Headings and Subheadings
Have you ever read a book and noticed big, bold words at the top of sections? Those are called headings! Learning to use headings and subheadings will help you become a super reader who can find information fast!
What Are Headings and Subheadings?
Headings Are Like Signposts!
Just like road signs tell you where to go, headings tell you what each part of a text is about. They help you navigate through what you're reading!
Heading
What it is: A title for a big section of text
What it looks like: Big, bold text
Example: "All About Dolphins"
Subheading
What it is: A smaller title inside a section
What it looks like: Smaller than heading, but still bold
Example: "What Dolphins Eat"
Why Do Writers Use Headings?
Headings and subheadings are powerful tools! Here's why writers use them:
Find Information Fast
You can scan headings to find exactly what you need without reading everything!
Preview the Text
Before reading, look at all the headings to see what the text will be about.
Organize Ideas
Headings break up long text into smaller, easier chunks to understand.
Remember Better
Headings help your brain organize and remember what you read!
📖 The Preview Strategy
Before you start reading a nonfiction text, try this:
- Look at the title - What is the whole text about?
- Read all the headings - What are the main topics?
- Read all the subheadings - What details will you learn?
- Now read the text! - You'll understand it much better!
See Headings in Action!
Let's look at a real nonfiction passage. Notice how the headings and subheadings help organize the information!
Butterflies go through an amazing change called metamorphosis. They start as tiny eggs and become beautiful flying insects!
A mother butterfly lays her eggs on a leaf. The eggs are very tiny, about the size of a pinhead. Inside the egg, a caterpillar is growing!
When the egg hatches, out comes a caterpillar! Caterpillars eat and eat and eat. They grow bigger and bigger until they're ready for the next stage.
The caterpillar makes a hard shell around itself called a chrysalis. Inside, something magical happens - the caterpillar changes into a butterfly!
Finally, a beautiful butterfly comes out! It spreads its wings, lets them dry, and flies away to find flowers.
Butterflies can be found almost everywhere in the world! They live in forests, meadows, gardens, and even mountains. The only place you won't find butterflies is Antarctica - it's too cold!
Many people plant special gardens to attract butterflies. These gardens have flowers that butterflies love, like zinnias, sunflowers, and milkweed.
Headings and Table of Contents
In many books, you'll find a Table of Contents at the beginning. It lists all the headings and subheadings with page numbers so you can jump right to what you want to read!
Table of Contents: Our Solar System
- The Sunpage 4
- - How Hot is the Sun?page 6
- - Why We Need the Sunpage 8
- The Inner Planetspage 10
- - Mercurypage 12
- - Venuspage 14
- - Earthpage 16
- - Marspage 18
- The Outer Planetspage 20
🎯 Quick Find Challenge
Imagine you're reading a book about the solar system and you want to learn about Mars. Look at the Table of Contents above.
Question: What page would you turn to?
Answer: Page 18! You can find information fast by using the headings in the Table of Contents!
Identify Headings vs. Subheadings
Can you tell the difference? Click on the items that are HEADINGS (not subheadings)!
Click all the HEADINGS:
Practice Questions
Answer these questions about headings and subheadings!
Question 1
You're reading a book about dogs and want to learn how to train them. Which heading would you look for?
Question 2
What is the MAIN purpose of a heading?
Question 3
Look at these headings from a book about plants:
How Plants Make Food
- Sunlight and Leaves
- Water and Roots
Which one is the SUBHEADING?
Question 4
Before reading a long nonfiction article, a good reader should:
Question 5
Why do subheadings appear smaller than headings?
Match the Heading to the Subheading
Which subheading belongs under each heading? Click the correct match!
Quick Information Hunt
Read the passage below. Then use the headings to answer the questions as FAST as you can!
Honeybees live together in large groups called colonies. A colony can have up to 60,000 bees! Every bee has an important job to do.
There is only one queen in each colony. Her job is to lay eggs - she can lay up to 2,000 eggs in a single day!
Worker bees are all female. They build the honeycomb, collect nectar, make honey, and protect the hive.
Drones are male bees. Their only job is to help the queen. Drones don't have stingers.
Bees visit flowers to collect a sweet liquid called nectar. They store the nectar in their special honey stomachs and bring it back to the hive.
Back at the hive, bees pass the nectar to other bees. They chew it and add special enzymes. Then they put it in honeycomb cells and fan it with their wings until it becomes thick, delicious honey!
Bees help plants grow by carrying pollen from flower to flower. This is called pollination. Without bees, we wouldn't have many fruits, vegetables, and flowers!
Information Hunt 1
Which heading would help you find out what worker bees do?
Information Hunt 2
If you wanted to learn about pollination, which heading would you look under?
Information Hunt 3
Which subheading tells you about how nectar turns into honey?
Create Your Own Headings!
Now it's YOUR turn to be the writer! Create headings and subheadings for a report about your favorite animal.
Your Animal Report Outline
Imagine you're writing a report about an animal. Fill in the outline below with your own headings and subheadings!
Check Your Understanding
Let's see how well you understand headings and subheadings!
Review Question 1
Which statement is TRUE about headings?
Review Question 2
How is a subheading different from a heading?
Review Question 3
What should you do FIRST when reading a nonfiction text?
Review Question 4
A Table of Contents uses headings to help you:
What We Learned
Headings
Big titles that tell you the main topic of a section.
Subheadings
Smaller titles that show topics within a section.
Find Fast
Use headings to quickly find information you need.
Preview
Read headings first to know what a text is about.
Next Steps
- Practice previewing headings whenever you read nonfiction
- Try creating your own headings when you write reports
- Look for headings in textbooks, magazines, and websites
- When ready, move on to learn about Captions and Diagrams!