The Structure of Opinion Writing for 3rd Grade Using ... Fingerpaints!!

 My 3rd Grade student and I had a little fun this week with FINGERPAINT!!!
We've been talking about how an Opinion Writing Piece is organized. I wanted to use her senses of touch and sight to make a connection about what that structure really was all about.
So we started with a large piece of bulletin board paper, some fingerpaints, and some graphic images .  

First step:  Get ready to tell the reader of your Opinion Writing Piece your opinion.  Grab their attention so they really want to listen to your opinion about a subject.  Then state your opinion clearly...I believe that

Second Step:  State your opinion and support and defend your thoughts with 2 or 3 details or facts/personal experiences/evidence.

Third Step: End with a strong concluding statement that restates your opinion....but don't just relist those details or facts. Mix them all together and come up with your own summary.  Restate it with a strong VOICE. 
 

Then we took an opinion piece, that we had written together previously, and cut it into sentences and or paragraphs.  We glued those parts on the top of our finger-painted structure to see if we had really written a strong writing piece about our opinion about what's the best summer fruit of all. 
Lastly, we stepped back and asked ourselves:
Did  it flow...did I use my own voice...was my concluding sentence written in a way that summarized my thoughts and pulled my writing all together so it ended strong?

"In my opinion using sensory experiences in your concept instruction, assists children and adults in learning and retaining information. First, we know that stimulating the senses sends signals to children’s brains that help to strengthen neural pathways important for all types of learning."     (Now you finish this opinion writing piece and think about what your opinion is.)

 Smiles,
Deborah

Chart Showing the Organizational Structure for Opinion Writing: With 3rd/4th Split Grade Adaptation

While working with a Third Grader to make sense of the organizational structure for opinion writing, 

I came up with this chart to help her see where we were headed.

Notice that an opinion writing piece does not

 have to change the reader's opinion.

My resident fairy and her home in my garden (complete with a working drawbridge).

It only states the personal experiences or facts/evidence to support their reason for the writer's opinion.

For example, my opinion could be that EVERY garden should contain

a fairy garden.

I don't have to persuade you...

I only have to explain to you why I feel that way.

By the way... in your opinion, should every garden contain a fairy garden?

Multi-grade Consideration:  If you teach a 3/4 Multi-grade Class, the 4th Graders should be part of the whole group discussion about what makes an opinion writing piece. Their comments will help the 3rd Graders learn about this type of writing and the 4th Graders will benefit from reviewing their background knowledge.

Then, the 4th Graders would meet as a grade level group, with their teacher, for a mini-lesson on what is the difference between Opinion and a Persuasive Writing Piece. Lastly, they can also write to answer the same question as the 3rd Graders, but take it one step further to not only express an opinion, but
persuade:
  to make someone do or believe something by giving them a good reason to do it or by writing down your thoughts so clearly and convincingly it helps the reader confirm their similar view or change their opinion to agree with yours.

Smiles,

Deborah

 

Opinion Writing for a Multi-Grade Classroom: Conclusion

I've been working on a unit for 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders about Opinion writing based on the Common Core Writing Standards.

  My goal is to create a unit that can be used in a

 Multi-Grade Classroom. 

 Here's an example of one of the activities.

To make it work for a Multi-Grade classroom, there are 3 different paragraphs that are appropriate for different grade levels. 

 The whole class has a mini-lesson about writing a conclusion to an opinion paragraph.   The teacher then divides students into small groups, and that group receives one paragraph based on their reading level.

Smiles,

Deborah

Clarifying the Differences Between Opinion, Persuasive, and Argument Writing

While developing materials to assist a 3rd Grader as she learns how to write an opinion piece that supports a point of view with reasons, I had to step back and clarify the difference between 

opinion, persuasive, and argument writing for myself.

Here is a simple chart from writestepswriting.com that helped me. Click on the chart to take you directly to their website.

Then I came upon this very informative  post written by 

the Six Traits Gurus, and I realized that the big difference between these different types of writing is evidence.

For the 3rd Grader that I am working with, I need to concentrate on just having her learn to state her opinion well but with her own voice.

Grade Level Differences: Opinion Pieces versus Arguments

Up through grade 5, the CCSS call for students to write opinion pieces, not arguments per se. The defining characteristics of an opinion piece are as follows:

• The writer makes a claim
• The writer offers reasons to support that claim (School uniforms are not a good idea because they are expensive)
• The writer offers facts or details to strengthen his/her reasons (School uniforms can cost over $100 each, and every student needs at least two of them)
• The writer uses transitions (For example, To illustrate, Consequently, On the other hand, In addition) to link reasons or details to the main claim
• The writer sets up the paper by making the issue clear and closes by reinforcing his/her position or otherwise guiding the reader toward a good decision

After reading this post, I also realized that I don't want my 3rd Grader to get sucked into the conclusion pit where they just restate the 3 reasons.  I want them to start to think about a powerhouse ending that contains those reasons without the step by step writing that is so boring (and yet so easy to do). Here's an excerpt from the blog post that started me thinking:

• A powerhouse ending. Endings matter. They need to stick in our minds, wrap up loose ends, give us new things to think about—and perhaps, in the case of argument, suggest new thinking or action. An ending must be more than a summary of what we’ve read. It is condescending to simply summarize what’s been said, as if the reader were inattentive or not very quick. It’s lazy to leave things dangling, or toss the choice of options to the reader—the old “What do you think?” way out. A good argument might close with a call to action, a summary of the consequences of inaction, or even with the most powerful piece of evidence—one the writer has held back until this moment. A good question to ask is, What doesn’t the reader know yet that will push him/her to a good conclusion?

 She also discusses implications for higher grades as they focus on argumentative writing and on using evidence to support those arguments.  Click HERE to read the whole article.  It's really worth your time! 

Lastly, I did more research on this topic using multiple sources and an old language arts textbook (dry reading)  and the definitions concurred with the above discussion. I didn't want you to think I just found one source on the internet and took that information as the "holy grail."

Smiles, 

Deborah 

 

Opinion Writing : Common Core Standard CC.3.W.1a

 I am working with a 3rd Grader on the

 Common Core Writing Standard CC.3.W.1.a

Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.

We've been talking about the organizational structure that help us write a well-written opinion.  

Together we wrote down some of her thoughts that answer the topic: Is ballet a healthy activity?

Example of a completed Opinion Structure

Example of an individual Page

If you would like a fan pattern to use in your classroom, click HERE TO GO TO MY GOOGLE DOC FILE

 AND DOWNLOAD IT.

This document has both lined and unlined fan pages. It also includes the organizational graphic organizer that we used while talking about the structure of an opinion writing piece.

 (More on that in another post)

Leave a comment and let me know if you find it helpful or not. Share your OPINION

Smiles, 

Deborah
Update on 12/25/16: 
Fun post today on:  The Structure of Opinion Writing and FINGERPAINTING. (sensory experience)  http://splitmultigradeclassroom.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-structure-of-opinion-writing-for.html