Opinion Writing

We are in the midst of Being a Writer's persuasive genre.  While this doesn't perfectly align with our standards, I'm still enjoying their suggestions.  For fifth grade, they're expected to write opinion pieces where they share their opinion and give factual reasons as support.  The persuasive component isn't a standard until sixth grade.

We've clarified the difference with the kiddos and let them know if they want to try to persuade their readers, that's just dandy.

We've also been doing mini lessons with commas:

They're doing pretty well with these language standards! I'm hoping they'll apply their knowledge in their writing, since that's a great way to see if they truly understand the skill.

I modeled writing my opening:

It really helps my kids to see my example and color code the different parts (opinion and reasons).

Yes, I wrote about football.  I think it's important to model real writing and for me, I would write about football.  It's more authentic because they know I'm passionate about my sports and as writers, we write about things we know.  I don't think they'd take the lesson as seriously if I wrote about why you should buy a pre-owned car instead of a new one.  Yes, I could write about how it's cheaper, etc but I wouldn't be super interested in the topic. It wouldn't feel genuine to me and they'd pick up on it.  It's important to bring a piece of yourself into the classroom and spread the joy of learning.