Informational

Informational pieces are nonfiction texts that have the goal of educating or instructing the reader. Informational texts may be on almost any topic, including science, social studies, math, crafts, games, cooking, sports, etc.

Orangutans: Forest Friends in Need

Orangutan means “person of the forest” in the Malay language. Orangutans are great apes. They belong to the family of primates that includes gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos. Wild orangutans live on two islands-Sumatra and Borneo-in Southeast Asia. Both Sumatran orangutans and Bornean orangutans are primarily arboreal. This means they spend…

Threatened!

Loggerhead sea turtles glide gently through many of the world’s oceans. They are known for their beauty and graceful nature. Once widely hunted, they continue to face threats both in the water and on land. Largest of the hard-shelled turtles, adult male loggerheads usually weigh about 250 pounds. They are…

The Emigrant Train

Robert Louis Stevenson was a famous author of adventure novels. In one of his nonfiction travel books, he writes about his trip to the United states. In this passage, he tells of his meeting with a railroad newsboy. At that time, a newsboy was a boy who traveled on a…

From Tree to You

Do you like to drink orange juice for breakfast? If you do, you are like many other kids. Orange juice is a very popular drink! It is sweet and tasty. It can help keep you healthy, too. Let’s find out how orange juice gets to your breakfast table! Orange trees…

Primary Source: Votes for Women Ratified

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” This is the full text of the 19th Amendment to the…

The Extermination of the American Bison

Noted zoologist and wildlife conservationist William Temple Hornaday wrote a book on the state of the American bison, or buffalo, for the Smithsonian Institution. Hornaday’s concern was that the dramatic drop in population of the buffalo might likely lead to its extinction. An estimated 60 million buffalo lived in the…

The Olympics

People all over the world watch the Olympic Games on TV, cheer on their nations’ athletes, and get into the spirit of friendly international competition. Yet how many people know how these games came about and why they were created? Why is there an Olympic torch? What does the flag…

Mountain Gorillas: Going, Going, Almost Gone

Mountain gorillas are some of the most threatened animals on the planet. Only two groups of mountain gorillas remain. One population lives in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The other group lives in the Virunga Mountains. This mountain range of extinct volcanoes borders the African countries of the…

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, written in 1789, is the core document of the French Revolution, establishing the values and principles of the French democracy. It was influenced by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights. In fact, key…

Primary Source: President Lincoln’s Funeral Train

On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by an assassin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. He died the next day. Lincoln died just days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, essentially ending the American Civil War. Lincoln’s assassination stunned and…