My Favorite Winter Activity

Second graders in Kerri Yekelchik and Dina Needham's classroom write about their favorite winter activity after spending an entire lesson orally discussing their options.

Students spent time discussing with a partner the following winter activities: Building a snowman, making a snow angel, having a snow ball fight and sledding. The advantages of each were charted. It was at this point that students had to decide which activity was their favorite, with at least 3 solid reasons to support their choice. 

Before completing the graphic organizer, students also practiced orally discussing their thoughts, with an opening stating their claim, 3 solid reasons to support their opinion and an ending to sum it all up. It was the orally discussions that helped to cement students ideas and organization.

Notice the transition words that make sentence fluency seamless. 

Students are truly understanding the structure of an opinion piece. 

Thanks Dinah and Kerri for sharing these wonderful writing pieces!!!