Elementary Library

topic and an opinion. a. Write, produce, and expand a complete sentence. b. Use appropriate capitalization and end punctuation.

Grade 1 Standard 1.W.1: Write opinion pieces that introduce the topic, state an opinion, supply evidence for the opinion, and provide a concluding statement. a. Write, produce, and expand complete simple sentences. b. Use appropriate conventions when writing. Grade 2 Standard 2.W.1: Write opinion pieces that introduce the topic, state an opinion, supply evidence that supports the opinion, use linking words to connect opinion and evidence, and provide a concluding statement. a. Write, produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple and compound sentences. b. Use appropriate conventions when writing. WELCOME & ACTIVATE BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

Greet students and welcome them to the library.

Say: When you hear the word “cute” what do you think of?

OBJECTIVE

Display and read the I can objective and/or the compelling question.

Say: Whether an animal is cute for not is an opinion. It’s what we believe but someone could believe something different. So today we are going to look for evidence that we can use to convince others to agree with our opinion about which animal is the cutest. It’s a cute animal battle! DIRECT INSTRUCTION & PRACTICE Step 1: Give students instructions and show materials Pass out Too Cute Animal Battle worksheets and explain that we will be researching two animals and comparing them to determine which is the cutest. Give students choices of cute animals to select 2 from for the whole class. For each animal have at least two sources to examine: book, video, or a world book article to examine with students. You may choose to use the Choice Board google presentation in the Shared Drive. This choice board is linked to videos and World Book Online articles already. Step 2: Read Alouds & Evidence Recording Read the book aloud using best practices. Stop periodically to support students recording evidence of “cuteness”. This could be facts about appearance, behaviors, offspring, family dynamics, etc. Show a video of the animal and look for more evidence. Peruse the World Book online article and look for more evidence. For kindergarten, you may choose to have the worksheet displayed via document camera and fill it out as a whole group or for students to copy. Have students create the sentence verbally and then assist with writing if necessary. Students should determine which animal is cuter based on their evidence and write their opinion supported or independently. Give students time to draw each animal and, if time allows, present their work to classmates. Discussion can be supported with sentence frames. ●​ I think the _______ is cutest because __________. 176