Subject: ELA (English Language Arts)

Lesson Length: 45 mins

Topic: Opinion Writing

Grade Level: 5

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description: Students will create a comic expressing an opinion with reasons to support the opinion.

Know Before You Start: Students will need some knowledge of opinion writing. This lesson is helpful in giving students practice organizing their thoughts for an opinion writing piece.

Hook:

  • Read and discuss the sample comic. 
    • What opinion is being presented? 
    • What reasons support this opinion?
    • What other reasons could have been given? 
    • How was the comic organized to help the reader understand the point of view?

Activity:

  • Using the sample comic as a guide, have students create a five-panel comic to express and support an opinion.
  • Have students brainstorm topics in which they have a strong opinion. They may have strong opinions about things such as favorite foods, mandatory school uniforms, or the best quarterback of all time.
    • Panel 1: State the opinion.
    • Panels 2-4: Provide reasons in support of the opinion.
    • Panel 5: Summarize the opinion.

Closure:

  • Share the opinion comics via a gallery walk or by projecting them for the class to view. 

  • Discuss how strong reasons help others consider varying points of view on topics.

Differentiation:

  • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
  • Print the sample comic for students to take notes.

  • Provide sentence frames.

  • Use a graphic organizer for students to organize ideas.

  • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.

Resources:

  • Comic to print or display: Comic.

Suggested Story Starters: