MANCHESTER COLLEGE
Department of Education
LESSON PLAN BY: Alina BigJohny
LESSON: Facts vs. Opinions
LENGTH: about 50 minutes
AGE OR GRADE INTENDED: 5th grade
Academic Standard(s):
English 5.2.5: Expository (Informational) Critique:
Distinguish among facts, supported inferences, evidence, and opinions in text.
Performance Objective:
Fifth grade students write a five sentence fact/opinion paragraph about Miss BigJohny’s class, which will
include at least two facts and two opinions after they learn how to analyze the difference between
opinions and facts in text through whole group examples and group work practice.
Assessment:
To prove mastery, students will write a five sentence paragraph, correctly stating and labeling at least
two facts and two opinions within it.
Advanced Preparation by Teacher:
_ Make handout copies: overview, statements, and passages
_ Prepare videos for quiz over persuasion terms
_ Gather random objects for introduction (balls, small toys, pencils, etc- anything will work)
_ Make passage rules copies
Procedure:
Introduction/ Motivation: (5 minutes)
Once class begins, begin tossing random objects to students.
- Ask questions or state statements such as: Jordan has a blue ball. Is that true? Then, have Jordan
toss the blue ball to Hailey and say: Hailey has the prettiest blue ball I have ever seen. Is that
true? How do you know it’s true? (Gardner: Bodily-Kinesthetic, Blooms I: Knowledge)
- Continue to do this for a few minutes until the students have caught on to the facts versus the
opinion statements.
o What can you say about facts versus opinions? (Blooms II: Comprehension)
- Nice job realizing that some things that I said were completely true facts and some were simply
opinions. Today, we are going to practice the skill of distinguishing between opinions and facts
so that we are able to do so when we research for our persuasion essays. While doing research,
we now have the skills to recognize when someone is using ethos or logos to persuade us but
we also need to be able to see if they are simply stating their own opinion and not facts.
Step-by-Step Plan:
1) Fact Vs. Opinion Overview and Practice ( 20 minutes)
- It is an important skill to be able to recognize the difference between facts and opinions. Many
times, when people write persuasive essays they will use types of persuasion such as ethos to
draw in the audience. By doing this, they make the reader agree with them without ever really
stating any true facts. Can anyone think of examples of this? (politicians, commercials)
-
-
Hand out F vs. O overview sheets (Gardner: Visual-Spatial)
Have select students read through the information out loud. (Gardner: Verbal-Linguistic)
Hand out F vs. O Practice
Go over the first two questions, have students raise hands to answer to ensure that select
students are not calling out the answers while the rest just sit back and not pay attention.
Pair students and have them work together for the rest of the questions. (Gardner:
Interpersonal)
o You have 10 minutes to finish these questions and then we will go over them.
Go over answers – address any difficulties.
2) Passage Writing (15 minutes)
You will now write your own paragraph including facts and opinions. You will write about “Miss
BigJohny’s English class” in general. (Gardner: Intrapersonal)
The rules are that you have to have at least five sentences. Within those sentences, you need to
include at least two facts and two opinions. You need to label your facts and opinions, along
with pay attention to your punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
- Hand out passage rules.
o Make sure to turn this rule sheet in with your paragraph or else I cannot grade you. You
will need to fill in your name and topic; I will do the rest. But this sheet will remind you
of what you need to include so that you can get all of your points.
o Ask a student: What will you choose as your topic? (Blooms VI: Evaluation)
 Would this be a good topic? Why or why not? (Can you easily write about this
topic with facts and opinions?) (Blooms I: Knowledge)
- Quiet work time for students. Raise your hand if you have any questions.
- Collect passages that are completed.
Closure: (5 minutes)
Today we spent a lot of time analyzing the difference between facts and opinions.
- Why do you think it is important to know the difference between facts and opinions? (Blooms
IV: Analysis) (So that people cannot trick us by stating opinions and making us believe them; so
that we can base our own opinions on facts and know what is really true; etc)
- How will this skill be useful when we go to write our persuasive essays? (Blooms VI: Evaluation)
(We need to present our audience with facts so that they believe us and then maybe throw in
other persuasive techniques, but facts need to be there for a basis)
- For tonight, your only homework will be to finish your passages, if you have not yet done so.
They are due tomorrow as soon as class starts.
- Now that we have the skill of telling the difference between facts and opinions, we are going to
learn some facts about the war for our persuasive essays. So think a little more about how you
feel about war and what you want to persuade your audience to think.
Adaptations/ Enrichment:
1) ADHD: I have several different activities already implemented into this lesson which will
help this child. During the individual pass writing, I will make sure that I visit him at least
twice to ensure that he is on task. As soon as this segment of the lesson begins, I will make
sure that he is one of the first I visit. This will allow me to make sure he has a chosen topic
so that he can start on his paragraph.
2) Learning Disability: Students with LDs often lack metacognitive skills. To help with this, I will
require this student to use an assignment book for my class. For this lesson, I will have her
write: Fact vs. Opinion (handout, statements, passages), Write own Fact vs. Opinion
Paragraph – Homework: Finish own paragraph (look at rubric). If needed for this particular
LD I will shorten the quiz or allow her to take it with an aide or with me before or after
school. I will also take consideration when choosing this student’s partner during group
work.
3) Intellectual Disability: It is important to monitor peer relationships with students who have
an ID. I will choose wisely when pairing this student during group work. If needed, I will have
this student come in before school to take his quiz individually without the distractions of
other students around him. Since the handout is already simplified, I think this will be
helpful to a student with an ID; however, I will probably have this student seated next to
another student who is good at helping and I will allow the other student to make sure he is
filling out the handout as we go through it. If handwriting is a problem, I will allow him to
type his paragraph on the computer. I will also make sure I frequently visit him during
individual work time.
4) Emotional Disturbance: ED students often need positive reassurance and solid relationships.
I will make sure that anytime this student answers, she is positively reinforced for
answering. To help this student focus, I think that having the rules of the paragraph
assignment lesson typed out is beneficial. ED students often need private space and
extended time for test; therefore, I will have this student come in before or after school to
take her quiz. If this student prefers working alone, as some ED students do, I will allow her
to work alone during the partner time.
Self-Reflection:
Was this lesson engaging enough for fifth graders? Did allowing them to choose their own topic make
them more interested in what they were writing? How did the quizzes turn out? Do I need to recover
persuasion terms? How are grammar, spelling, and punctuation coming along, as far as the paragraphs
go? What method did the students seem to like the best: whole-group, partners, or individual work?
How well did partners work out when I chose the pairs? Was it similar to when they are allowed to
choose their own partners?
Name:_______________________________ Date:____________________ Period:________________
Fact Vs. Opinion
A fact is a statement that can be proven by research or concrete knowledge.
Example:
My car has been driven for 30,345 miles.
Michael Jordan was born on February 17, 1963.
The Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall.
An opinion is someone’s view, belief, or way of thinking about something.
Example:
Beethoven is the greatest composer that ever lived.
Goodnight Moon is the best children’s book ever written.
Aliens exist.
When you are reading, it is important to be able to distinguish between
facts and opinions. Written materials such as newspaper articles, website
information, biographies, and journals often contain both fact and opinion.
Being able to tell them apart will help you judge the validity of a writer’s
ideas. It will also help you choose appropriate sources when doing
research.
Valid: logically correct; justifiable; provable fact.
Name: ______________________________ Date:____________________ Period:_____________
Fact Vs. Opinion
Practice
Directions: Write “F” for fact beside the statements below that are facts. Write “O” for opinion
beside the statements below that are opinions.
___ 1. Washington, D.C. is the capital city of the United States.
___ 2. Walt Disney World is the best family theme park.
___ 3. The War on Terrorism will help the United States become stronger.
___ 4. Whales are mammals.
___ 5. John Adams was the second president of the United States.
___ 6. Abraham Lincoln was the best president the United States ever had.
___ 7. Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.
___ 8. Will Smith starred in the movie Men in Black.
___ 9. There are glaciers in Alaska.
___ 10. Every time you wash your car, it always ends up raining.
___ 11. Cats are not as friendly as dogs.
___ 12. Britney Spears sings better than Demi LeVato.
___ 13. Justin Beiber is younger than Justin Timberlake.
___ 14. Whales are prettier mammals than dolphins.
___ 15. English is the best subject to study.
NAME:_____________________________________
TOPIC:_____________________________
_____ 5 SETENCES (5)
_____ 2 FACTS – LABELED (3)
_____ 2 OPINIONS- LABELED (3)
_____ GRAMMAR, SPELLING, AND PUNCTUATION (4)
NAME:_____________________________________
TOPIC:_____________________________
_____ 5 SETENCES (5)
_____ 2 FACTS – LABELED (3)
_____ 2 OPINIONS- LABELED (3)
_____ GRAMMAR, SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION (4)
NAME:_____________________________________
TOPIC:_____________________________
_____ 5 SETENCES (5)
_____ 2 FACTS – LABELED (3)
_____ 2 OPINIONS- LABELED (3)
_____ GRAMMAR, SPELLING, AND PUNCTUATION (4)