Opinion Piece – Persuasive Writing Unit for 3rd – 6th Grade

Persuasive writing can be a challenging concept for students! Not only do students have to have a good grasp of paragraph writing, but they also need to know how to persuade! This complete opinion piece writing set will guide your students through the opinion piece essay process from the beginning to the end! Detailed teacher notes are included to help you organize and plan the lessons.

It includes:

32 Task Cards (Higher-level thinking cards, Student Record Sheet, and key)

Persuasive Strategies (and answer key)

Persuasion is Everywhere (homework handout)

Introduction to Hooks

Name That Hook (and answer key)

Writing Hooks for Persuasive Essays and Opinion Pieces

Add the Hook to the Topic Sentence

Types of Topic Sentences Review Handout

Add the Topic Sentence to the Hook

Writing Hooks and Topic Sentences

Cats are Excellent Pets (Essay Example)

2 Reverse Outlines for Cats are Excellent Pets Essay Example (and key)

Stump the Expert Game

Persuasive Essay Topic List (can be used separately and with the game)

Opinion Piece/Persuasive Essay -“Or” – 3 “Reasons” Outline practice

In My Opinion…”Best” – 3 “Reasons” Outline Practice

In My Opinion…”Worst” – 3 “Reasons” Outline Practice

Is it Better to Be a Kid or an Adult? T-chart Practice

Make Your School a Better Place T-chart Practice

Is it Better to Play Outside or Inside? T-chart Practice

Persuasive Writing/Opinion Piece Extended Outline (2)

Opinion Piece and Persuasive Essay Group Work Project – Outline Practice

Paragraph Outline Templates (5)

School Uniform Outlines – T-chart and (2) Extended Outlines Templates

Persuasive Writing Topic Ideas Page

2 Student Writing Checklists (for self-evaluation)

2 Rubrics (Persuasive Writing and Opinion Piece)

Transitions List for Opinion Piece/Persuasive Essays

3 Sets of Writing Pages (3 pages each)

Detailed Teacher Notes

One of the things I really like about this unit is that it allows you to scaffold learning really well. The detailed teacher notes explain exactly how to lead your students through the opinion piece process and in which order to teach each lesson.

The other thing that I think is awesome is that there is so much variety included in this packet. Not only are there handouts and worksheets, but there is a fun homework assignment where students find an advertisement at home and determine which persuasive strategy was used. There is a group project, a game, and even 32 task cards!

I adore task cards and think they are a fun way to add some variety into your classroom. You can use them one on one, in literacy centers, as a whole class teaching moment, or my favorite method, which is to place them around the room and have kids use their student record sheets to record their answers as they complete cards. You can do this as a Scoot game, of course, or as an untimed version of the game.

I love to teach opinion piece/persuasive essay writing. It’s an interactive, fun set of lessons for me, and I hope you’ll feel the same!

If you like this writing packet, you might want to check out some other writing packets:

Complete Paragraph Writing Bundle

Paragraph Color Coding and Writing

Topic Sentences Paragraph Writing

Transitions in Writing

Conclusion Sentences

Finally, if you like my work, I would love for you to follow me by clicking on the green star at the top of the page.

Thanks so much!

Jenn

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