Unit 3: Opinion Writing- Writing Reviews

Unit 3: Opinion Writing- Writing Reviews

Bend 1:

Getting Ready for the First Bend:

• Collection of items to bring in: match box cars, Barbies, American Girl Dolls, rocks, Lego people, baseball cards,
• books, gummies (taste, rank, discuss favorites and why)
• Homework sheet
• Books: discuss how the characters try to convince/persuade others
• Can I Bring My Pterodactyl to School, Ms. Johnson (use this book prior to giving assessment so the children understand what an opinion is). Use this book instead ofA Pig Parade is a Terrible Idea by Michael Ian Black
• A Pet for Petunia by Paul Schmid (great book!!!!)
• Earrings by Judith Viorst
• Pigeon Books by Mo Willems
• The Best Loved Doll by Rebecca Caudill- girls bring their dolls to a bday party and have categories for the best… (this book was too long)

Assessment: Read Can I Bring My Pterodactyl to School, Ms. JohnsonDiscuss what an opinion is (way you feel about something)

• Today you will listen to the story ….. Listen to the author’s idea of why bringing a pterodactyl to school is a good idea. **Summary on the back tells of 2 of the reasons.
• Tomorrow you will write your first piece…
• Name your opinion about the Wholly Mammoth, details to show your opinion and an ending.

Day After Assessment:

• First read A Pet for Petunia.
• Discuss why having a skunk is a good reason. Discuss what the reasons would be for mom and dad saying ‘no’.
• Chart reasons why having a porcupine would be good/not good reasons
• “Some people say cats are a better pet than dogs. Others say dogs are a better pet than cats”. Choose your position. Break into 2 groups and discuss reasons. Chart reasons.
• “Should the cafeteria serve pizza twice a week?” Choose your position. Get with your group and discuss reasons. Chart reasons.

Session 1:

Getting Ready:

• Stuffed animal dog collection that I bring in
• Smartboard of dogs and write the breed
• Chart paper: To Judge Fairly
• Stacks of First Place Blue Ribbon paper- on CD
• Smartboard of poster “To Judge Fairly”
• Post-it-Notes of various colors/ half pieces of paper on blue paper

“Authors, the kind of writing that you will be doing today and during our new unit is called Opinion Writing. Whenever you are writing an opinion, you will always need to explain your reasons. Explain that in this unit, they’ll be judging not just dogs but other items. For example, stuffed animals, Lego figurines, dolls, & cars.

“Today I want to teach you that people who know a lot about something- like people who keep collections- often think, ‘Which is my favorite? Which is next?’ People write and talk to tell others about their opinions. They even try to convince others about their opinions.

Convince others/persuade~ read the book Earrings! Listen to how the main character tries to convince/persuade her mom in letting her get pierced ears.

Show the dog collection and have students join you to judge it (like a dog show). “In a few minutes, you are going to have a chance to do what people do- to think about the things you know about and to write some of your opinions. But first, do you mind helping me to think about my collection?”

Show collection of 5 of the dogs. If don’t have real dogs you could get pictures off the internet. “Have any of you ever watched a dog show, either in real life or on tv? A judge with a clipboard inspects each dog. He checks the shape of the dog’s head, feels its fur and looks into its eyes. Then he says, ‘Walk you dog’ and he watches the dog walk in a circle. After a while the judge will announce, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, we have our winners. In first place…’ and he will announce the winner. Later, he’ll have a bunch of reasons for why that dog was more special than the others.”

Active Engagement-recruit a volunteer judge. Role-play what not to do, contrasting what with a list of what responsible judges should do.

Role of a Judge:

“Let’s learn some things about being a good judge by judging this collection of dogs. I need a volunteer to be our dog show judge and we’ll all notice what you do to judge and see if we can think about what a really serious, really fair, judge will do. Would it be okay if I judged the dog show like this?” Glance at the dogs, throw your hands up in a“whatever?” gesture and flick a finger at one dog and say, “He’s the best. I don’t know why, just because.” Pause and ask the students-“Would that be what you’d expect of a dog show judge?”

Give your recruiter student/Judge a clipboard and a hat. Put the dogs in a line for him and suggest for him to look closely at the first one, next, and so on. Students observe the student Judge:

• Looking into each dog’s eyes (one by one) thinking who has the best eyes
• Do the same for the fur
• “What do you notice our Judge doing? Share with your EEK buddy.”
• Chart: To Judge Fairly (#1 and #2)

To Judge Fairly

1. Put everything in a line.

1. Compare the same thing (eyes, fur, etc.) on each. Think about, “Which has the best…?”

1. Decide which is the best and give reasons. Say “BECAUSE…”

“Let’s each try being the judge at this dog show. I’ll pass the dogs around so that you can look at each one closely (but quickly, please). Remember to look at the same thing on each dog. How about if for now, you look at the fur on each dog and assess it? Be thinking which is first place and why. How will you explain your decision?”

Circulate the dogs. “So, judges. Make your decision. Which dog is number one and why? Tell your opinion and your reasons to your partner.”

Ask for volunteers to explain. Add #3 to the chart ‘To Judge Fairly’.“When you use the word “because” in your thought you are helping others to understand your opinion. Be sure to give a couple of reasons.” This would be a great time to incorporate “college talk”!!!

Writing Time:

I think the ______is the Best in Show.

The reason I chose the ______as the best

dog is because the ______. ______

During conference time have students explain the ‘traits’ they used to judge the collection.

Closing:

• Students discuss traits that they wrote about
• Share stories

Session 2:

Items needed:

• Award papers (First Place Blue Ribbon paper)
• booklets
• dogs
• microphone
• Smartboard “Convince Your Reader!”
• Convince others/persuade~ read a ‘Pigeon’ book (The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!)

Connection: “Authors, pretend someone with a TV camera wanted to know what you’d chosen for your ‘Best in Show’. They’ve just passed you an imaginary microphone and asked you to explain to all the people watching your TV show why you selected this winner. Talk to your partner as if you are the judge, explaining your choice, Go!”

Students talk to their partners as Judges.

Teaching Point: “Today I want to teach you that when you have an opinion, when you judge something, you need to give a couple of reasons, not just one, and say details about each reason. If you write, ‘For example…’ or ‘I think that because…,’ then that helps you bring in some details.”

Strong Arguments have reasons: “Has it ever happened to you and someone in your family in which you have different opinions about where you want to eat or what you want to do on a special day? Maybe one of you wants to go out for pizza and someone else want tacos. So you could just go like this:

‘Pizza.’

‘Tacos.’

‘Pizza!’

‘Tacos!’

‘Pizza is the best!’

“No, tacos is the best!’

Do you think getting louder and louder is the best way to win the argument? No is right. The better way to convince people is to give reasons that support your opinion. So you might say, ‘I think we should go for pizza. I think this because, one, there is a nice place to sit at the pizza shop so we can talk, and, two, pizza is better because it is cold out, and pizza will warm us up.’

So, writers, when you want to convince your readers, it is important to write your opinion and to give lots of reasons. Think to yourself, ‘After I tellmy opinion, I’ll give one reason and then talk a lot about it, and then I will give another reason, and talk a lot about it…’”

Begin the “Convince Your Reader!” Chart

“Convince Your Reader!”
Write your opinion. “I think…”
Give LOTS of reasons. 1… 2… 3… One reason is….Also…. Another….
Add details. *For example…. *I think that because….

Divide the children into 4 groups. Give each group a dog. “Pretend for now that the dog I gave your group is the group’s candidate for ‘Best in Show’.” Talk together as a group and gather some reasons why your dog is the best. As you come up with reasons, try to say more about your reasons, using ‘I think this because…’ and ‘For example…’”. Point to the sentence starters on the chart, “Convince Your Reader!”

After a few minutes of group talk… I’m from NBC, morning news, and I understand you were on of the judges for this dog show. So can you tell all our viewers why you selected this insert type of bread as the ‘Best in Show’, as your best dog?”

Elicit the word ‘because’ from the student and for him/her to use 2/3 reasons. Interview other students too. Example: the reason I chose the collie as the best dog is because the collie is the biggest. I think she is the biggest because she is bigger than my hand! And the other dogs are only up to the knuckle of my thumb.

Writing Time: Ask children to think back on what they’ve learned about writing and decide what to do to improve their writing.

“So writers, before you get started on today’s work, let’s take a moment to plan. Think about your own choices from the collection and think about the writing you did yesterday. Now, with all you’ve learned about writing since school started think of some ways in which you could improve on the writing you did yesterday.”

“How many of you have plans to add onto what you wrote yesterday, thumbs up? Might some of you want to revise what you wrote- adding more reasons and more details and things like that?”

“Here is the biggest question of all: might there be a writer or two who decide to do the really brave and hard-working choice- starting writing over, writing Draft Two? I have blank books and award pages. So get started and I will be admiring what you do.”

Closing:

Students sit with their partner and make a fishbowl (sit around the edge of the carpet) and two students move into the middle of the fishbowl. Have the two students tell what they did with their writing and then read.

Session 2A

Items needed:

• ‘Author’s at Work’ homework sheet completed
• Smartboard listing all the students ideas- 5 different topics

Discuss items on the sheet/write their answers on the Smartboard.

Discuss Mrs. Ihrig’s favorite dessert. I will write about my favorite dessert. Write in green, red, black.

Have you ever tasted a food that is so yummy that you want
to have more? I have! It is cheesecake. I think
cheesecake is the best dessert! Cheesecake has a creamy
middle. It also has a pie crust. The topping can be anything
you wish. I love to choose between blueberries, chocolate
and cherries. I hope you like cheesecake as much as I do!

Session 2B: (continuation- 2 days)

Read Mrs. Ihrig’s favorite dessert

• Five finger band
• Introduction
• I think
• 2 reasons
• Ending
• Underline the “I think sentence” in brown & the “reasons” in blue.

Group students according to what they want to write about fromtheir sheet. Each group will discuss the characteristics and the 5 finger band. Share introductions with the larger group.

Students write about 1 item from their homework sheet.

Session 3

Items needed:

• Convince others/persuade~ read a ‘Pigeon’ book
• Smartboard of Karis’writing
• Opinion Writing checklist (on the CD)
• Revision pens

Connection:“Writers, the writing you are working on in this unit is writing about ideas, about thoughts. That is especially challenging because instead of writing about what you do and what you know-the facts- you are writing your ideas, your thoughts. People actually call this kind of writing ‘opinion writing’ because the writer tells his/her opinions, ideas.”

Teaching Point: “Today I want to teach you that when you write something, it’s important to understand the kind of writing you are doing and to figure out ways people do that kind of writing really well. Then, you can try to do those things in your own writing.”

Compare Karis’ writing to the Opinion Writing Checklist- find and name the attributes of effective opinion writing. ***Discuss what is on the Opinion Writing Checklist.

• Wrote her opinion
• Reasons
• “Writers, now it’s your turn. Take a few minutes with your partner, and check how Karis’ writing measures up to some of the other bullet points. Did she write an ending for her piece? Did she make her writing easy to read?”

Link: Ask writers to compare their writing to the Opinion Writing Checklist and make a plan for today’s writing. “Before you go off to write today, I’d like you to take a moment and compare you own writing to the Opinion Writing Checklist. I’ll read through the highlighted items on our checklist. You use your revision pen to find places in your writing where you are already doing those things and what you need to fix.”

“Make a plan for today’s writing. How many of you think you might reread all the opinion writing you have been doing this week and think about ways you can make that writing better. Once you know what you will be doing, get yourself started. If you need help stay on the rug.

Closing: discuss goals the children have set

Session 3B: (continuation 2-3 days)

****bring all collections to school

Items needed: collections of dolls, stuffed animals, Lego people, matchbox cars

Writing time:

• Students will explore collections
• Groups will discuss the characteristics of each collection
• Write about 1 item in the collection
• Use 5 finger band on Smartboard
• Students use checklist when their piece is done

Session 3C: continuation

Items needed:

• Five Finger band on Smartboard
• Crayons for each finger
• Green- introduction
• Brown- I think
• Blue- 2 reasons
• Red- Ending
• One piece of writing from each student (finished piece or almost finished)
• Mrs. Ihrig’s writing piece (cheesecake writing)
• Siberian Husky writing (share at the end~ neighbor disagrees)- combine session 6
• ½ sheet of blue lined paper

First- together read Mrs. Ihrig’s cheesecake writing; underlining each 5 finger band (using colors)

Next- each student chooses 1 piece, partner work; discuss:

• introduction & underline in green
• I think- underline in brown
• 2 reasons- underline in blue
• Ending- underline in red

Then- discuss how/where to add details. Tomorrow we will be adding details to one of your reasons. For example, let’s read about my Siberian Husky.

Last- share my Siberian Husky piece. Underline with colors; students can see where I added sparkle words and details.

Tomorrow- add details to piece and sparkly words.

Session 3D: continuation

• Reread Mrs. Ihrig’s Siberian Husky Dog Piece
• Added ‘sparkle words’ to the chart “Convince Your Readers”
• Discuss the underlined sentences in my Siberian Husky dog piece
• Chose 1 student to discuss her/his reasons
• Model: Help her add sentences with details to her 1 reason that she chose to elaborate on
• All students point to their reasons
• Choose one reason to explain with more details
• Each student shares what reason he/she wants to explain in more detail
• Students return to their seats, add a carrot to one of their reasons
• add details to the ½ blue piece of paper
• I check their work

*** Emphasize the words “for example” yet to be used in writing.

Session 6- didn’t do

Items needed:

• Collection writing from students and of the teacher (retriever writing)
• Pictures of or actual figurines of:aretriever, greyhound and a Dalmatian
• Convince Your Reader! Chart
• How Did I Make My Writing Easy to Read? Chart
• Convince others/persuade~ read a ‘Pigeon’ book

Connection: Tell about a time when someone disagreed with your opinion that made you want to become more convincing.