Grade 5 Lesson 1

Item Page

Lesson Plan Page 2

Student Article Page 5

Opinion Practice Activity Handout Page 9

Marlins Think Tank: Fifth Grade Writing Lesson Plan #1

OBJECTIVE. KEY POINTS. What is your objective? What knowledge and skills are embedded in the objective?  An opinion piece is generally written with Student will be able to: the purpose of persuading others to accept the stated opinion. W.5.1. Write opinion pieces on topics or texts,

supporting a point of view with reasons and information.  An argument is more valid if it is supported by facts and details (i.e. statistics and Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and evidence).

SETTING create an organizational structure in which related ideas

- are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.

Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details. VISION

ASSESSMENT. Describe, briefly, what students will do to show you that they have mastered (or made progress toward) the objective.

Students will write their own opinion piece on the following topic: Based on the article, which position would you play? OPENING (10 min.) MATERIALS. How will you communicate what is about to happen? How will you communicate how it will happen? How will you communicate its importance? How will you communicate connections to previous lessons? How will you engage students and capture their interest?

Students will enter class and immediately respond to the following questions on the board: Student notebooks Have you ever gone to a professional baseball game? Where did you sit? Who took you to the game? Did the audience catch any fly balls? What was the most exciting part of the game? Were all players engaged? Were some players more active than others?

After students have been given five minutes to write, the teacher will begin to take notes on the board as students share their brainstorming ideas. Students will share their experiences and then the teacher will say:

“Today we are going to talk about opinion writing. We are going to read one article about the different positions in baseball. Then we are going to formulate our own opinions and support it with strong evidence. That is what successful writers do! Let’s begin!”

DETERMININGMETHODS

INTRODUCTION OF NEW MATERIAL (10 min.) How will you explain/demonstrate all knowledge/skills required of the objective so that students begin to actively internalize key points? Which potential misunderstandings do you anticipate? How will you proactively mitigate them? How will students interact with the material?

Being able to write successfully means that you can construct a solid argument that has support. Student Imagine if I said to you, “My team won the Little League finals last night!” You might not notebooks necessarily believe me unless you saw my trophy, or if I brought you pictures of the team after we won. These are examples of support.

Students will take the following notes:

An opinion is a belief or view on something. A judgment formed about something not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.  Synonyms - belief, judgment, thought(s), (way of) thinking, mind, (point of) view, viewpoint, outlook, attitude, stance, position, perspective, persuasion, standpoint.

Everyone can have an opinion. Opinions cannot be proven. They are subjective to the person who believes it. People can have opinions about anything: favorite baseball team, favorite color, favorite food, favorite subject, favorite teacher, etc. When opinions are written down for others to read they should have reasons to back them up.

A strong opinion piece has reasons to back up the opinion. “Because I said so,” or “Because I feel like it,” are not good reasons. Your reasons should be unemotional and based on fact in order to support or back up your opinion.

Sometimes, people write their opinions down for others to read. We will be learning about opinion pieces today.

Before you do anything else in your opinion piece, address the topic. State the issue at hand. Next, state your opinion. After you have introduced the topic and stated your opinion, you can begin to delve into your reasons, or your support.

GUIDED PRACTICE (10 min.) How will students practice all knowledge/skills required of the objective, with your support, such that they continue to internalize the key points? How will you ensure that students have multiple opportunities to practice, with exercises scaffolded from easy to hard?

Student and teacher will read the article: “Baseball Positions – Which One is the Best?” “Baseball Positions – (I Do) The teacher will model how to identify an opinion in the passage with supporting details. Which One is (We Do) Class will look for examples of two opinions and evidence. the Best?” (They Do) Students will work collaboratively to find all the other examples of opinions or Handout evidence in the passage.

Note: Circle opinions and underline supporting details.

(Article taken from: https://www.pitchingmachinestop.com/baseball-positions-which-one-is-the-best)

Essential Vocabulary:

1. umpire- an official who watches a game or match closely to enforce the rules and judge on matters arising from the play. 2. advantage- condition or circumstance that puts one in a favorable or superior position 3. essential- necessary; extremely important. 4. emulate- match or surpass (a person or achievement), typically by imitation.

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE (25 min.) How will students independently practice the knowledge and skills required of the objective, such that they solidify their internalization of the key points prior to the lesson assessment?

After discussing the article and the opinions shared in it, students will brainstorm and write their own opinion piece on the following topic: Based on the article, which position would you play and why?

They will first be required to list the topic, their opinion, and three pieces of evidence/support. Once they have completed this, they may begin writing.

Lesson Assessment: Once students have had an opportunity to practice independently, how will they attempt to demonstrate mastery of the knowledge/skills required of the objective?

The lesson assessment will be the product of the time utilized during independent practice.

CLOSING (5 min.) How will students summarize and state the significance of what they learned?

Three students will share their opinions and support it with evidence gathered from the text.

By: Scott McKirahan

As spring draws near and baseball season approaches, you might be wondering, “What baseball position is the best? Which one should I play?”

Not only is each position important, but it can be argued that each one of them is the best position to play. David J. Weller did just that last year in a series of articles he published on the Youth Baseball Blog that explained why each position on the field the best is. Here's a summary of some of those articles:

In Baseball Positions: Catcher Is the Best, David Weller says that the catcher is the best position to play. He is involved with every single pitch and is responsible for knowing opposing batters’ as well as his pitcher’s strengths and weaknesses and using that to his advantage to tell the pitcher what to throw.

The catcher is the field general, telling fielders what bases to throw to and making sure players are in the right positions for cutoff throws. He blocks bad pitches, has a cannon for an arm that he uses to throw out would-be base stealers and is usually the toughest guy on the field.

In Baseball Positions: First Baseman Is the Best, Weller says that first base is the best position to play in baseball. Other than the pitcher and catcher, nobody is involved more on defense.

Virtually every ground ball ends up being thrown to the first baseman, so he has to be great at fielding throws and scooping errant ones out of the dirt. He keeps runners from stealing second by always being ready for a pickoff throw and is the cutoff man for all throws to the plate from right field.

In Baseball Positions: Second Baseman Is the Best, David argues that second base is the best position to play. A second baseman has to have very quick hands and a great glove. Nobody is in charge of covering more ground in the infield than the second baseman so quick feet and great range are essential.

The second baseman is responsible for all throws to second base from the left side of the field and for covering the base on steal attempts. His very quick hands make it possible for him to turn a double play whether he is transferring the ball from his glove to the shortstop to make the turn or he is the middleman, firing a throw to first base practically as fast as he receives the ball from another infielder.

If you play second base, you are the cutoff man for all throws from right field and many throws from center. Being able to pivot quickly and make an accurate throw is a skill that few people have and one that makes a second baseman special.

In Baseball Positions: Third Baseman Is the Best, David Weller makes the case that there is no better position to play than third base. Because no other position player is closer to the batter, a third baseman must have catlike reflexes, a strong arm and not be afraid of a hard-hit ball. Most young hitters are right handed, and the good ones pull the ball. Because of that, the third baseman must be ready for a hot shot down the line on every swing. He can't back up, though, since he has to be ready to charge to the plate on any bunted ball. A third baseman who can get to a bunt quickly and fire a rocket to first base takes a very important strategic play away from the other team.

The anchor of the left side of the field, third base is a position that can only be played by right handers.

In Baseball Positions: Shortstop Is the Best, Weller states that there is no better position to play than shortstop. Because of the range of skills needed to play the position, the shortstop is usually the best athlete on the field. The coach knows it, all the players on his team know it and all the players on the other team know it, too.

The shortstop has to have a very strong arm since he is the furthest away from first base of any of the infielders. He has to have great range, too, since he covers ⅔ of the left side of the infield. He has to cover second base on steals as well as plays at second base and absolutely must have quick hands to turn a double play. The cutoff man for hits to left field and left-center, a shortstop has to be able to pivot and fire a rocket to home, too!

Few players are in a position where more spectacular plays are required. A shortstop has to be able to make plays to his right and left, often diving, and throw from some very awkward positions. Seldom is there a game where the shortstop doesn't have the dirtiest uniform on the field.

In Baseball Positions: Right Fielder Is The Best, David says that right field is the position all Little Leaguers should want to play. Although some may see it as a place to put the weakest fielder on the team, that simply is not the case. A right fielder is the man responsible for keeping runners from advancing extra bases in several situations.

Not only does a right fielder need to have the one of the strongest arms on the field in order to gun runners down at home or third base, but no position has more responsibility when it comes to backing up other players. The right fielder backs up throws made to first by the pitcher as well as all throws from the left side of the infield to second base.

In the Major Leagues, the right fielder is usually one of the best power hitters on the team.

In Baseball Positions: Center Fielder Is The Best, David J. Weller points out that center field might be the best position to play. Captain of the outfielders, no player on the field has to be faster or cover more ground. His incredible speed is evidenced on the base paths, too, where he frequently leads the team in stolen bases.

Not only is the center fielder responsible for covering the deepest part of the ball field, but he has to be fast enough to back up both the left and right fielders and get to balls in the gap on both sides. A strong arm is a must; nobody has a longer throw to home plate than a center fielder does.

Because there are so many more right handed batters on Little League teams that hit with power, playing left field means you are going to need to be able to run very fast both backward and forward. Line drives will just clear the infield so the ability to field balls off the ground while on the run is just as important as being able to track down fly balls.

The left fielder also needs to be ready to get on his horse and make some pretty spectacular over the shoulder grabs. And, like all outfielders, a left fielder definitely needs to have a good arm. Frequently, he is fielding some of the deepest fly balls, so being able to gun an advancing runner down at second or third are things that only someone with a great arm can do.

If a player is chosen to play left field, it means that he has an outstanding arm, is extremely fast and has a great ability to track a ball from the moment it leaves the bat. A player chosen to play left field joins a club of extremely elite players including Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez.

The pitcher is the best position on the field because they are involved in every single play. The pitcher is the player who sets the tempo for the game, and controls how well the other team performs. Some pitchers can throw as hard as 100 miles per hour, and some can throw loopy curveballs to keep hitters off balance. The entire team relies on the pitcher to do well! If a team has a great pitcher and 8 below average players, the team still has a chance to win. However, a team with a bad pitcher and 8 All Stars will most likely lose. Many great pitchers like Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, and Dan Straily all help their teams win!

As you can see, no matter what position you ultimately play, that position is vital to the team.

Although you may not join the list of all-time greats at their position, you will undoubtedly become a better player when you practice and do you best every time you are on the baseball field.

"Baseball is a lot like life. It's a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life." - Ernie Harwell

Write your own opinion, based on the following topic:

Topic: Based on the article, which position would you play and why?

Opinion: ______

Support/Evidence:

1) ______2) ______3) ______

______

______

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