Monday, May 20, 2013

Opinion/Persuasive Essays

Opinion writing is underway.  We have read lots of mentor texts are are trying out some writing of our own.  We started by looking at how the kinds of writing are different.



I found a great anchor chart about beginning Opinion pieces over at The Go To Teacher.  She has a great conclusion chart also, but we aren't quite there yet.
 From Dear Mrs. LaRue
 From Earrings
 From I Wanna New Room
 From Click, Clack Moo
 From an article we found in National Geographic for Kids
Ways we can start sentences.  After we practiced writing, students read their piece aloud and I put checks next to the starters they used.
 Today we read, My Brother Dan's Delicious. It is told from the younger brother's point of view.  He has been left alone and is convinced their could be a monster in the house.  So he then clearly lists and explains why his brother Dan would be better to eat and far more delicious.  We read and made a chart as we went along.  Students kept track on their own paper also.

Students used words or pictures to record why Dan was a better eating choice.
Then we wrote our own main idea and two or three reasons to back it up.
Long hair better than short hair
XBox better than Wii
 Roblox better than Minecraft
 Playing outside instead of watching TV
 Playing with dolls is better than math
 PE is better than music
Happy Monday,
15 more days.....

3 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed teaching opinion pieces this year. Thanks for the idea for a few more books!
    :)
    Tamera
    MyHeartBelongsinFirst
    Kaizactan2001@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hadn't heard of Brother Dan's Delicious. Great mentor texts make all the difference!
    ❀ Tammy
    Forever in First

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great ideas! Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete