READING. During the spring semester, students will read a variety of online resources and non-fiction texts to learn the important value of opinion and the art of argumentation. Students need to know how to build arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Students will learn which readings (2nd - 3rd grade) and online resources (4th - 8th) to use and which ones to steer clear from as they choose texts to back their claims. Students will navigate through the text, making sure to read for understanding. They will get an opportunity to understand objective and biased points of views, and they will become aware of the effective tools writers use to state a claim and convince the reader to think more deeply about the issue presented. What is the writer arguing? Why is it a good argument? What is the author’s purpose? What is the flipside? Is this argument credible? A necessary skill when decoding reading, our students will feel more confident tackling non-fiction texts of all kinds.
Our students will:
identify the difference between an objective point of view (purely informational) and a biased point of view (opinion/argumentative)
determine the author’s central idea of a non-fiction text and provide a summary of the author's neutral or biased point of view
infer the author’s underlying purpose of a text and what the author has set out to accomplish
explain how the author presents an opinion or argument; evaluate the author’s use of reasons and the variety of writing tools (emotion, logic, ethics) used to support particular points in a text
evaluate which reasons and evidence adequately support which point(s); determine whether the reasoning is sound, or if the evidence is relevant and sufficient, or if irrelevant evidence is introduced
analyze how an author's ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text
analyze author’s choice of words and language with an awareness that word choice is intended to persuade; understand under-the-surface connotations built into word choice
form a personal opinion as to whether the author was successful and credible
WRITING. During this unit, our second and third grade students will practice writing opinion paragraphs and our fourth through eighth grade student will write argumentative essays. After formulating their own opinion about a given topic, students will use personal reasoning and/or collect sourced data from the articles provided to back up their own claim. Beginning with a solid topic sentence stating their opinion, students will include reasons to back up their claim, along with supporting evidence.
2nd and 3rd grade students. Students will build an opinion paragraph answering questions like these: Is it important for kids to play sports? Are zoos and aquariums helpful or more harmful for animals? Could the Titanic’s sinking have been avoided? Is the coffee my parents drink good for them?
4th-8th grade students. Students will build an argumentative essay answering questions like these: Is organic/non-GMO food actually better for you? Is talent or hard work more important? Are kids in desperate need of life skills? Should students prioritize STEM over humanities? Is technology helping or hurting our schools? Should kids be reading the news every day? Has the world of advertising gotten out of hand? These are some of the possible argumentative topics, but our 4th-8th grade students will have the freedom to choose their topics.
Our students will:
choose from a variety of topics to determine what opinion/argument is of interest
determine the pros and cons for each topic chosen
formulate an opinion (topic sentence/thesis sentence) that can be backed up with three solid reasons and evidence
learn how to quickly and effectively brainstorm reasons and evidence using personal anecdotes, statistics, quotes from the provided text, and facts that support their argument
use other resources for additional research (if needed)
think through and provide a counter-argument to give credit to the opposing point of view
create a detailed outline that follows the paragraph or essay format, including an introduction, two reasons, one counter-argument, and a conclusion
develop strong and effective voice through word choice and other persuasive writing tools
build strong body paragraphs with additional detailed elaboration that digs deeper into each reason presented
take ownership during the drafting phase of writing by writing intentionally, thoughtfully, neatly, and with proper mechanics and spelling
learn valuable revising tools to improve their drafts (incorporate Bridges writing rules to elevate language, sentence fluency, elaboration of detail
learn standard editing tools to independently find their own mechanical (punctuation, capitalization, tensing), spelling, and formatting errors