Teaching About Facts and Opinions

This weekend I ran in my first Spartan race….and LOVED it! It was a challenging, muddy, and FUN experience…in MY opinion! I used this picture as inspiration teach my reading mini-lesson for today, which was on fact and opinion. I originally had a different mini-lesson on my lesson plans for today, but when my students started to ask me questions about my Spartan finisher t-shirt, I came up with this one instead! I emailed myself the picture and then projected the photograph onto the SmartBoard. As a whole class, we discussed the different facts that can be gathered just by looking and observing the photograph.

Here are some of the facts we came up with:

1. The sun is shining and there are a few clouds in the sky.

2. My teacher is covered in mud. (They thought this was awesome)

3. There is a Jamba Juice orange tent in the background.

4. There is a lot of gravel and rocks on the ground.

Next, discuss different opinions about the photograph.

Some of the opinions that we came up with are:

1. It was a beautiful day to run the race!

2. Races are so much fun.

3. The mud made the race really hard.

Writing opinions can sometimes be tricky for some students. As a result, I find that sentence starters or prompts help struggling students with this skill.

For example, I gave this prompt: It looks like a ______ race.

Students then chose two adjectives that described their thoughts or reactions about the race photograph, such as: disgusting, challenging, fun, crowded, dangerous, or thrilling.  After this reading mini-lesson about fact and opinion, then we applied this to our mentor text, A Bad Case of Stripes. We are currently reading this text during our reading workshop. I displayed one illustration from Bad Case of Stripes on the Smart Board. The students worked with a partner to write one fact and one (or more!) opinion about that illustration of the book. (Make sure your students know the difference between a photograph and an illustration.)

Some facts that students wrote about this page are:

1. Camilla broke into stars when the class said the Pledge of Allegiance.

2. Camilla has a pink bow in her black hair.

3. There are 3 girls and 4 boys in the illustration.

Some opinions students wrote about this page are:

1. Camilla’s stripes are beautiful.

2. I wish my body would change into stripes when I saw the pledge of allegiance.

3. The other kids were so mean when they were making fun of Camilla.

4. David Shannon is a great illustrator.

Students then glued their half sheet fact/opinion work in their reader’s notebook for future reference.

Want to snag this freebie for your fact/opinion lesson? Click on the button below! 

In subsequent lessons, I plan to have students use their own photograph to write their own facts and opinions. We just started our personal narrative writing unit and each student had to bring in a photograph, which serves as our writing inspiration.

On another note, I just finished my new file about using candy to teach different math concepts. And Halloween is the perfect time for that! (Put that candy to good use!)

Common Core Candy Math

Common Core Candy Math File Description

I love to use the excitement of the Halloween holiday for teaching math!
This 45 page file addresses the following learning targets:
1. I can classify, or group, my candy according to its attributes.
2. I can identify my candy as a 2-D shape. I can identify the characteristics of the 2-D shape.
3. I can identify my candy as a 3-D shape. I can identify the characteristics of the 3-D shape.
4. I can use a comparison statement that describes my candy.
5. I can use my candy to write an addition word problem, using key words. I can use my candy to write a subtraction problem, using key words.
6. I can determine the fraction of each color in the package of my candy. I can write the numerator and denominator of the fraction that represents my candy.
7. I can create a bar graph that represents the different shapes of my candy and analyze the data.
This file includes student reproducibles and colorful anchor charts to go along with each one of the learning targets.

Click HERE To purchase this file on Teachers Pay Teachers

Save 10% by purchasing this file directly from my website.

Sugar Experiment

Sugar Experiment File Description
Candy, candy, candy! Halloween is a great opportunity for your students do discover the oh-so-scary facts about sugar and its effects on our bodies. Did you know that the average American child eats 116 POUNDS of sugar a year? Yep! You read that right!
This is a lesson the students have to see before they believe!!

Students learn facts about sugar in an interactive and fun way. Students will go into further sugar shock when they test their own favorite snack during the sugar test!

This 30+ page file includes:
* Detailed directions with pictures of the lesson
* Note home requesting sugary treats
* Colorful bulletin board posters to display student work/results
* Student activity sheets
* True/False statements with answer key

Click HERE To purchase this file on Teachers Pay Teachers

Save 10% by purchasing this file directly from my website.

Have a great night!