Fact or Opinion?

Teach Starter Publishing
60 mins | Suitable for years: 3 - 4

A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify the difference between a fact and an opinion.

Tuning In

  • Remind the students that the purpose of informative texts is to provide information about a particular topic using facts. Ask the students:
    • What is the purpose of an informative text?
    • What are some types of informative texts?
    • How do informative texts differ from imaginary texts?
  • Watch the Fact or Opinion for Kids video on YouTubeAfter watching, ask the students:
    • What is a fact?
    • Where can we find facts?
    • What is an opinion?

Teacher Instruction

  • Project the Fact or Opinion - Turtles Worksheet on the board. Read each of the statements on the worksheet and ask the students to identify whether or not the statement is a fact on an opinion. Encourage the students to provide justification for their responses.
  • Remind the students of the two texts about owls from the previous lesson. Draw a picture of an owl on the board. Encourage the students to suggest some facts about owls (write these inside the owl picture) and some opinions about owls (write these around the outside of the owl picture).

Guided/Independent Learning

  • Provide the students with a copy of the Fact or Opinion - Sentence Sort Worksheet. Monitor and support the students as they complete the sorting activity.
  • Ask the students to choose one of the topics from the sorting activity e.g. butterflies. Allow the students to complete a fact and opinion drawing (as per the owl activity completed on the board) for their chosen topic.
  • Discuss the answers of the sorting activity as a class. As the students correct their answers, encourage them to raise any queries or concerns.

Wrapping Up

  • Play the I Have, Who Has? Fact and Opinion Game as a class. Provide each student with a card. The student that has the sentence 'I am the starter' begins the game by standing up and reading their card. Once they have read their clue, the student that has the matching fact or opinion on their card stands up and reads what is on their card. The game continues until the last person reads out 'I am the winner'.

Differentiation

Extending Students

  • Encourage fast finishers to write another fact and another opinion for each of the topics on the worksheet.

Supporting Students

  • Allow any students who are finding the sorting activity challenging to work in a small group with a teacher or teacher aide.

Suggested Assessment Strategies

  • used strategic whole class or individual questioning
  • observed student participation during learning activities
  • recorded student progress on a checklist
  • annotated student work samples
  • collected and reviewed student work samples
  • facilitated whole class or peer feedback sessions
  • encouraged student self-reflection
  • administered formal assessment tasks.

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Curriculum

Teach Starter Publishing

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