Opinions and Facts: A Writing Project for Elementary Students

Opinions and Facts: A Writing Project for Elementary Students

Hey Students! Did you ever experience something so out-of-this-world that you just had to tell someone about it? Sometimes it is difficult to describe to someone everything that happened so that that person really understands everything you experienced. Let’s do a writing project together to helps us tell about what we know using both facts and opinions.

First, let’s talk about what is a fact and what is an opinion. An OPINION is how you express your feelings or unique point of view regarding a subject. On the other hand, a FACT is a statement of information. Opinions can be arguable. Facts, in general, are not arguable.

For example, let’s look at this picture of a kitten: 

If I say, “This is a white and grey kitten lying on a pink blanket next to a white flower.” All of those statements are facts, not opinions. There is no argument. But if I say “This adorable kitten is lying on a pretty blanket next to a beautiful flower.” All the words in bold are opinions and they may not be shared by everyone.

We are going to write a story using facts and opinions. Here is your story prompt:

Imagine that you are at the park and you see a bully push another child to the ground…

A “story prompt” is a preselected topic for a story instead of going through the brain storming process to think of one yourself. Using this story prompt, write a complete story using at least three facts and three opinions. Write an (F) next to your facts, and an (O) next to your opinions.

Here is an example:

Yesterday, I went to the park with my mom. (F)

One of the kids there was acting very mean. (O)

He pushed another kid to the ground. (F)

When I saw this, I got help from another adult. (F)

Watching the other kid get pushed made me very sad. (O)

That bully should face consequences for his actions. (O)

*If a sentence is contains both fact and opinion, label it (F,O)

It is important to be able to distinguish between facts and opinions when telling a story. Any time you tell about an experience you have had, make sure your reader or listener understands the facts of your story, as well as how you felt about the experience.

Next week, we are going to write a book review based on a story you have read. We are going to build on our skills about stating facts, and then giving our opinion.