After 20 years in middle grades ELA, I have watched students spend every class period working with nonfiction texts and still miss text feature questions on standardized assessments. They can navigate a sidebar. They understand what a caption is doing. But when a test item asks them to explain the purpose of an "infographic" or identify the function of a "legend," the academic term creates a wall between what they know and what they can show.
RI Standards spiral review for grades 6 through 8
Seven bundles, 140 questions, every RI standard covered, no prep required.
Get this resource on TPT →
The research on vocabulary acquisition is consistent: students need multiple meaningful exposures to a term before it moves reliably into long-term memory. Nonfiction text feature vocabulary is particularly susceptible to this gap because the features feel so familiar in use that teachers sometimes skip naming them explicitly. The result is students who can read nonfiction fluently but cannot talk about it in the language the test requires.
I use these word games as bell ringers in the week before an informational text assessment. Students have already worked with real texts that contain these features. The games give them four low-pressure formats to connect the terms to their definitions so the vocabulary stops being the obstacle. A student who can name a "bibliograph" and explain its purpose has removed one more barrier between their knowledge and their score.
The resource I use in my own classroom
Twenty-five nonfiction text feature terms, four game formats, complete answer key, zero prep — ready for the week before your next informational reading assessment.
Nonfiction Text Features Word Games on Teachers Pay Teachers →
This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through one of these links, a small commission is earned at no cost to you. After 20 years in middle school classrooms, Lit n Logic was built to share what actually works, and yes, to invest in a retirement. Nothing here will ever be recommended that has not been used or would not be handed to a colleague on a Monday morning.
Books worth having on your nonfiction shelf
Falling in Love with Close Reading by Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts — a practical framework for teaching students to read nonfiction closely, including how to use text features as entry points for analysis rather than decoration. Amazon →
Toolkit Texts: Grades 6-7 by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis — a library of age-appropriate nonfiction articles with teaching strategies that show students how to work with text features as tools for comprehension, not just visual additions. Amazon →
If your students know how to navigate nonfiction but lose points on text feature terminology, this is the resource to close that gap before the next assessment.
Get Nonfiction Text Features Word Games on Teachers Pay Teachers →
RI Standards spiral review for grades 6 through 8
Seven bundles, 140 questions, every RI standard covered, no prep required.
Get this resource on TPT →
