We have been learning all about opinion writing.  I felt before we could even start writing our opinions…we really needed to know what an opinion was!

So we created a t-chart defining a fact and opinion.  We brainstormed places to prove something was a fact (the encyclopedia, a nonfiction book, Pebble Go, etc) and modeled a few examples of each.

Then, I taped the fact header pencil on one side of the room and the opinion header pencil on the other side of the room.

  We were **supposed** to pass out the fact and opinion cards and have students walk to the side of the room that the sentence on their pencil fit.

It did not go quite like I expected!  There were LOTS of crickets and blank stares.  So, we ended up sharing and talking whole group which header card the pencil would fit under.
Then I had about 6 sets of my Fact and Opinion Center cut up
and divided students into small groups and had them sort the cards (but not record the answers) as a summary activity.  This was a little better (we had some light bulbs, but not as many as we needed) so we let it sit for a day and the next day played this adorable game on our Promethean board.
Binky has a simple fact and opinion game and my kids loved playing it (and learning why responses were correct and incorrect).  Even better, the game is free! This really helped cement it for our kiddos so we were reading to start out opinion writing!
If you want a copy of the fact and opinion March themed freebie, click here!