Third Grade Writing - Opinion Writing - Terrific Teaching Tactics

Are you struggling to teach writing to your 3rd graders? Perhaps you just don’t know where to start. You’re constantly googling, ‘how do you teach writing to 3rd graders?’ or ‘how can I help my 3rd graders with writing?’ You’re tearing your hair out with frustration.

Maybe it’s because your school doesn’t provide you with a writing curriculum. So, you’re spending your precious evenings and weekends looking on Pinterest for lesson ideas. Or worse, a curriculum is provided…but it’s just downright terrible. You can’t make sense of it and your students hate it.

Perhaps your students just hate writing in general and roll their eyes at the thought of it.

Well, here’s the thing. Teaching writing ‘aint easy. In fact, it can be straight up tricky, I get it!

But don’t worry friend, I’ve got you covered.

Opinion Writing Unit | Terrific Writing Third Grade Curriculum Unit 2 — *Click* ***here*** *to grab the curriculum!*

INTRODUCING TERRIFIC WRITING

Terrific Writing is a comprehensive writing curriculum for Third Grade. This curriculum is standards based (to the common core) and genre based. But best of all, it’s actually easy to teach and engaging for students!

In this curriculum, your students will develop a love of writing. The graphic organizers, interactive notebooks, and final craft will engage students much more than a blank piece of paper. The final writing piece asks students to write about something they love that they have chosen! After all, students love to write about things that they are interested in.

Writing doesn’t have to be dull and students definitely shouldn’t hate writing!

In Unit 2 ‘Opinion Writing’, students learn how to write engaging opinion writing pieces.

ARE YOU SHORT ON TIME?

This 5 week unit has EVERYTHING you need, because let’s be honest, teachers are time poor.

So, let’s get your evenings and weekends back, my friend! Take a break from lesson planning and searching for engaging materials. It’s all right here.

Are you ready? I’m going to share some of the awesome things about it!

WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS THIRD GRADE WRITING – Opinion Writing UNIT?

First up, there are a bunch of teacher docs. Unit contents, common core standards, and teacher directions? Check.

To begin, there’s some suggested mentor texts (with links to Amazon and YouTube). Also, a scope is included which shows the 25 lessons that feature in this unit and the third grade common core standards that are relevant.

opinion writing unit 3rd grade - mentor texts

Also, there is a unit at-a-glance calendar, as well as a table which tells you what materials you will need for each lesson. Basically, I’ve tried to make this unit super easy to implement. It has everything you need!

Next, there’s some suggested lesson times. To clarify, it doesn’t matter how long your writing block is, this unit can be adapted to suit it!

A lot of teachers struggle with finding the time to teach writing. If this is you, you’re not alone!

Then, there’s the 25 scripted (and step-by-step) lesson plans. The lessons follow a simple format of mini lesson, think and share, and independent writing time. There’s a lesson focus to guide you and all of the required materials are listed with numbers. For example, you’ll know exactly which posters and printables you need.

opinion writing unit 3rd grade - lesson plans

Subsequently, there’s a video that comes with this unit. This will help you organize and implement everything.

ASSESSMENT

Wondering how to assess your student’s writing? Don’t sweat it!

There’s an assessment document for this unit too. It includes a rubric to help you grade your student’s writing.

However, I’m not just throwing you to the sharks here! Rubrics can sometimes be generic or difficult to decipher. That’s why I’ve made a comprehensive document with teacher directions, as well as elaborations and examples. Moreover, there’s a video to help you understand the rubric.

opinion writing unit 3rd grade - assessment rubric — *Click* ***here*** *to grab this unit!*

OPinion Writing MENTOR TEXTS

I do give a list of suggested mentor texts that you can source, but in addition, I provide three original mentor texts for this unit! These come in PDF and PowerPoint versions (as well as color and black and white). You can print them in any size or just display them on an interactive whiteboard.

The great thing about these original mentor texts is that they include all of the features of opinion writing that are taught in the unit. For example, students will see examples of opinions, reasons, and a closing.

Opinion Writing POSTERS

This unit comes with 19 posters that you can reference to! Each lesson corresponds to them. Most importantly, they are great for giving writing ideas and reinforcing the opinion writing structure.

You can print them in color and laminate them. They are great for displaying in the classroom. However, you can also display these posters digitally (if you have limited printing options).

opinion writing unit 3rd grade anchor charts posters

Already interested in this third grade writing opinion writing unit? Grab it here!

OPinion Writing PRINTABLES

There are student workbook covers that you can print. There are three options, ‘My Writing Folder’, ‘My Writing Notebook’, and ‘My Writing Journal’. Your students can glue these covers onto their folders or books. The covers come in color and black and white (there are also boy and girl versions).

opinion writing unit third grade curriculum

Let’s now take a look at the writing prompts, worksheets, interactive notebooks and graphic organizers!

Hands On Printables

There are two interactive notebooks, as well as other cut and paste sorting activities. This way, learning is hands on and engaging!

Graphic Organizers

There are a variety of graphic organizers to help students plan their opinion writing and organize their thoughts. For example, students complete this OREO graphic organizer.

opinion writing unit third grade curriculum - OREO graphic organizer

Prompts and Worksheets

There are many different writing prompts and worksheets to help students learn to write opinions and reasons. They write a book review and complete a prompt about their favorite movie. They also answer opinion prompt questions like ‘which is better?’ and ‘would you rather?’

This is the common core standard for opinion writing that is covered with these printables –

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.1
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

would you rather grade 3 opinion writing lesson ideas

The Final Writing Piece

After students have learnt about opinions and reasons, they begin to prepare for their final writing piece.

First, they plan their writing. Next lesson, they write an introduction. After that, they learn about linking words and paragraphing. Then, they add details and examples to their reasoning. Finally, they write a closing.

These are the common core standards for opinion writing that are covered with these printables –

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.1.A
Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.1.B
Provide reasons that support the opinion.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.1.C
Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because, therefore, since, forexample) to connect opinion and reasons.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.1.D
Provide a concluding statement or section.

how to write an introduction opinion writing

Writing Checklists

After students have written their first draft, they use two checklists to proofread their work. One checklist grades opinion writing structure and the other is a more generic checklist for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

The students do a self check, peer check, and adult check.

third grade opinion writing assessment rubric

Writing Craft

The students create a writing craft for their final writing piece. It’s a flipbook, so they can add as many pages underneath as they need! This craft is great for a bulletin baord display.

They write about their favorite thing (that they own). This gives students the choice to write about anything they like (which keeps them far more engaged)!

opinion writing unit third grade curriculum - writing craft

Task Cards

I think it’s super imortant to have purposeful early finisher tasks and extension activities during writing lessons. Above all, we should be challenging our advanced writers. That’s why this unit also includes task cards for opinion writing.