We just wrapped up our 2 week unit on opinion writing and it was fabulous! This time of year is a great time to do persuasive writing. The kids have a good handle on writing a story and general conventions of writing. It's a fun way to end the year!
I feel like my kids really have a strong understanding about what an opinion is and how to defend their opinions on specific topics. We began our unit of study by going over key terms like fact, opinion, and persuade. I used my anchor charts from my "Opinion Writing" pack. We also did the fact/opinion sort that is included. This gave kids an understanding of what type of writing we'd be focusing on.
Within our 2 week time period, the students wrote 4 opinion pieces. We did the first piece together. I chose "First Grade is the Best Grade" as our topic because I wanted to be sure that students could give reasoning and it was something we all knew about. We brainstormed a list and kids completed their graphic organizer. The next day, I modeled how to use the organizer to write the opinion piece. I really guided my students through this.
The other pieces we wrote were: "The Best Pet," "I Should Stay Up Late," and "The Best Season." I tie in literature whenever I can. We watched "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up" on You Tube and we completed a fun little bed/paper doll craft to go with our staying up late piece.
As the week went on, I backed off a little each day. By the 4th opinion piece, the majority of the class needed little help!
We may re-visit opinion writing again in the coming weeks, but for now, we are moving on to POETRY!!!
To check out this great CCSS opinion-writing resource, which is full of printables, differentiated paper templates, posters, literature connections, and more, click below! This pack was created for 1st grade, but is very appropriate for kinders {due to paper differentiation} and second graders!
xo
Megan
I feel like my kids really have a strong understanding about what an opinion is and how to defend their opinions on specific topics. We began our unit of study by going over key terms like fact, opinion, and persuade. I used my anchor charts from my "Opinion Writing" pack. We also did the fact/opinion sort that is included. This gave kids an understanding of what type of writing we'd be focusing on.
Within our 2 week time period, the students wrote 4 opinion pieces. We did the first piece together. I chose "First Grade is the Best Grade" as our topic because I wanted to be sure that students could give reasoning and it was something we all knew about. We brainstormed a list and kids completed their graphic organizer. The next day, I modeled how to use the organizer to write the opinion piece. I really guided my students through this.
The other pieces we wrote were: "The Best Pet," "I Should Stay Up Late," and "The Best Season." I tie in literature whenever I can. We watched "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up" on You Tube and we completed a fun little bed/paper doll craft to go with our staying up late piece.
As the week went on, I backed off a little each day. By the 4th opinion piece, the majority of the class needed little help!
We may re-visit opinion writing again in the coming weeks, but for now, we are moving on to POETRY!!!
To check out this great CCSS opinion-writing resource, which is full of printables, differentiated paper templates, posters, literature connections, and more, click below! This pack was created for 1st grade, but is very appropriate for kinders {due to paper differentiation} and second graders!
Megan
These look great! I love opinion writing with students. It is so much fun listening to their reasons!
ReplyDeleteLori
Conversations in Literacy
Just added this to my TpT wish list along with your Summer to Second Grade pack that I saw on http://spark-ofinspiration.blogspot.com/2015/04/summer-to-second-grade.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!!
christina.lee.fletcher@gmail.com
Opinion writing is so difficult! Thanks for sharing how you taught it in your classfoom! I added your opinion pack to my wishkisg for the next time I check out. I can't wait to see what you do with poetry!
ReplyDeleteI also added your summer to 2nd to my wishlist, which I saw on the Spark of Inspiration collaborative blog.
Thanks for some great ideas!
marylove.houston@gmail.com
Oops, that's wishlist. Still waking up this am. :)
DeleteThank you for this post! I'm about to start teaching opinion writing so this is a helpful resource. I also just checked out your Summer to 2nd pack, which I found on the Spark of Inspiration blog. Looks awesome! rachel.coots@gmail.com
ReplyDelete