You Don’t Want a Unicorn Writing

Have your students been swept up with the unicorn craze? Well, not only have my students, but also I have been! In my own classroom, it all started with this student checking out this book and wearing this bow. When my students were at reading partnerships, I noticed that her bow matched her book. Oh my. Too precious.

During lunch, I borrowed her book to read and absolutely fell in love with it. It lends itself so nicely to opinion writing, a unit that we are just wrapping up. The next day, I read aloud the book wearing my very sparkly unicorn horn, and my kids were officially hooked.

I used my anchor chart to pose the question, “Do YOU Want to Own a Unicorn?” Students developed their opinion and met with their table group to discuss the reasons why they felt the way that they did. I heard many students referring back to the reasons in the book for NOT wanting a unicorn, while other students used those same exact reasons for WANTING a unicorn! It was a great way to also introduce the idea of perspective.

After meeting with their group, forming their opinion with supporting reasons, students shared their opinion with the class. One at a time, each student walked up to the anchor chart and clearly stated their opinion, “I WOULD want to own a unicorn” or “I WOULD NOT want to own a unicorn.” They placed the “yes” or “no” star that represented their opinion on the anchor chart. (For the record, my opinion is a strong YES!)

The next step was to introduce this idea as the writing topic for the opinion writing paragraph. As a class, we reviewed the success criteria for opinion writing. One at a time, I read each sentence on the success criteria anchor chart. We used a mentor writing example to point out where in the writing the author included each part.

To support my developing writers who need extra guidance to be successful, I displayed sentence stems on the SmartBoard. Many of my ELL students really do well with this level of support for writing.

For two of my IEP students, they used a graphic organizer to break down the introduction, conclusion, and supporting reasons. I didn’t a picture of the graphic organizer, but you can see at peek at them in this photo below.

Students then wrote their first draft of their opinion writing. I have a handful of students who still use a spacer when they write. At this point of the year, they know they can just go and get one without asking. Well, I couldn’t resist making these adorable unicorn writing spacers for my kiddos.

Needless to say, everyone wanted a unicorn spacer. And I was fine with that. :)

My students use the writer’s checklist to check the criteria on our success criteria anchor chart, to see if they are “done” or need to go back to revise their writing. After writing, students worked with a friend to peer edit each other’s writing.

Now, onto the MAGICAL part. The art project part. :) This part of the writing project actually took place a couple days after we finished our first drafts. Let me tell you, in all honesty, my students were dying to do this project. They COULD NOT WAIT to get their hands on the unicorn templates, yarn, and of course, you know it, the GLITTER! :) They could not contain their excitement.

I had two responsible students be in charge of the glitter. That’s right. I teach second grade. Put two students in charge of the glitter and oh my they LOVED this job. I had two sweepers and two cleaners, also. :) The sweepers used the floor sweepers (thank you Dollar Store) to sweep of the glitter that fell and the cleaners cleaned up the table afterwords. I just love when we teach students how to be capable, responsible, and indepedent thinkers and learners. I may have heard comments about, “You are using glitter?!?!” from other teachers. Yes, I am using glitter. Actually, I am teaching my students how to use the glitter. And guess what? They ROCKED it! I hate when some educators have limited mindsets about what their kids are capable of doing. :( But that is a whole other blog post for another day.

Needless to say, our final drafts were MAGICALLY displayed.

For the unicorn writing bulletin board display, I posted our anchor charts.

If you would like to do this writing and art project with your class, please check out the details below.

Description of Unicorn Opinion Writing Resource

Would you want to own a unicorn? What is YOUR opinion? Students form their opinion and create reasons to support their opinion. Students use a graphic organizer to brainstorm their ideas, write their first draft, edit their writing, peer edit, and meet with the teacher for a writing conference. Students will write their final draft and publish their writing with an adorable unicorn craft, which makes a colorful and creative display of your students’ writing! This is an an authentic, engaging, and motivating way for students to write an opinion paragraph. These writing resources can be used as a book companion to the adorable book, You Don’t Want a Unicorn, by Ame Dyckman.

Below is a list of what is included in this resource:

1. The Great Unicorn Debate: A one page reading passage showing both sides of the “owning a unicorn” debate.
Slides to Display on Your SmartBoard: These slides are in color, so that they display nicely with your technology. One slide poses the debate question and the other slide provides sentence stems for your writers who need more support.
Success Criteria for Opinion Writing: A list of statements students can read to determine their success on this writing project. In addition, I provided two writing samples that meets all the criteria.
Graphic Organizers for Prewriting and Planning Opinion: These graphic organizers help students to clearly state their opinion with an introduction, three supporting reasons, and a strong conclusion.
Peer Editing Checklist: With guidance from their peers, students develop and strengthen their writing as needed by editing, using this helpful checklist.
Writing Checklists: Two different writing checklists are included. One generic checklist can be used for a variety of different writing genres, while the other checklist is specifically for an opinion writing piece.
Opinion Writing Rubric: This one page rubric is a powerful way for students to self-assess their writing. The teacher can also use the rubric to assess writing.
Writing Conference Templates: As the students complete their writing, you can conference with them using this template. Provide one compliment (heart image) and one wish (a suggestion, rainbow image) to improve their writing.
Final Copy Paper: There are different versions of lined pages for students to choose from as they write their final copy- primary and intermediate lines, horizontal and vertical pages.
Unicorn Templates for Bulletin Board: There are three pages of templates for the body of the unicorn. There is a black/white and color option. There are four pages to print and display as the title of your bulletin board. You can print these on colorful card stock paper. There are also colorful printables to create an anchor chart.
Unicorn Inspirational Printables: Print these quotes (5 pages total) on colorful paper for a great looking bulletin board display!