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5th Grade: Opinion Writing Lesson #2 Title: Year-Round School: An Opinion Paper Focus: Using evidence that supports reasons in opinion writing and quoting that evidence Standard(s):

ELAGSE5W1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons. a. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose. b. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details. c. Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically). d. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.

ELAGSE5RI1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

ELAGSE5RI8: Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence supports which point(s).

Target: I can write about a position/opinion, support it with reasons, and use evidence from an author to support my position Part 1: Lesson Introduction (5 minutes) Today’s lesson is the continuation of Power Lesson #6: “Proving My Position.” The focus of this lesson is to teach students how to support their positions/opinions on a topic when they write about it. Using facts, details, and evidence from text, students will connect their opinions/positions to evidence within text, giving credit to the authors while quoting information in support of their opinion/position. Review the short video with the students about year-round school to reintroduce and reacquaint them with the idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY5mPsWm5cw

Part 2: Mini-lesson/Teacher modeling (10 minutes) Using the two lists created in the Power Lesson, discuss with the students the main ideas from the video. Tell the students that today they will be writing their opinion papers on the concept of year-round school. They will be choosing one of two topics: Ø Year-round school is beneficial. Ø Year-round school is not beneficial.

Students will need access to the two articles that were shared and reviewed in Power Lesson #6: “Is Year-Round School Better for Kids?” and “The Pros and Cons of Year-Round Schools.” Review for the students the information they collected during the Power Lesson on their position/opinion on the topic. Distribute the organizers from that lesson. (If you have not completed Power Lesson #6, you may want to take some time and do that lesson first. It is directly connected to this lesson.)

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Students had to choose their position/opinion about the idea of year-round schools. Based on their notes, they needed to identify at least four reasons that would support their position/opinion. Each of these reasons needed to have at least one quote from an article. This quote will serve as evidence to connect their reason. Model for the students how to connect their reasons with their text evidence.

Reason #1: Year-round school reduces the amount of learning that is lost over the summer. Quote to support reason #1: “Studies show that students experience dramatic learning loss in all academic areas over the course of summer break, some losing up to two months of math skills.”

Model for the students how to take the reason and connect it to the evidence. Using the list of signal phrases and reporting verbs on page 5 of the lesson, show the students how to use quotes within their writing.

Topic sentence with reason #1: One reason year-round school is beneficial is because year-round school reduces the amount of learning that is lost over the summer. Quote to support reason #1: According to Dennis, “studies show that students experience dramatic learning loss in all academic areas over the course of summer break, some losing up to two months of math skills.” Sentence(s) to explain quote and connect it to reason. This is in your own words. This can lead to a loss of time in the next grade for learning all that is needed to be learned because of the review that must take place. Students should not lose so much knowledge over the summer, and year-round school would keep this summer learning loss from occurring.

Part 3: Guided practice (10 minutes) During guided practice, share with the students the list of signal phrases and reporting verbs on page 5. Show them how to take a reason and connect it to evidence within the text using a variety of examples. The following will be helpful to share:

v Explain the writing situation. The position/opinion choices are as follows: *Student athletes have good self-concepts. *Non-student athletes do not have good self- concepts. The sample chooses the second position.

Topic sentence with reason #1: One reason students do not participate in sports is because they do not have good self-concepts. Quote to support reason #1: In the opinion of George Smith, “adolescent students are often embarrassed by their awkward and gangly postures and mobility.” Sentence(s) to explain quote and connect it to reason. This is in your own

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words: Kids feel like everyone is watching them when they play a sport, and when they do not feel as confident as the best athlete, they are embarrassed and choose not to play.

Topic sentence with reason #2: Another reason students do not participate in sports is because they can’t afford the fees. Quote to support reason #2: Sally Smith points out in her article that “athletic fees are getting extremely out of hand, and for this reason, there are many students who cannot afford to pay this in order to play.” Sentence(s) to explain quote and connect it to reason. This is in your own words: Even though sports teams offer solutions by allowing kid athletes to participate in fund raisers to get the money to pay the fees, this is still very difficult for players. If you don’t know anyone who will purchase what you are selling, you are at a loss for where to go to try and sell your items. Door-to-door selling is not safe and is not recommended.

Part 4: Independent work time (20 minutes) Students should write their opinion/position papers during independent work time. Keep in mind that each body paragraph will be represented by one of the four reasons along with a quote from an article to back-up/support the reason. The last part of each body paragraph should be in the students’ own words and should further relate/explain their evidence. Remind students that an introduction and a conclusion are also needed. When completed, their papers will consist of 6 paragraphs. (You may need to complete this lesson over several days. If you plan to assess final copies, you will definitely need to allow time for the writing process to be followed. Today’s work would be considered rough draft form.)

Part 5: Review Assessment (10 minutes) Review & Closing (5 minutes) Assess students on their ability to use quotes Allow students to share some of their from text that is in direct support of their reasons and quotes for their reasons for their positions/evidence. Look for opinions/positions. the use of signal phrases and reporting verbs as reasons are supported by quotes from the text. A more inclusive writing grade can be obtained after students have had the opportunity to revise and edit their papers. Part 6: Extensions Enrichment Support Provide opportunities for students who excel Students who struggle would benefit from a at integrating quotes with evidence the graphic organizer in which the format was chance to write about a topic of choice. repeated as demonstrated in the sample writings within the lesson. For example, take the parts of the examples written in red and

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work with students to help them designate their reasons and the evidence that supports each reason taken from the text. Then discuss with them HOW this all fits in and what is the result or further explanation. A conversation should ensue. Based on the conversation, help the student see how what he just explained about how the evidence connected to the reason is exactly what those few last sentences should be in the body paragraphs.

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Ways to Introduce Quotations in Your Writing

Signal Phrases

• According to… • In her article…/ In his article… • In the opinion of (author’s name) … • (Author’s name) suggests that… • (Author’s name) argues that… • (Author’s name) + (a reporting verb from the list) o example: John Smith emphasizes that…

Reporting Verbs (These words can replace the highlighted words on the above list.)

Acknowledges Adds Admits Agrees Argues Asserts Believes Claims Comments Compares Confirms Declares Denies Disputes Emphasizes Endorses Grants Illustrates Implies Insists Notes Observes Points out Reasons Refutes Rejects Reports Responds Suggests Thinks Writes

5th grade Opinion Writing Lesson #2 Linking reasons with evidence in opinion writing