LOOKING FOR OPINION WRITING PROMPTS FOR 2ND GRADE?
I used to dread teaching opinion writing to 2nd grade and 3rd grade students, because this type of writing can create cognitive overload in children! It sounds pretty straight forward but the reality is that students not only need to form an opinion on a set topic but they need to back it up with evidence and examples. Hence why Persuasive writing is big jump from the other writing text types. Usually the scope and sequence for elementary students when it comes to teaching and learning writing is:
- recounts
- narratives
- informative texts
- opinion writing
We know that writing doesn’t come easy to most of our students. That’s where opinion writing prompts for 2nd grade come in handy! It honestly makes opinion writing much more engaging and natural. As teachers, we know the value of modeling ‘good writing’ to our students to help with schema. Repeated examples of opinion writing allows our students to explore this text type, know what a completed writing sample should like and as a result, develop their own ideas and thoughts….voila` their own opinion!
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OPINION WRITING PROMPTS FOR 2ND GRADE TO SCAFFOLD THE WRITING PROCESS
With opinion writing, students are not required to just recount what they did on the weekend, or follow the 5Ws writing framework of who, what, why, when, where. Instead, children need to be critical and creative thinkers who can form an opinion and:
- present their view point to an audience
- provide evidence to back up their viewpoint
- provide a strong conclusion
USE OPINION WRITING PROMPTS FOR 2ND GRADE IN MODELED WRITING
So how do we teach opinion writing first grade and second grade? Here are 5 effective steps in teaching persuasive writing to children:
1. Provide lots of opinion writing examples by reading fun picture book mentor texts in this text type
2. Modeled writing of opinion writing
3. Shared writing of opinion writing
4. Visual Anchor Charts
5. Sentence Starters
6. Give students the opportunity to practice opinion writing with fun Would Your Rather
topics
Diving straight into ‘serious’ opinion writing topics can be overwhelming, so start with super fun ‘Would You Rather’ topics that kids just love. The secret to any writing lesson is ensuring that the topic hooks the kids!
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This ‘Would You Rather’ writing topics is a great introduction to Opinion Writing. Students love these topics for persuasive writing which is a great way to hook their attention:
- a house or castle?
- a bird or mouse?
- a clock or chair?
- a duck or frog?
- butterfly or snail?
- cat or dog?
- fish or bat?
- guitar or violin?
- shoe or hat?
- square or triangle?
- tiger or elephant?
- car or bike?
- pencil or scissors?
- paint or read?
- write or sing?
- Spelling or Math?
- Science or Social Studies?
- piano or drums?
- flower or plant?
- baker or nurse?
- carriage or car?
- caterpillar or slug?
- ladybug or spider?
- firefighter or teacher?
- cow or pig?
- rabbit or rat?
- owl or dinosaur?
- coach or vet
- clarinet or violin?
- an extra lined paper for differentiation purposes is provided for each individual writing template
A Mentor Text Suggestion List is provided and the following anchor charts:
- What is Opinion Writing?
- An Example of Opinion Writing
- How Can You Persuade People?
- Convincing Language
Create an Opinion Writing Bulletin Board that includes the following opinion writing sentence starters:
- I believe
- I think
- I feel
- It is certain that
- My idea is
- Definitely
- Absolutely
- Without a doubt
- Firstly
- Secondly
- Thirdly
- In my opinion
- To summarize
- In conclusion
Let’s connect!
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