This lesson will help prepare students to first form an opinion and then provide a correctly written response. Students organize their thoughts, agree or disagree, define the problem, support opinion, and conclude in 3-5 sentences. This...

Links to 12 lessons and activities that build student skills in standard W.3.1a: Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.

For this lesson, 1st graders look at a print of "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo DaVinci and talk about what they see, searching for visual clues to help them form an opinion. They discuss the importance of portrait paintings during the...

[Free Registration/Login Required] A collection of articles, regularly updated, on topics in the media. Each article presents an issue and asks students to describe their reaction to it and what their own opinion of the issue is....

[Free Registration/Login Required] A site with links to 21 worksheets that can be downloaded and printed for student use while building skills with standard W.3.1.A: Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion,...

In this lesson plan, 5th graders are asked to write an opinion about whether the United States should stop using pennies. Their opinion must be based on ideas and information from the two reading passages provided.

In this lesson, students will use music as an impetus for stating and supporting opinions. They will compose an opinion poster based on a narrative about a train using percussion instruments. This will involve group work which can lead...

Third graders will be able to form an opinion piece concerning one of their classmate's character traits and give reasons to support that opinion.

This effective tool for teaching persuasive writing contains thorough lesson plans which encourage students to take a stance and create arguments to support their position. Contains printable worksheets, rubrics, a PowerPoint...

In this interactive lesson, students examine Thomas Edison's character traits and how they contributed to his becoming one of the greatest inventors in history. In this interactive lesson, students watch videos to gather evidence about...

[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, you will learn to differentiate fact from opinion and to decide whether an opinion is substantiated or not. These are important reading and writing skills.

This is a fun lesson to allow students to try to convince their parents to buy them a pet of their choice in an opinion letter.

The aim of this unit is for students to develop their persuasive writing and information gathering skills using various forms of information and communication technology. It is hoped that the context of 'teenage problems' will provide an...

Use an interactive rubric to evaluate areas of strengths and weaknesses in a student's essay on cell phone use in schools. Then compare your responses to another teacher's.

Using music, video and readings, students will explore their views of the American Dream, and use this information to create "Animoto" videos that express a personal opinion or take on the dream. Students will develop and support their...

In this lesson, students will learn how to write an effective summary using reading strategies to help ensure that the summary contains enough information without including unnecessary details or personal opinions. You will also learn...

An activity where students watch the movie "Awakenings" starring Robin Williams. The purpose of the lesson is for students to record on a tally sheet each time they notice a step in the scientific method being used. They will become...

For this PDF lesson, students unpack two opposite concepts by creating an imaginary "Smear Campaign," pretending the two concepts are opposing each other in election. Students may create print, radio, or television ads to show how their...

After researching the political and environmental issues around Toronto, Ontario's shipment of its waste to Ann Arbor, Michigan, young scholars will hold a debate and write an opinion paper.

This lesson focuses on the extreme violence that permeated Roman society and how that violence may have attributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire. Students will make comparisons between the violence in ancient Rome and the violence...

[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text debating whether students should or should not get paid to attend class. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.

[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text debating whether or not schools have the right to monitor what students post online. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.

[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text debating whether students should or should not be allowed to use cell phones in class. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.

[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text arguing for and against competitive eating contests. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.