Teaching opinion writing in kindergarten can be so much fun… and simple!
Our Writing Through the Year units introduce writing for a reason in our 4th unit of study. In that unit, writers investigate persuasive letters and texts. However, I like to teach opinion writing spirally.
So with our opinion writing unit, we formatted it with the intention that the lessons should be integrated throughout the year instead of one lesson after another. As you know, kindergarteners grow leaps and bounds in their transcription skills, so I want to give them plenty of opportunities to express their own opinions as they write throughout the year.
We start with each of our opinion pieces with a question. This can be done as part of a question of the day type activity. The picture cards are a strong support for young learners. They also work wonders for first grade students, second grade students, and students who speak a second language.
Then, I lead students in a discussion and brainstorming session. I ask the students to not only explain their opinion but to also explain the thinking process that helped them arrive at their point of view. These young writers have different opinions for sure!
Part of our kindergarten opinion writing time involves learning the structure of persuasive texts. We use this time to introduce our kindergarten students to these various opinion writing anchor charts. You will notice these anchor charts include introduction sentences. These anchor charts serve as one of the graphic organizers that help students get their great ideas down on paper. You can also add these to your writing centers so students can refer back to them. The anchor charts are included in our Opinion Writing unit.
These can be placed on an opinion sentence strip or simply written on the board as I have shown below.
If you have read my previous blog posts about writer’s workshop, I’ve talked about how I never give writing prompts during writers workshop. Well these wrting prompts are the expection.
Some prompts ask students to write about their favorite book, their favorite animal, or their favorite toy, while some are more seasonal writing prompts.
Opinion writing is the exception when it comes to telling students what they will write about (but we don’t actually do these lesson plans during writers workshop time.)
Finally, the writing begins! You will notice that the printable writing paper provides a word bank. Students will use a combination of drawing and writing to respond.
We love writing about our opinion throughout the year! We want to create lots of opportunities for young students to develop and practice this invaluable skill.
Students love sharing about their own opinion writing even more.
Sharing can be done with the whole class … and with partners! When I have a student share with the class, I make sure to point out that the student has made their opinion clear and given a strong reason why they have that opinion. Partner sharing is a great way to strengthen oral language.
With a variety of opinion writing prompts, you can easily have students practice their opinion writing skills at various times throughout the year.
As with all of our other big writing units, we love to give students ample opportunities to see how other authors write. These mentor texts will also work well in your narrative writing or persuasive writing lessons.
This is a hilarious book where the child tries to convince his mother that an iguana would make an amazing pet.
