Literacy Project- Opinion Writing: "To Squish or To Not Squish"

Hey, Little Ant is a great story about a young boy who has decided to squish an ant and can think of many reasons why he should. But the ant has its own reasons for why he shouldn't. The boy has to make a decision, to squish or not not to squish. One grade 2 Common Core State Standard focuses on Opinion Writing. This engaging book was perfect to use to get students to explore writing opinion pieces. What kid hasn’t experienced this dilemma, “To Squish or To Not Squish”? My students never have a problem stating their opinion about “EVERYTHING” but do need to work towards being able to write about their opinions using supportive reasoning.

Prior to actually reading the story and starting the lesson on opinion writing, I used this YouTube video as my “hook” to the lesson. The video “totally” got my students at the edge of their seats and they immediately began blurting out their opinions about the topic.

After viewing the clip I then read the text aloud. Then the students and charted all the reasons from the text that the The Boy and The Ant provided  about whether “To Squish or To Not Squish”. Thereafter, students “weighed-in” on their opinion about the dilemma and partnered up with students of similar opinions. In identified groups, "To Squish" and "To Not Squish", the groups of students identified a key quote from the text that best supported the Ants opinion and the Boy's opinion. Each group at the opportunity to explore Voki an online tool where students can create animated characters and either record their voices or choose a voice for the animated character. My students thought it would be more fun to choose a voice. Each group member had a different role in the process of creating a Voki for the boy and for the ant. The students were SO engaged in using the  technology! Here is what they came up with (click each picture): 

I then proceeded to explicitly teach and model how an opinion piece is formatted. Students were partnered/grouped with students with similar opinions and collaboratively wrote an opinion piece of their own to tell whether, "To Squish or To Not Squish"! I was impressed with all of my students level of engagement. Students were given an opinion writing rubric to assess their pieces (I used the same rubric to assess the students writing, as well), conferenced wtih me, and then went on to use VoiceThread to record their opinion writing. See what you think...what would you do?

Later on students had the opportunity to use their writing to have a little "mini-debate" about whether they felt the ant should be squished or not. My students haven't had much experience with debates, however as you will see some of the students were quite passionate about their opinions. Press play and see what you think. Has your opinion changed?

The next day students were given the opportunity to write their own opinion pieces on a topic of their choice and used an opinion writing rubric to assess their writing. I also used the same rubric to assess their writing. I was completely "blown away" with their independent pieces! I attribute their success to the many interactive components and integration of technology throughout the lesson. Here are a few of their pieces.

So...that's it! I hope you enjoyed the components of my lesson. Let me know what you think. What books have you used for opinion writing that have been engaging and effective to teach students how to write an opinion piece?