shelfie game and Guess Which Non-Fiction Book Game).
To coincide with NNFN’s theme of Communication, the Federation of Children's Book Groups' competition has been inspired by Andy Seed’s brilliantly funny series ‘Interview with …’ published by Welbeck Children’s Books. The competition is open to 5-12-year-olds living in the UK. They are inviting each entrant to choose either an animal or historical character and create an illustrated interview with them in a Q & A format, to be presented on one side of either A4 or A3. For more details click here.
For some inspiration, have a look at these sample pages from Interview with Cleopatra and Other Famous Rulers and Interview with a Kangaroo and Other Marsupials Too.
They have also shared an interview with Andy Seed, which you can watch below.
LGfL Resources
ReadingZone Bookclub
Join the ReadingZone Bookclub programme of free virtual author events each term. The bookclub is aimed at classrooms and libraries that are keen to develop a love of reading. Events for ages 5-11 years.
The event on Friday 11th November (2pm - 2:45pm) is 'Questions, please!' Aimed at Years 3-6. During the sessiom your class can find out the answers to some impossible questions with Isabelle Thomas, who introduces The Book of Impossible Questions.
To sign up for any of ReadingZone Bookclub free author events, and for more details, email info@readingzone.com
Remember we also have lots of author interviews on ReadingZone Live. For last year's National Non-Fiction November, Roma Agrawal and Katie Hickey were interviewed.
They explore Non-Fiction texts and the challenges it may present.
LGfL’s library of Widgit Resources (which require you to log in with your LGfL USO) includes a wide range of symbol supported non-fiction texts including books on historical figures such as William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. There are also many texts on topics related to geography and history.
If you are encouraging your pupils to write a Non-Fiction text; they may want to research the experiences of polar explorers past and present and take the opportunity to meet a real life polar explorer. Register your interest here.-jpg.jpeg?width=950&name=Polar%20Event%20Template%20(002)-jpg.jpeg)
The dedicated site Polar Exploration includes "Polar Exploration - in the Heroic Age of Scientific Discovery" (a cross- curricular resource walking in the footsteps of the great Antarctic explorers).
LGfL worked with the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University in creating these comprehensive resources, which provides a unique insight into the ‘Heroic Age of Scientific Discovery’. Featuring exclusive access to the historic archive of the most famous polar expeditions of the 20th Century, the resources include:
- Video footage of equipment and artefacts from the most famous expeditions.
- High-resolution photographs of objects featured in the video footage
- Journal extracts read by a descendant of a member of Captain Scott's Discovery expedition
- Interactive map of the Polar Regions with plotted locations of the multimedia assets
- The opportunity to meet a modern-day polar explorer and hear of his experiences living for extended periods of time in some of the world's most extreme environments.
During National Non-Fiction November you could also make use of the J2e Tool Suite * within school in the following ways:
-
- use JIT and j2e5 to create books about "Communication".
- use the paint features to design paintings that capture the experiences of modern day polar explorers
- use the newspaper templates in the "community resource" area of the just2easylibrary to include a report and an intereview with ...
Busy Things * also have "fact file" templates in their English>Writing: Composition area; with History and geography themed ones added in September.
* Both Just2Easy and BusyThings are premium resources accessed by schools with an LGfL Let's Get Digital Subsription.
Maths in the Real World has a range of activities that could be used to complement work for Non-Fiction November, there is the 'Search and Rescue' resource showing how the HM Coastguard communicate and pinpoint the locations for rescues.
Dom Traynor (Adobe Education Evangelist) has many different non-fiction prompts you could explore with your pupils. "What is Community Spirit?" (following the sad news in Northern Ireland) and "E sports" (exploring whether E sports are real sports). His Creative Challenges with Adobe may also provide inspiration for NNFN and using Adobe with your pupils.
Other Resources:
Dorling Kindersley Activity Sheets - Downloadable activity sheets are perfect to use as additional teaching resources, these digital activity packs help take children beyond the book, engaging with their imagination and creativity as they colour, draw, play, and write.
ictgames have interactive non-fiction texts based on nocturnal animals (as shown below) and also historical figures. These could be used to model ways of setting out information writing.
Whatever you decide to do during National Non-Fiction November, the month provides a great opportunity to promote reading non-fiction for pleasure, to allow young readers to indulge in fascination for facts and to celebrate, the breadth, depth and richness of non-fiction writing, illustrating and publishing for children and young people. (NNFN website)
Please let us know via our Twitter and Facebook pages or leave us a comment here to let us know what you are doing for National Non-Fiction November #NNFN2022 and #Communication