Tara Soule
Writing Unit
EDUC 139
Fall 2015
Opinion Writing
Grade: First-Grade
Unit Objectives:
Common Core Iowa Standards
K5 W.1.1 Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they
are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some
sense of closure.
ELA Standards
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process
elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
In this writing unit, you will develop multiple short opinion writing pieces.
Mentor Texts:
Bennett, K., & Jones, N. (2005). Not Norman: A goldfish story. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick
Press.
Starting on page 4-5 point out how Norman states his opinion and gives reasons of what
kind of pet he wants
Cherry, L. (2000). The great kapok tree: A tale of the Amazon rain forest. San Diego: Harcourt.
On page 5, the social issue is first addressed of why not to cut down the kapok tree
George, J., & Powers, D. (1998). Dear Katie, the volcano is a girl. New York: Hyperion Books
for Children.
Page 1-5 the grandma and her grandmother discuss their contradicting opinions
Rosenthal, A., & Lichtenheld, T. (2009). Duck! Rabbit! San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Entire book dialogue goes back and forth about if it is a duck or rabbit, and evidence is
provided to explain the opinion
Day 1
Topic: Point of View
Resources: Duck! Rabbit!, paper, marker
Teacher Actions: Read aloud Duck! Rabbit!, lead class in creating point of view anchor chart
with textual evidence
Student Actions: Listen to read aloud, share point of views with evidence to add to anchor chart
Differentiation: ELL students can point to evidence and the teacher can verbalize it, students
needing further help can turn to a shoulder buddy and together find a piece of evidence, TAG
students can turn their point of view into a written story
Found On: [Link]
Day 2
Topic: Reasons for an Opinion Part One
Resources: Not Norman A Goldfish Story, pencils, Organizing my Opinion graphic organizers
Teacher Actions: Read aloud Not Norman A Goldfish Story, lead students in discussion of
favorite animals/pets, explain opinions must have a reason, pass out and model Organizing my
Opinion graphic organizer
Student Actions: Listen to read aloud, share aloud favorite animal/pet, complete graphic
organizer
Differentiation: ELL students can use bullet points for reasons and form complete sentences at a
later time, students needing further help can be given a fewer amount of reasons to write, and
TAG students can create an acrostic poem about their selected animal
Found On: [Link]
Day 3
Topic: Reasons for an Opinion Part Two
Resources: Organizing my Opinion graphic organizers, My Favorite Pet writing paper,
pencils, crayons
Teacher Actions: Have students turn to a shoulder buddy and share their organizer, explain and
pass out My Favorite Pet writing paper
Student Actions: Share reasons on organizer, put reasons together to make a story, focus on
accurate grammar, spelling, and punctuation, illustrate story
Differentiation: ELL students will be graded more on content than grammar and conventions,
those needing further help can include fewer reasons in their story, TAG students can include
additional reasons supporting their opinion
Found On: [Link]
Day 4
Topic: Textual Evidence Reflecting
Resources: The Great Kapok Tree, whiteboard, markers, post-it notes
Teacher Actions: Read aloud The Great Kapok Tree, lead students in brainstorming social
issues from the text, demonstrate to students how to locate evidence, instruct students to reflect
on the issue
Student Actions: Listen to read aloud, brainstorm issues, find evidence of social issues, write
what their thinking about the issue is on a post-it note and attach to chart
Differentiation: ELL students and those needing further help can pair up with a partner and look
together for an issue and evidence, TAG students can search in National Geographic Kids for
examples of social issues
Found On: [Link]
Day 5
Topic: Opinion Metaphor
Resources: Dear Katie The Volcano is a Girl, anchor chart, pencils, paper
Teacher Actions: Read aloud Dear Katie The Volcano is a Girl, display anchor chart defining a
metaphor
Student Actions: Students listen to read aloud, and write metaphors using the word is about
anything they choose (See teacher model)
Differentiation: Students needing an idea can draw out of a jar an example, such as tree or dove,
TAG students can create multiple metaphors as time allows and illustrate them
Day 6
Topic: Comparison Opinions
Resources: Our School is the Best! writing paper, pencils, crayons
Teacher Actions: Model writing a story about why our school is the best, comparing it to
another school
Student Actions: Write about why their school is better than another one they have attended
(Ex. preschool) or one they have driven by or heard of, illustrate school
Differentiation: For students needing further help and ELLs, provide a list of comparison topics
(Ex. lunch, playground, library) TAG students can compare their school to an imaginary school
Day 7
Topic: Majority Opinion Part One
Resources: paper, apple die-cuts, marker
Teacher Actions: Create an apple bar graph anchor chart, instruct students to select an apple
food they like best and verbalize why
Student Actions: Discuss with a peer their opinion and reasons on which apple food is best
Differentiation: If ELL students do not know what the foods are, have a taste testing
Found on: [Link]
Day 8
Topic: Majority Opinion Part Two
Resources: Apple bar graph anchor chart, writing paper, pencils
Teacher Actions: Lead students in discussing which foods are liked the least and most, asking
students who voted on the most popular food their opinion and reasons, explain writing piece
Student Actions: Engage in discussion and share opinions, write a story on what the class voted
as their favorite food including the opinion of why the class liked it best and if you agree or
disagree with the opinion
Differentiation: ELLs and students needing further help, can have a modified writing
assignment where they only do one part- either summing up the vote or agreeing/disagreeing,
TAG students can write their opinion of their favorite food besides apple foods
Assessment:
Found On: [Link]
Use summative assessment for all 8 mini-lessons to judge whether the students tell the topic,
state an opinion, give reasons, close the paper, and use proper conventions and handwriting. I
would display this chart for self-assessment and ask the class at the end of daily writing to check
and see if they have the 5 star + components included in their writing. If my school did
standards based grading, instead of using stars, I would take this criteria and specify what
qualifies as meeting progress, insufficient, or excelling to create a new rubric.
Teacher Model:
For day 5 I would use this graphic organizer to model writing a metaphor. I would first write a
few of my own (can be often heard ones), then ask the class to share a few aloud, and finally let
students finish filling in the graphic organizer individually. I would encourage students to utilize
technology as a scaffold to discover metaphors.
Metaphors
Time
Life
America
The snow
My teacher
He
Your brain
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is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
a thief
precious
a melting pot
a white blanket
a dragon
a night owl
a computer
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is
is
is
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Writing Process Reflection:
I felt it would be a helpful scaffold to make a graphic organizer to further explain metaphors.
Personally, I always confuse similes and metaphors. I feel having an anchor chart accessible
would help students as they brainstorm and create their own. Allowing students to utilize
technology to search the internet for metaphors is a learning scaffold as some students may not
have background knowledge of hearing metaphors before. I wanted to keep my graphic organizer
simple so students focus on creating or finding quality metaphors, and have an abundance of
lines to record them on.
