Depending on what grade level you are teaching, the parts of a book you go over in your lesson can vary. This blog is geared towards teaching kindergarten age students, so it will focus on the very basic parts of a book. Our main interest is the cover and what’s on the inside of the book. See the list of parts of a book below.
Cover - the front of the book:
- Title – tells what the book will be about
- Author – the person who wrote the book
- Illustrator – the person who created the pictures for the book
- Picture – displays what the story is about
Inside the book:
- Title page – first page in the book that tells the title, author and illustrator
- Words – tells the story
- Pictures – help to tell the story
- Page numbers
Teaching Parts of a Book to Kindergarten
We taught Parts Of A Book early in the beginning of the school year because we always had some students that were just starting to learn about books. It was important for them to understand this concept before they could advance to learning how to read. The first book of this unit was used as a focus for an anchor chart (see the picture of the anchor chart below).
Teaching About the Cover of the Book
We start by showing them the book and asking “Where is the front of the book? Where is the back? What do you notice on the front?” Then, we show and tell them about the title, picture, author, and illustrator found on the cover. We might say something like, “The title is what the whole book is about. The picture is about something that happens in the book. The author wrote the words in the book. The illustrator created the pictures for the book.” Then, we say, “Since the title is ——–, what do you think this book is about?”
Teaching About the Inside of the Book
We move on to the inside of the book by saying, “Let’s see what’s inside this book.” We flip through the pages slowly. “What do you see on the inside?” “Yes, there are pictures, words, and page numbers. The words tell us the story, and the pictures help show the story.” Before reading the story, we display the Parts Of A Book anchor chart.
Anchor Chart
On the chart is a picture of the cover and a picture of the inside of the same book we are looking at that day. Using the same book really helps students to understand what you are teaching them. We go over the chart with them, reading the different parts of a book and pointing to where those are on the pictures.
For the next few weeks, we use this chart every time we read a new book. Using the chart helps students to identify the parts of the book.
Parts of a Book Song
Check out this awesome song from Jack Hartmann all about the parts of a book. Your kids will be singing along in no time!
Want to Learn More?
If you want to learn more or looking for some great worksheets, check out A Well Spring of Worksheets. Some of their worksheets would go great with this lesson!
Text Features
Check out our blog about nonfiction and fiction text features. We tell you what they are and explain exactly how we taught them to our kindergarteners!
Story Elements
Our blog, How to Teach Story Elements in Kindergarten, explains what story elements are. It also shows you what graphic organizers and anchor charts we used when teaching story elements to our kindergarteners.
