Introductory paragraph
I can write an introduction that clearly states an opinion.
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General
Students learn about the opening paragraph of opinion writing and are able to clearly state an opinion in an introduction.
Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.1a
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1a
Learning objective
Students will be able to write an engaging introduction that clearly states an opinion with reasons.
Introduction
Start the lesson by having either a group or class discussion about the statement on the interactive whiteboard. Which opinions do your students have? Why do they believe this? Discuss opinion writing and define some key components of opinion writing, namely that writers share their feelings, opinions or thoughts about a topic, that they include reasons or evidence to support their opinion, and that they include their own voice by way of words/phrases that signal opinion. Explain the importance of introductions and share the steps of writing an introduction.
Instruction
Explain the steps for writing an introduction. These are hooking your reader, stating your opinion, and stating 2-3 main reasons. Give some examples of ways to hook readers. Ask students what the hooks are doing- asking a question or sharing an interesting bit of information. Show how the opinion follows the hook. Show how the main reasons follow the hook and opinion. Give students an introductory paragraph and ask them to mark the hook, opinion, and reasons given in the text. In the next example, challenge students to underline the words and phrases that show opinion, and then decide how the writer feels about the topic. Use that same text and have students work in pairs to create an introduction paragraph for the passage. As a class, share some of the different introductory paragraphs that the different pairs wrote.
Quiz
Students are given ten exercises in which they are first asked to demonstrate their understanding of key concepts given in the text. Then they are given questions in which they determine opinion, which sentence is a hook, what a good hook might be for a given passage and to determine which reasons are given in a text.
Closing
Discuss the steps of writing an introduction and remind students that when they are comfortable with the steps they will always be able to write an introduction that clearly states an opinion. Close by having students write an introduction paragraph for whichever topic the spinner lands on. You can choose to do this per student/group or as a class.
Teaching tips
Remind students that in an introduction, your focus is making sure that the reader wants to continue writing. This means that an introduction does not contain any "evidence," just the hook, opinion and 2-3 main reasons (which you explain and provide evidence for in the body paragraphs).
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About Gynzy
Gynzy is an online teaching platform for interactive whiteboards and displays in schools.
With a focus on elementary education, Gynzy’s Whiteboard, digital tools, and activities make it easy for teachers to save time building lessons, increase student engagement, and make classroom management more efficient.