Differentiating between facts and opinions is a concept some of my students struggle with. Often times they would claim a statement is a fact because to them, it is true. Based on many, many conversations and reflecting on these teachable moments, I have my students do a "fact check" before determining if a statement is a fact or an opinion.
To be a fact, the statement must:
-be correct
-be able to be proven, observed, or measured
To be an opinion, the statement expresses a belief. Even if the statement is true for an individual or a group, unless it's true for everyone, it's not a fact.
This seemed to help clear up some of the confusion.
One activity I like to use is FCRR's fact and opinion football game. As extensions, I have students write out their own statements for their teammates to sort.
I used this activity in summer tutoring today with great success until...
My helper showed up.
I've been having a great time tutoring. It's teaching, but much more relaxed. I'm focused on skills and what my student needs. There are notions of just opening a home school that flutter around in my mind until I realize how much "help" I'd have from my fur children...and that dream quickly vanishes.
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.
