Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is...).
| Name |
Description |
| Making Friends with Harry and Willy and Carrothead | Through a story about three boys who become friends, children learn the importance of understanding that people who are different have strengths. This lesson focuses on friendship, self-confidence, and dealing with conflicts and teasing. This lesson addresses the following literacy skills: ask and answer questions about details and unknown words in text and write an opinion. |
| Do You Like Green Eggs and Ham? | In this 5-day lesson, students will engage in a variety of activities using the beloved Dr. Seuss books, Green Eggs and Ham and Wacky Wednesday. Students will explain the roles of the author and illustrator of a story. They will identify rhyming words in the stories and produce additional words that rhyme. Students will answer text-dependent questions to complete a story map and sequencing graphic organizer about each story. Using the graphic organizers, students will retell the stories. Finally, students will choose their favorite Dr. Seuss book and write an opinion statement telling why the book is their favorite. |
| Gingerbread Boy or Gingerbread Girl? | This is a fun lesson where students will be asked to compare the characters two popular gingerbread tales using a graphic organizer. Then, they will write an opinion sentence explaining which book was their favorite and why. |
| Supermarket Sorting | In this lesson, in a hands-on activity, students will practice sorting food items from the grocery store into different categories. The teacher will read aloud Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert and send students on a scavenger hunt to find and record pictures of fruits and vegetables that are hung around the room. Students will be asked to provide an opinion of what they think is the best fruit or vegetable during a writing assignment and explain why they like it. Then each student will draw a picture of that food on a paper plate to display with their writing. |
| Beach Sort | In this lesson, students will have hands-on experience with categorization skills, by sorting objects commonly taken on a beach trip. Students will practice describing objects, sorting objects into categories, and verbalizing category concepts. Students will also practice discussing opinions about objects by writing a Beach Sorting Book. |
| What’s So Great About Kevin Henkes? | In this lesson, students will serve as researchers of the beloved author, Kevin Henkes. After reading three of Henkes’s most popular books, students will complete a chart of story elements, record their opinion about each book, and create an opinion writing piece to inform others of their favorite Kevin Henkes book and why they like it best. |
| Let's Get Moving! | Students will move like their favorite animal and identify what the movement is called reviewing verbs. Then they will create a chart about ways that animals move and interact with a read aloud as they search for more movement ideas. Students will end the lesson by completing an opinion sentence about their favorite animal movement and why it is their favorite. |
