This worksheet is best used as independent practice as part of your Author’s Purpose & Craft lesson. It can be paired with a text of any genre, reading level, or length. 

Students will read the text of choice and write in the author’s purpose and clues from the passage that support their reasoning.

Author’s Purpose Graphic Organizer: Scaffolding and Extension Tips 

In addition to individual student work time, use this author’s message worksheet as a:

• part of a novel study unit or book club packet
• Post-lesson exit ticket
• Fast finisher activity 
• Homework assignment
• Whole-class review (via smartboard)

Give students who need extra support shorter passages or chunked text to use with the organizer. Copy the text so that students can write or highlight directly on it, or circle or highlight clues that help identify and support the author’s purpose.

A Variety of Ways to Prepare This Resource

Turn this teaching resource into a sustainable activity! Print a few copies on cardstock and slip them into dry-erase sleeves. Students can record their answers with a dry-erase marker, then erase and reuse. 

Additionally, project the worksheet onto a screen and work through it as a class by having students record their answers in their notebooks.

Before You Download

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or Google Slides version of this resource. 

Because responses will vary, an answer sheet is not included in this download. 

This resource was created by Allie Kleijnjans, a teacher in Pennsylvania and a Teach Starter Collaborator. 

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more English Language Arts tools and activities to cut down on lesson planning time:  

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Author's Purpose SORT IT!

Analyze 24 text examples and determine which of the 5 purposes of writing each of the sorting cards belongs to.

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Author's Purpose - Sorting Worksheet

A teaching resource to help teach your students about author's purpose.