Rush Strong School 2011-

12

TEAM Lesson Plan Fact and Opinion

Teacher: Mary K. Morris
Grade/Subject: 3rd Grade
Unit: Fact and Opinion / Jalapeno Bagels (reading story)
Lesson Title: Fact and Opinion
STATE STANDARD(S) Reference State GLE's, SPI's, Checks for Understanding, and/or
Common Core Standards
SPI 0301.5.2 Distinguish between fact and opinion within text.

LESSON OBJECTIVE Clear, Specific, and Measurable

Student-Friendly: "The student will…"
Explicitly Stated for Students
Includes Sub-Objectives

I can, when given a statement, distinguish between fact and opinion.

I can generate facts and opinions on given topics.

ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION Measures Student Master In More Than Two Ways

Aligned with the Lesson Objective
Includes Measurable Formative and Summative Assessments
Requires Written Task
 Rush Strong School 2011-
12

There will be various formative assessments in this lesson. Students will use response dials during the lesson to respond
to questions on a PowerPoint presentation. During this portion of the lesson I will use a check list to keep record of
student responses. During the group activity, students will be giving facts and opinions in response to questions, but they
will also have to write a question and reflect on what they are learning. I will be observing the students as they participate
in this activity. Throughout the lesson I will be using various questioning techniques to ascertain their levels of
understanding. I will also use strategies such as “fist to five” to have the students show me their levels of understanding
at various points in the lesson. The lesson itself is also formative because this is an objective we work on continuously
throughout the year in a variety of ways.

One form of summative assessment for this lesson is the bagel activity, during which they must generate and write 2 facts
and 2 opinions about their bagels in the form of sentences. Another form of summative assessment is the paragraph that
they will write at the end of the lesson. They will be required to write a paragraph about something on their “Expert Lists.”
Number of sentences required will be based upon student learning levels (4-5 for each category for higher, 2 for lower,
etc.). Summative assessment will also be given in the form of our weekly reading test.

I will use the information gleaned from the assessments to determine the depth in which I will teach this topic in the
future. If the majority of the students master the objectives, the topic will only need to be briefly reviewed throughout the
year, requiring fewer progress checks. If several students struggle, multiple teaching strategies and formative
assessments will be continually used to insure future success.

MATERIALS Aligned with the Lesson Objective

Rigorous & Relevant

- Dog photo for fact and opinion cues

- Notebook paper
- Carfax video clip
- Lesson outline
- Fact and opinion PowerPoint presentation
- Activ Slate
- Response dials - one for each student
- Bags containing individualized fact and opinion questions
- Index cards for group activity exit tickets
- Fact/Opinion chant poster
- Bagels
- Fact and Opinion T-chart for bagel activity
- Writing notebooks

ACTIVATING STRATEGY Motivator/Hook

Essential Questions (Higher Order)
Activating Prior Knowledge
Real-World Connections
 Rush Strong School 2011-
12

Begin with provoking photograph and ask students to tell you about it. They will give facts and opinions. You will sort them
as they write them, but you will not tell that you are sorting them into facts and opinions.
“What do these responses have in common?”
“Why is it important to be able to tell the difference between a fact and an opinion?”
“What if we all agree? Does that make it a fact?”

INSTRUCTION Step-by-Step Procedures/Sequence

Discover/Explain – Direct Instruction
Modeling Expectations – “I Do”
Planned Questioning That Encourages Higher Order Thinking
Grouping Strategies
Differentiated Instructional Strategies to Provide Intervention &
Extension
 Rush Strong School 2011-
12

- Have the students draw a T-chart (without headings) on a sheet of notebook paper. You will write one on the
board. Begin the lesson by showing the students a picture on the TV screen of a very interesting dog. “What can you
tell me about this picture?” As students give responses, write all of the facts on one side of the T-chart and all of the
opinions on the other. However, do not tell them that is how you are separating them. Have students copy you. Ask the
students what the statements in each column have in common.
- State the objective of the lesson and have the students repeat it with you. Go over the outline of the lesson for
the students and share expectations.
- Define fact and opinion and write brief definitions on the board.
- Teach the students a chant/song to help them remember fact and opinion. Model it and then have them do it with
you at least twice.
- Call on a few students to tell you the difference between the two. Now have the students look back at the T-chart
and decide which heading goes where. Orally give about 5 quick examples and see if the students can tell you if the
statement is a fact or an opinion.
- “Why is it important to know the difference between facts and opinions? When do we use these in real life?” Take
student responses and provide feedback and further probing questions. Connect to prior learning by explaining how
our persuasive writing we have been doing includes facts and opinions. “Which ones are more convincing?” Also
explain how opinions help us know how others feel, yet facts are useful when describing something. Give another
example by showing the Carfax video clip. Explain how the car salesman is trying to give his opinion, but the buyer
wants the “carfax.” Relate this to real-life experiences.
- Repeat the song once.
- Stop and have the students use “fist to five” to show you their levels of understanding at that point. Adjust
accordingly.
- Pass out response dials to the students. There will be 3 options - Fact, Opinion, and ?. Restate objectives,
focusing on the first. Use a PowerPoint presentation that has various statements. Read a statement aloud and have the
students use their response dials to display their answers. Record their answers on a checklist once everyone has
responded. Choose one student (for each statement) to use the Activ Slate to click the “fact” option or the “opinion”
option to reveal the answer on the PowerPoint.
- Restate objectives, now focusing on the second. Explain how students will be divided into groups of three or 4
based on similar interests (Groups will be varied by ability, gender, etc. when possible.) Each group will have a bag
with a variety of questions inside, based on the group interests- “What is your opinion of this...What is a fact about
that.” Students will take turns pulling out a question. The student will read it, and the other two people will have to reply.
Students will do this until the bags are empty or time is up. Then have the students use an index card and write
question (related to the same topic) on one side to ask the other students in his/her group. Each will do this individually.
Have them ask each other their questions. After this, have them think of what they have learned so far about facts and
opinions and write it on the other side. Call on some students to share after everyone finishes.
- Because the week’s reading story is Jalapeno Bagels, give each student a bagel and explain that they will be
writing about them. Give each student a sheet that has a place to write two facts and two opinions. Explain that they
will first look at their bagels, and take what they already know and write down two facts in the form of sentences about
the bagels. Then have the students eat their bagels and write down 2 opinions in the form of sentences. As they finish,
have them pair and share what they wrote with a neighbor.
- Have the students stand up and repeat the fact and opinion chant/song with you.
- Close the lesson by having students choose a topic from their writing “expert list.” Show students an example
paragraph, explaining that they will write a paragraph about their chosen topics using a designated number of facts and
opinions (higher students - 4-5 sentences each, struggling students 2 sentences for each). Instruct them to underline
fact sentences and circle opinion sentences. They will do this in their writing notebooks.
- As students finish early, have them share what they wrote with other students that have finished.
- When everyone has completed this, call on a few students to answer the following questions: “What is a fact?
What is an opinion? Why is it important to be able to distinguish between the two? How do we use facts and opinions in
our everyday lives?”
- Finally have the students state the objectives aloud and show me the “fist to five” to demonstrate their levels of
understanding.
 Rush Strong School 2011-
12

GUIDED & INDEPENDENT “We Do”-“You Do”

PRACTICE Student Work Encourages Higher Order Thinking & Problem
Solving
Relevance to Students' Lives
Differentiated Strategies for Practice to Provide Intervention &
Extension

- Pass out response dials to the students. There will be 3 options - Fact, Opinion, and ?. Restate objectives,
focusing on the first. Use a PowerPoint presentation that has various statements. Read a statement aloud and have the
students use their response dials to display their answers. Record their answers on a checklist once everyone has
responded. Choose one student (for each statement) to use the Activ Slate to click the “fact” option or the “opinion”
option to reveal the answer on the PowerPoint.
- Restate objectives, now focusing on the second. Explain how students will be divided into groups of three or 4
based on similar interests (Groups will be varied by ability, gender, etc. when possible.) Each group will have a bag
with a variety of questions inside, based on the group interests- “What is your opinion of this...What is a fact about
that.” Students will take turns pulling out a question. The student will read it, and the other two people will have to reply.
Students will do this until the bags are empty or time is up. Then have the students use an index card and write
question (related to the same topic) on one side to ask the other students in his/her group. Each will do this individually.
Have them ask each other their questions. After this, have them think of what they have learned so far about facts and
opinions and write it on the other side. Call on some students to share after everyone finishes.
- Because the week’s reading story is Jalapeno Bagels, give each student a bagel and explain that they will be
writing about them. Give each student a sheet that has a place to write two facts and two opinions. Explain that they
will first look at their bagels, and take what they already know and write down two facts in the form of sentences about
the bagels. Then have the students eat their bagels and write down 2 opinions in the form of sentences. As they finish,
have them pair and share what they wrote with a neighbor.
- Have the students stand up and repeat the fact and opinion chant/song with you.

CLOSURE Reflection/Wrap-Up
Summarizing, Reflecting, Restating, Connecting
Student Engagement

- Close the lesson by having students choose a topic from their writing “expert list.” Show students an example
paragraph, explaining that they will write a paragraph about their chosen topics using a designated number of facts and
opinions (higher students - 4-5 sentences each, struggling students 2 sentences for each). Instruct them to underline
fact sentences and circle opinion sentences. They will do this in their writing notebooks.
- As students finish early, have them share what they wrote with other students that have finished.
- When everyone has completed this, call on a few students to answer the following questions: “What is a fact?
What is an opinion? Why is it important to be able to distinguish between the two? How do we use facts and opinions in
our everyday lives?”
- Finally have the students state the objectives aloud and show me the “fist to five” to demonstrate their levels of
understanding.

CROSS-CURRICULAR
CONNECTIONS
 Rush Strong School 2011-
12

During this lesson students will make connections between logic and writing. They will see that recognizing facts and
opinions in a passage actually helps them generate their own when writing. Students will also see a connection to
science inquiry when they are observing and recording information about their bagels.

NOTES/ SPECIAL
CIRCUMSTANCES

Both of my special education students will be participating in this lesson. They are typically pulled out for reading for a
portion of our reading block, but they will be with us for the duration of the lesson. One of these students, Aaliyah, has
extreme difficulty reading. She may require me or another student to read some of the questions from the bag in the
group activity for her. She and a few others will also need extensive help during the writing activity, which I will provide
while circulating throughout the classroom.
Also, I have recently set a new classroom management system (in addition to our regular one) into effect due to the
increased tendency of my students to interrupt myself or others while we are talking, or to yell answers out. This is a
system in which they may move their fish to a 1 or receive a Post-it on their desks. We are in the beginning stages of
this, so it may seem like a lot at first, but I am trying to remain hard and consistent at the start. It has already helped
immensely. I wanted there to be an awareness and understanding of this.