Author's Purpose for Writing

I want to say a few words about PIE. That is, the Author's Purpose for writing, which is to Persuade, Inform, and Entertain.

There are some pretty easy activities involving PIE. Show students examples of each purpose, and ask them to explain which purpose the author uses. Is there perhaps more than one purpose in the text? Here is a prezi on PIE with a couple of activities near the end:
Author's Purpose Prezi

Here is a kind of worksheet that could be used to demonstrate the author's purpose:
Study Zone PIE

Here are some standards that go along with teaching about PIE:

Grade 1
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.5
Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.
 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.6
Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text.
Grade 2
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.6
Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
Grade 3
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.1
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

You can find all the standards
Here