In a nutshell, here was my day:
I don’t think I need to elaborate. I think you all probably know how I’m feeling, but I’ll tell you with one little word: exhausted.
Anyway, back to the real point of the blog post, right? Because we are all tired and no one needs to hear my whining.
We’ve started opinion writing in the first grade! Woo! I’m kind of excited because I love giving my own opinion about many things in life. It’s been cold and very wintery lately so our first opinion piece is about whether winter is the best season or the worst season. I had the idea in my head already, but then I kept seeing it pop up on instagram from some great teachers and so that solidified it right there.
First, I taught them what an opinion actually is with this little anchor chart. I got the idea from Teaching In High Heels. Unfortunately, that’s not the direct link to the post. I saw the anchor chart on pinterest and when I clicked on the picture, it just took me to her fabulous blog, not the actual post. She’s great though, so I definitely suggest clicking the link and looking at her fabulous blog 🙂
After introducing fact and opinion, we started a little fact and opinion sorting activity. Each kiddo got a card that had a fact or opinion. We sorted them on this chart:
By the way, they all kept saying my curly q’s on my letters were hair. The imagination of firsties 🙂
Today, we got the chance to begin the actual writing part. We first wrote a “draft” on our anchor chart. We chose to write our opinion of why it’s the best season for our example.
We began our graphic organizers, but not very far. That’s the plan tomorrow! This is my first time teaching opinion writing so I’m definitely no expert. How does everyone else teach opinion writing?
Love your anchor charts! I teach opinion wiritng by doing monthly opinion graphs and then using that to lead the kids into defending what their opinion was…if that makes sense =) Simply put, I created a pack for it which covers the whole year and I just use that! lol
(new follower!)
Jennifer
First Grade Blue Skies
Thank you!
And it makes complete sense 🙂 I like it! Might have to try it out next year 🙂