4th - 8th Grade Author's Purpose Resources

Authors persuade, inform, and entertain through various types of writing! Students set out to identify the author’s purpose.

Learners will practice identifying the author's purpose in eight sample paragraphs, using text evidence to support their choice.

Use this graphic organizer to give students an opportunity to practice identifying the central idea of a text using key details.

Learners will categorize 12 different types of text according to why the author would write them, using the acronym PIE as a mnemonic device.

This sample nonfiction text about basketball helps students to explore author's point of view.

Learn about what makes certain elements cooler than others in this chemistry-based informational reading passage! 

Introduce readers to the poem “When I Was One-and-Twenty” by English poet A. E. Housman with this sixth-grade worksheet! 

Students are asked to distinguish between first and third person narration as well as fiction or nonfiction writing.

Use this worksheet to encourage critical thinking and support students’ literacy development by asking questions before, during, and after reading.

Children will practice bringing excitement to their writing in this fun language and vocabulary worksheet.

This worksheet gives your students practice reading and analyzing informational text to explain the author’s claim and supporting reasons.

This nonfiction text about soccer will help students to practice finding evidence to support the author's point.

This informational text about a topic relevant to students can be used to help explain author’s claims and the reasons used to support them.

Use this worksheet to provide an engaging text for your students as they practice reading and analyzing an author’s claims.

Learn about Eleanor Roosevelt, the groundbreaking first lady known for her humanitarian work and for being the first U.S.delegate to the United Nations in 1942.

This graphic organizer helps students work through a nonfiction text to help organize information about the author’s point, and the reasons and evidence used to support it.

Students will rewrite the narration and point of view of various texts.

Differentiating between facts and opinions is a key fourth grade skill to master and is helpful in identifying the author’s purpose in a text. Use this activity to give your students extra practice differentiating between these two kinds of sentences.

Use this two-page graphic organizer to help students compare and contrast informational narratives from two different genres.

Use this Novel Discussion Guide for Parents as a guide to invite your child into a book discussion about their latest reading!

Ideal for fourth and fifth graders, this worksheet includes figurative language examples and definitions on the first page, and a second full page of questions and tasks that can be used to check for understanding.

This graphic organizer can help students analyze a story, scenario, disagreement or controversy from multiple perspectives.

From the topic of roller coasters to the topic of spinach, this kid-friendly worksheet guides a student in comparing their opinion to the opinions of the fictional character named “Jimmy.”

When your students read this exaggerated tale, they will find a ton of hyperboles!

Students complete a figurative language flip chart from the mnemonic device I SHAMPOO C.

These printable cards give students the chance to practice using supporting evidence to identify an author’s claims.

Get your students moving with this interactive sorting game!

Use this glossary with the EL Support Lesson: Match Author's Point with Evidence.

Applicable to most nonfiction texts, this worksheet has students choose one of two writing prompts focused on determining and analyzing the author’s purpose in a nonfiction text.