opinion essay graphic organizer 5th grade

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Free Opinion Writing Graphic Organizer

November 14, 2020 by Cristy

Text-based opinion writing is a form of essay writing that is usually taught beginning in fourth grade. In this type of writing, students are asked to read anywhere from 2 – 4 sources. Then, they respond to a prompt by stating an opinion and supporting it with evidence from the texts. As you can imagine, this is a very complex and multistep process. As a teacher, it can be difficult to know where to even begin. Breaking it down into mini lessons supported by anchor charts and an opinion writing graphic organizer is extremely helpful. It can really help you organize your teaching and help stack the building blocks needed for students to develop a solid essay.

This post will share how to introduce an opinion prompt, teaching students how to gather text evidence, and create a solid plan for their writing by using a graphic organizer as a planner.

How to Teach Students to Plan for an Opinion Essay

1. Start with the Opinion Writing Prompt

Define an opinion writing prompt for students. Let them know that it consists of a few sentences that raise an issue or a question that they will respond to in an essay. It is the first thing they should read before heading into the sources.

Show students several prompts and have them identify keywords within the prompt. A couple of words that identify the prompt as an opinion writing prompt are ‘opinion’ and ‘whether.’ Then, have students underline keywords they should be referring to as the read and write.

Have students write these steps in their journal or provide them with a poster they can refer back to when they need it. Having students create a table of contents for their journals can also be beneficial because it will allow them to find these notes quickly and refer to them as often as needed.

2. Gathering Text Evidence While Reading

Provide students with a set of texts based on the same topic. It is best to make sure one text offers a variety of pros while the other offers a variety of cons.

Have students annotate the text as they read looking for pros and cons. Some of the symbols I suggest to my students are:

• + / –
• for / against

Students can simultaneously sort the information into a two-column “pros” and “cons” organizer. This will help them for the next step when they will choose a side.

3. Choosing a Side

Teach students how to analyze their evidence. Explain to them that in order to have a well written essay, they will need to be able to support their choice and elaborate on it. Review with them some of the questions they should be asking themselves:

• Which side has an overwhelming amount of evidence supporting it?
• Which side do I feel more connected to?
• Which side can I elaborate the most on?

4. Introduce How to Plan Your Writing

A well written opinion essay will be organize, supported with relevant facts, and include tightly connected elaborations. Introducing your students to an opinion writing graphic organizer will help guide them in their thinking and planning for their essay.

I have introduced many planners in the past to my students, but the 4-paragraph opinion writing graphic organizer pictured here is the one that has been the most helpful to my students.

Show students how each part represents a paragraph and go over what should be included in each one. Students should realize that bullet points and phrases are the best way to plan.

5. Model Filling in the Graphic Organizer

Now that you’ve gone over what goes in each section, model how to fill in the planner as students copy what you are writing. Think aloud through the process, so they understand what their thought process should be as they fill out their opinion writing graphic organizer.

Introduction:

Include the side you are choosing and write down words from the prompt. (The “hook” can be added to the planner later.)

Body Paragraphs:

Include the answer.

For “cite,” just include the source and the paragraph where the information is found. (Ex. Source #1 Paragraph #1) They may include a keyword or two, but it should not go further than that. Having students write out the entire evidence will waste precious writing time and may frustrate them as well.

In “elaborate,” have students write a word they might want to define, a connection they may make, or a remark they want to add to support or clarify.

Conclusion:

Refer back to the introduction for keywords and circle back to where they started.

Grab a FREE Graphic Organizer

Click here or on the image below to download the PDF of the graphic organizer.

Looking for More Support?

Hopefully, these tips have helped you organize your beginning opinion writing lessons. 

If you would like more than the opinion writing graphic organizer, you can check out this resource that includes teacher notes, pacing guides, posters, anchor charts, and more. Just click on the image to take a closer look.

There's probably no shortage of opinions in your classroom. All day, every day, your students are sharing their thoughts on a variety of subjects, from why green is their favorite color to why they despise broccoli (even though it's green). But while those opinions provide a great opportunity for you to get to know your students, they're not always well structured, persuasive, or backed up with facts. 

Teaching students to develop ideas and thoughts on important subjects, organize them, and then transform them into a strong, persuasive opinion takes time. Opinion writing is often complex and requires higher-order skills, such as evaluation and verification. Students must also understand the difference between fact and opinion—that facts can inform opinion, but not vice-versa—and that word choice is an important aspect of writing. All of this means that students can feel a bit overwhelmed when tasked with expressing their opinion, even though it's something they do every day. 

Graphic organizers are great tools to help students develop well-supported opinions and improve their powers of persuasion. An organizer can help students expand and shape their thoughts in ways that simplify the writing process—once students fill out the graphic organizer, it becomes a resource they can reference while composing their opinion piece.

Wondering which graphic organizers will be most helpful to your young opinion writers? Check out these 6 resources, perfect for any student looking to make a strong case:

1.  Opinion-Proof  (Grades 4–8)

This framework sheet helps students develop and use higher-order skills, such as evaluation, verification, and persuasion, to compose convincing arguments.

2.  Writing Graphic Organizer: Perfectly Persuasive  (Grades 4–6)

Use this graphic organizer to help students build persuasive writing skills as they write essays or letters to the editor.

3.  Fact/Opinion Glasses: Lesson Plan & Graphic Organizer  (Grades 1–3)

These glasses help students develop the most important skill when it comes to effective opinion writing: being able to see the difference between fact and opinion.

4.  Agree or Disagree? Graphic Organizer  (Grades 2–4)

Students learn how to express and support their agreement, or disagreement, with a character’s statement, opinion, or action.

5.  Your Opinion, Please (Leveled-Reading G/H): Guided Reading Response  (Grades 1–2)

With this graphic organizer, students can show off their understanding of a story by sharing their own points of view.

6.  Persuasive Essay (Nonfiction Writing): Leveled Graphic Organizers  (Grades 4–8)

It’s one thing to have an opinion, but can your students convince their classmates their thoughts are correct? This graphic organizer set can help!

To see more graphic organizers and gain access to thousands of printable and downloadable teacher resources that will help your kids develop the power of persuasion and other skills, log in or subscribe to  Scholastic Teachables  today!

Persuasion Map

About this Interactive

Related resources.

The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a persuasive essay or debate. Students begin by determining their goal or thesis. They then identify three reasons to support their argument, and three facts or examples to validate each reason. The map graphic in the upper right-hand corner allows students to move around the map, instead of having to work in a linear fashion. The finished map can be saved, e-mailed, or printed.

• Student Interactives
• Strategy Guides
• Calendar Activities
• Lesson Plans

The Essay Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to organize and outline their ideas for an informational, definitional, or descriptive essay.

This Strategy Guide describes the processes involved in composing and producing audio files that are published online as podcasts.

This strategy guide explains the writing process and offers practical methods for applying it in your classroom to help students become proficient writers.

Through a classroom game and resource handouts, students learn about the techniques used in persuasive oral arguments and apply them to independent persuasive writing activities.

Students analyze rhetorical strategies in online editorials, building knowledge of strategies and awareness of local and national issues. This lesson teaches students connections between subject, writer, and audience and how rhetorical strategies are used in everyday writing.

Students examine books, selected from the American Library Association Challenged/Banned Books list, and write persuasive pieces expressing their views about what should be done with the books at their school.

Students will research a local issue, and then write letters to two different audiences, asking readers to take a related action or adopt a specific position on the issue.

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• Kindergarten K

Opinion Writing Flipbook: Using a Graphic Organizer

Opinion writing can be a really fun way for students to express themselves. Learning how to state a claim, or “thesis” is a hugely important writing concept that can be practiced in a ton of ways. Whether you write reading responses where students comment on a text and then provide text evidence or write a true opinion essay, this idea of “proving” your point is a key part of our curriculum. Check out how I use an opinion writing flipbook to help my students!

So what makes it hard for some students?  Keeping that opinion essay organized!  I’ve found that the hardest part for most students involves keeping their reasons in their own paragraphs–and all the details tucked nicely after the correct topic sentence!

The Opinion Essay

Once it is time to move to a more formal five paragraph essay, some students really struggle. They seem to be confused about how to keep their paragraphs organized, and the information ends up in the wrong spot.  I was on a quest to find a way to organize my instruction AND my students’ thinking to help them do a few key things:

• State a clear “claim” and use a hook to get the reader’s attention
• Come up with 3 quality reasons to prove their claim.
• Write three paragraphs that have topic sentences that give reasons with details to prove them.
• Use transition words to help the ideas flow
• Craft a conclusion that restates the thesis.

I’ve tried boxes and bullets (which is great) and other organizers, but I wanted a way to help students see each paragraph as its own little piece of writing!  My opinion flipbook was born!

Interactive Opinion Writing Flipbook

Students love the “interactive” nature of the tool–plus it has all your mini-lessons built right in!  Seriously–it makes planning so easy!

Each paragraph gets planned on one page–and the minilesson information is right on the bottom!  Teach the lesson, then cut off the bottom for students to use as a reference tool as they write.  I like to have them glue them in order into their writer’s notebook.

Keeping Things Easy–and Organized!

The opinion writing flipbook is geared toward helping students recognize the five paragraphs and what needs to go into each one—almost like a formula.  Once they understand this, teachers can push students into more sophisticated writing.  To start, helping them understand the basic formula and the importance of stating a clear thesis (“claim”), having three solid reasons, the evidence to back them up, and a strong conclusion is really very doable for most intermediate students.

• Headers for a bulletin board or anchor chart showing the 5 paragraphs
• Graphic organizers (color and grayscale) for planning essays
• A “child-friendly” opinion essay with suggestions for use
• A five-step “flip book” for essay planning. Includes teaching tips and even resources for students to glue into their notebooks as a reference tool.
• An essay drafting framework that can be used by everyone or to support students needing a scaffolded essay structure.

Interested in a few more writing posts?

Getting started with opinion writing

Grading writing made easy

Helping students plan narrative writing

I hope you find this resource helpful as you proceed with your unit.

Click HERE or the image below to check it out!

“I appreciate how this supports visual learners. Also, I looped with my kids and use this as an extension for the students who still needed support on creating 5 paragraph essays. It was a different way of looking at it. It really helped some of my struggling writers. Thanks!”

Interested in how I kick off my opinion unit?  Check out the image below!

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• ELA G5:M3:U2:L10

Writing an Opinion Essay: Planning

In this lesson, daily learning targets, ongoing assessment.

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

• W.5.1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
• W.5.1a: Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer's purpose.
• W.5.1b: Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.
• W.5.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• W.5.5: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
• W.5.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• W.5.9b: Apply grade 5 Reading standards to informational texts (e.g., "Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point[s]"").
• SL.5.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• I can plan an essay that states an opinion and has reasons that are supported by facts and details. ( W.5.1, W.5.4, W.5.9b )
• I can give kind, helpful, and specific feedback to my partner. ( W.5.5, SL.5.1 )
• Opinion Writing Planning graphic organizer ( W.5.1, W.5.4, W.5.5, W.5.9b )
• Strategically pair students for the peer critique in the Closing with at least one strong reader per pair.
• Review the Opinion Writing Checklist ( see the Tools page ).
• Post: Learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

• Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout Modules 1-2 to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 5.I.A.1, 5.I.A.3, 5.I.A.4, 5.I.A.5, 5.I.C.10, 5.I.C.11, 5.I.C.12, 5.II.A.1, 5.II.A.2, 5.II.C.6 , and 5.II.C.7

Important points in the lesson itself

• The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs by referring to the Factors for Success anchor chart from Unit 1 to plan their essays, inviting students to draw on conclusions from the text-based discussion to form their focus statements, allowing time for discussion throughout the lesson, and explicitly reviewing the characteristics of opinion writing as a class.
• ELLs may find it challenging to go from annotating the Model Essay: Branch Rickey in Work Time A to planning their own opinion essays with the graphic organizer in Work Time B without having seen this process modeled. Consider filling in the graphic organizer with components of the model essay in Work Time A, providing students with concrete examples to refer to during their planning (see Meeting Students' Needs).

Levels of support

For lighter support:

• Encourage students to use the focus structure from the Language Dive in Lesson 9, but it was _____, to write their focus statement, supporting students in using linking words and phrases to connect ideas. Challenge students to think of more than one way they could use this linking language to write their focus statement.

For heavier support:

• Consider color-coding the text in the displayed Opinion Writing Planning graphic organizer to match the corresponding information in the Painted Essay(r) template, signaling the information that goes in each section. For example, in the introduction paragraph box, the text "What context do you need to give to your reader?" would be color-coded red; "State your opinion:" would be green; all text in "Proof Paragraph 1" would be yellow; etc.
• Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Students provide kind, helpful, and specific feedback during a peer critique of their opinion writing planning. As this familiar learning target is displayed, consider inviting students to share examples of this type of feedback from previous lessons and note their responses for visual display.
• Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): Continue to support a range of fine motor abilities and writing needs by offering students options for writing utensils. Also, consider supporting students' expressive skills by offering partial dictation of student responses.
• Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Since peer review can be threatening to some students, continue to emphasize the benefits of peer review and feedback for all students. Make this activity relevant by reminding students that writers have editors who provide feedback for their writing through each step in the writing process, which improves their writing.

Key:  Lesson-Specific Vocabulary  (L);  Text-Specific Vocabulary  (T);  Vocabulary Used in Writing  (W)

• states, support, specific, reason, evidence, use my strengths (L)
• Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
• Academic Word Wall (begun in Module 1)
• Vocabulary logs (from Module 1; one per student)
• Opinion Writing Planning graphic organizer (one per student and one to display)
• Model Essay: Branch Rickey (from Lesson 9; one per student and one to display)
• Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
• Directions for Opinion Essay (from Lesson 9; one per student and one to display)
• Opinion Writing Checklist (from Lesson 9; one per student and one to display)
• Colored pencils (green, yellow, blue; one of each color per student)
• Preparing for a Text-Based Discussion: Jackie Robinson note-catcher (from Lesson 7; one per student)
• Discussion Notes Form: Jackie Robinson (from Lesson 8; one per student)
• Promises to Keep (from Unit 1, Lesson 1; one per student)
• "This I Believe: Free Minds and Hearts at Work" (text; from Lesson 2; one per student)
• Listening Closely: "Jackie Robinson: Royals to Obamas" note-catcher (from Lesson 4; one per student)
• Factor for Success anchor charts (begun in Unit 1)
• Domain-Specific Word Wall (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 1)
• Opinion Writing Planning graphic organizer (example, for teacher reference)
• Sticky notes (two per student)
• Working to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
• Directions for Peer Critique (from Module 1; one to display)
• Peer Critique Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
• Language Dive I Practice: Model Essay: Branch Rickey homework (from Lesson 9; one per student)
• Language Dive I Practice: Model Essay: Branch Rickey homework (example, for teacher reference)

Each unit in the 3-5 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

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Opinion Writing 4th and 5th Grade | Graphic Organizers & Reasons and Evidence

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Description

This opinion writing unit is for the 4th and 5th grade classroom. If you're looking for an opinion writing graphic organizer with reasons and examples, this is the resource for you! It includes anchor text and all graphic organizers. Use the teacher models to give solid examples during your mini-lesson.

This is a "no prep" unit, meaning that all of the organizers and teacher models are included. Print out the pages you need, and you're all set to teach your students how to write incredible opinion essays!

Click "preview" to see a list of the Common Core standards covered, as well as an outline of all the included lessons and organizers.

Brainstorming

Writing focus strategy

Organizing ideas

Transition words

Topic sentences

Writing an introduction

Leads/hooks

Claim statements

Writing a conclusion

Student-friendly rubric is included.

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