Fact or Opinion?

Teach Starter Publishing
60 mins | Suitable for grades: 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 an informational text is to provide information about a particular topic using facts. Ask the students:
    • What is the purpose of an informational text?
    • What are some types of informational texts?
    • How do informational texts differ from narrative 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 statement aloud and ask the students to identify it as a fact on an opinion. Encourage the students to justify their responses.
  • Remind the students of the texts about owls from the previous lesson. Draw a picture of an owl on the board. Encourage the students to provide fact and opinion statements about owls. Write the facts inside of the owl and the opinions around it.

Guided/Independent Learning

  • Provide the students with a copy of the Fact or Opinion - Sentence Sort WorksheetMonitor and support the students as they complete the activity.
  • Ask the students to choose one of the topics from the activity, e.g., butterflies. Have them complete a fact and opinion drawing, like the previous one, for their chosen topic.
  • Discuss the answers to the sorting activity as a class. As the students correct their answers, please 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. The student with the matching fact or opinion stands up and reads 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 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

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