Teach Opinion Essay Structure with an Escape Room Adventure

Has your class of enthusiastic learners ever tried to persuasive you to do something – more screen time, perhaps, or having an art lesson instead of math? There’s usually plenty of passion behind these requests, but not always the examples or evidence to back them up! This is why teaching tools that explicitly show students how to build and organize a series of persuasive arguments are so important in elementary classrooms… and Teach Starter has you covered!

In this escape‑room style activity, students are drawn into a playful scenario: the teacher is almost ready to say yes to a class pet… but the students’ persuasive writing just isn’t strong enough yet. Their arguments are missing key elements, and they need help building a convincing case. To create the best persuasive text possible, students must work through a series of challenges, each one exploring a different part of opinion essay structure. Only when the final code is deciphered can the perfection opinion text be revealed!

For teachers, the resource offers a low‑prep, high‑impact way to explicitly teach opinion essay structure. For students, it turns opinion writing into a collaborative mission where they get to debate, justify and reason… all while having fun! 

Everything You Need to Teach the Opinion Essay Format

This escape room resource breaks the opinion essay format into clear, student‑friendly components. Here’s what’s included:

• Scenario Slide Deck – This slide deck introduces the mission and presents four challenges. Success in each challenge “unlocks” a page in the student workbook. This slide deck downloads as a Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides file.
• Student Workbook – This contains four additional activities related to opinion essay structure. Completing these correctly will provide students with the numbers required for the escape code. It can be downloaded as a PDF or Google Slides file.
• Answers PDF – This document is for the teacher’s eyes only and contains answers to all the activities in the student workbook. It downloads as a PDF. 

Download This Opinion Essay Example with Activities

Downloading this resource is quick and easy! Just use the Download button to access your preferred slide deck and student booklet (and don’t forget that teacher answer key!). 

Display the slide deck on your interactive whiteboard, hand out the student workbooks, and your class will be instantly immersed in a persuasive text challenge where the stakes feel fun, meaningful and motivating.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and a Teach Starter collaborator.

More Resources for Teaching How to Write an Opinionated Essay

If you’re teaching opinion essays to your students, you’ve come to the right place! Click below to browse more teacher-created, curriculum-aligned resources to inspire great writing.

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