Fact vs.

Opinion Sort

Second Grade Reading

by Lily Jones November 22, 2018

In this lesson, students develop an understand of the difference between facts and opinions. After analyzing
different statements, students write their own sentences to sort and analyze.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to distinguish between fact and opinion.

Materials and preparation Key terms

Index cards with two facts and two opinions fact

written on them (one per card) opinion
Additional blank index cards (five for modeling
and five per student)
Tape
Class set of the Fact or Opinion #1 worksheet
Class set of the Fact or Opinion #2 worksheet

Attachments

Fact or Opinion? #1 (PDF)

Fact or Opinion? #2 (PDF)

Introduction (5 minutes)

Say, "I think apples are the best fruit in the entire world."
Have students raise their hands if they agree with you.
Ask students if your statement was an example of fact or opinion.

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (10 minutes)

Explain that facts are always true, while opinions vary from person to person. Opinions show people's
thoughts and personal preferences.
Tell students that you are going to read sentences from index cards. Some will be facts, such as, "People
are mammals," and some will be opinions, such as, "People are the craziest mammals."
On the board, write "Fact" on one side and "Opinion" on the other. Take out your index cards and read
the statement on the first one aloud.
Ask students if this statement is a fact or an opinion. Tape the card in the appropriate section of the
board.
Repeat this process with the rest of the cards.

Guided Practice (10 minutes)

Ask for volunteers to share sentences that are either facts or opinions.
As you call on students, write their statements on index cards.
Have the rest of the class determine whether the sentence goes on the fact or opinion side of the board.

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Independent working time (20 minutes)

Hand out five index cards to each student. Have them write one fact or opinion on each card.
When students finish, put them in groups of four. Have them work together to sort all of their cards (20 in
all) into fact and opinion piles.
When the sorting is complete, students can complete the worksheets.

Differentiation

Support: Have students use sentence stems to complete their opinion statements, such as "I like ____" or "The
best ____ is ____."

Enrichment: If students finish early, they can write paragraphs based on facts or opinions, then share them
with each other.

Assessment (5 minutes)

Assess how students are distinguishing between fact and opinion.

Review and closing (5 minutes)

Ask for volunteers to share a few of the sentences their groups sorted and how they labeled them (fact or
opinion).

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

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