Description
What our Opinion Writing (Grades 1-3) lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Opinion Writing for grades 1-3 teaches students about opinions, the difference between opinion and fact and learn to write a simple opinion paper. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to write opinion pieces on topics or texts and be able to provide reasons that support the opinion.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the green box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
The supplies you’ll need for this lesson include the worksheets, the book The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald, a digital camera, a printer, photo paper, crayons, and the supplies for the activity. To prepare for this lesson ahead of time, you can gather the supplies, cut paper to size for the activity, prepare classroom discussion problems, and copy the handouts.
Options for Lesson
Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. There are two simple suggestions for this lesson. The first is to incorporate the book Stella Has an Opinion by Janiel Wagstaff into your lesson. The second is to require examples in the essays for older students.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. It notes that older students, such as 3rd graders, will benefit from an additional requirement to include examples for their opinions in their opinion papers. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.
OPINION WRITING (GRADES 1-3) LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Opinion Writing
The Opinion Writing (Grades 1-3) lesson plan includes two pages of content. The lesson begins by asking the questions What is an opinion? and What is the difference between a fact and an opinion?. An opinion is what somebody thinks or believes about something. Facts can be proven. Opinions can be based on facts, but are fundamentally feelings or beliefs that cannot be proven. An example of a fact would be that the car dropped someone off at 10pm. An opinion would be that someone didn’t like that the car dropped them off at 10pm, because that’s too late. With this lesson, students will learn how to write about their opinions.
The lesson then explains the structure of an opinion paper, which the students will write for their homework assignment. At the beginning, you should introduce the topic and tell the readers what your paper is going to talk about. You should state your opinion clearly and tell people how you feel about the topic. You can use one of the following opinion statements to start: I think, I believe, I feel, In my opinion. The lesson includes some more opinion statements that you can use. It also includes connector words that you can use to continue your paper (like one reason, another reason, and also).
In the middle of the paper, you should provide reasons and examples for your opinion. You should include more than one reason and put all of them in an order that makes sense. You can use the provided connector words and statements from above. Your teacher might want you to include examples for each reason as well.
At the end of the paper, you should include a conclusion paragraph. Here, you will state your opinion again and tell your readers why it’s a reasonable opinion to have. You can base this on some of the reasons from your paper. You should also include a wrap up, or conclusion, sentence. The lesson includes some examples that you can use for this important final sentence!
OPINION WRITING (GRADES 1-3) LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Opinion Writing (Grades 1-3) lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.
THE BEST PART OF ME ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
For the activity worksheet, students will create a poster that shares their opinion about which part of their body they think is the best part. As a class, the students will first read the book The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald. They will then choose the part of their body that they think is the best (this could be something small, like fingers or toes). Next, they will make a list of the reasons that this is the best part of their body and will write a paragraph about their body part. The paragraph should begin with a clearly stated opinion and then continue with three reasons that they feel this way.
They will then copy their paragraph onto a nicer piece of paper, provided by the teacher. The teacher will then take a picture of the body part and print it so that the student can include it on the poster. Students will glue the picture to the top of the construction paper and include their paragraph on the bottom half. The teacher will then display the posters in the classroom for everyone to see!
OPINION WRITING PRACTICE WORKSHEET
For the practice worksheet, students will look at six boxes with statements written in them and will color in the boxes that contain opinions using a crayon. They will then write opinion sentences on three topics: riding a bike, puppies, and going to bed late. They will begin these sentences with the phrases I believe, I feel, In my opinion, I like, or I dislike. Finally, they will read a sentence that states: People should take a walk every day. They will then look at three related sentences and cross out the one that is not a reason for the original statement.
OPINION PAPER HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
The homework assignment asks students to write an opinion paper. The worksheet lists several options for topics that they can write about. In their paper, they will state their opinion clearly, give three or more reasons to support their opinion, and write a conclusion and closing sentence. They must make sure to use appropriate transition sentences as well.
Students will have two nights to work on their papers. On the first night, they should fill out the opinion paper outline worksheet. They’ll turn it in to their teacher the next day. On the second night, they will write their paper and turn it in the next day.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes an answer key for the practice worksheet. No answer keys are provided for the activity worksheet or the homework assignment as students’ answers will vary. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
