Writer’s Workshop Mini Opinion Writing Unit, Grade 2-3

     This writer’s workshop model supplemental writing unit is designed to develop  opinion writing skills  for grades 2-3. There are 10 mini-lessons in this Opinion Writing  Unit that build strong opinion writing  skills the prerequisite to writing to persuade. 

         This unit includes two Google slides documents. There is 35  teaching slides and  20 pages  in the digital student edition writing notebook  with a  detailed writing activity for each lesson in the unit. Each lesson includes an animated mentor writing piece for instruction and the teaching part of the lesson. Each lesson also includes a rather than writing prompt for students who are struggling with finding a topic.

        The writing lessons in the  unit start out with students creating a My favorite Things list for favorite foods, movies, activities, and books. The  first two lessons guide students  to learn, plan, organizing, and write their opinion writing. In lessons 3-4  the students learn to add buddy bonus sentences to their reasons and develop their examples and paragraphs. In lessons 5-6 students develop an introduction by hooking the reader with a question and their opinion.The Last two lessons help students develop their conclusion and offer advice to their reader with a call to action. 

         All mini units include the student notebook  that can be sent through the Google Classroom as one writing notebook or you can send each lesson separate. I share out the workbook to my students and add a new lesson each week to their existing notebooks.  The unit is broken down into a one month unit meeting two to three times a week. A total of 10 lessons. 

The product will include a PDF file with two google links that will ask you to make your own copy and rename your files. One Teacher edition and the other a student workbook. 

Writers Workshop Unit 3 How to Books: Writing to Teach Others, Kindergarten Level, 2013 edition. This lesson plan bundle guides you through all four Bends I to IV of Unit 3, Sessions 1 to 19. Students will choose activities they know how to do to write many how-to booksThe lesson plan bundle includes all components of the mini- lessons: Connection, Teaching point, Teaching, Active Engagement, link, Mid-Workshop Teaching, Conferring, and Share. The product includes a unit plan, monthly calendar, essential questions, enduring understanding, objectives, Common Core State Standards, Unit Celebration Invitation, and Ideas.

Writers Workshop Gr 1 Unit 3 Writing Reviews Lesson Plan Bundle

Writers Workshop Grade 1Unit 3: Writing Reviews. (2013  edition).  This lesson plan bundle guides you through bends I to III of Unit 3, Sessions 1 to 18. The lesson plans include all components of the Mini-lessons: Connection, Teaching point, Teaching, Active Engagement, link, Mid-Workshop Teaching, Conferring, Share, and Anchor Charts. The product includes a unit plan, monthly calendar, essential questions, enduring understanding, objectives, Common Core State Standards, and recommended Mentor Texts, and Anchor charts. 

        In this unit students will learn that writing can give them a way to make and defend decisions and opinions. They will learn to write their judgments, their reasons for those judgments, and to organize their reasons, supplying supporting details. The students will write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure. This unit will encourage writers to develop opinions with multiple reasons, provide detailed descriptions, as well as strong openings and closings. It will also encourage students towards using and revising more complex sentences, using linking words. 

Writers Workshop Gr 1, Unit 1, Small moments: Writing with Focus, Detail and Dialogue Lesson Plan Bundle

Writers Workshop Grade 1Unit 1:Small moments: Writing with Focus, Detail and Dialogue. (2013  edition).  This lesson plan bundle guides you through all four Bends I to IV of Unit 1, Sessions 1 to 21. The lesson plans include all components of the Mini-lessons: Connection, Teaching point, Teaching, Active Engagement, link, Mid-Workshop Teaching, Conferring, Share, and Anchor Charts. The product includes a unit plan, monthly calendar, essential questions, enduring understanding, objectives, Common Core State Standards, and recommended Mentor Texts.In this unit of study, you’ll build on your students’ knowledge of the  narrative writing process as they work to plan, draft, revise and edit small moment stories from their lives. The students will add dialogue and details to bring their stories to life. You’ll also help writers study mentor texts to discover craft moves and techniques they can try out in their own writing.

Writers Workshop Gr 1 Unit 2 Nonfiction Chapter Books Lesson Plan Bundle

  Writers Workshop Grade 1Unit 2: Nonfiction Chapter Books. (2013 edition).  This lesson plan bundle guides you through bends I to III of Unit 2, Sessions 1 to 20. The lesson plans include all components of the Mini-lessons: Connection, Teaching point, Teaching, Active Engagement, link, Mid-Workshop Teaching, Conferring, Share, and Anchor Charts. The product includes a unit plan, monthly calendar, essential questions, enduring understanding, objectives, Common Core State Standards, and recommended Mentor Texts    This unit takes children on a writing journey that builds in sophistication. It begins with instruction on how to make a basic type of information book—and ends with children creating multiple information chapter books.

Writers Workshop Grade 1, Units 1 to 4 Yearly Lesson Plan Bundle

      Writers Workshop Units 1 to 4: First Grade, 2013 edition. This lesson plan bundle guides you through all four Units of study throughout the year.The lesson plan bundle includes all components of the mini- lessons: Connection, Teaching point, Teaching, Active Engagement, link, Mid-Workshop Teaching, Conferring, and Share. The product includes a unit plan, monthly calendar, essential questions, enduring understanding, objectives, Common Core State Standards, Unit Celebration Invitation, and Ideas.

    In Unit 1, Small moments: Writing with Focus, Detail and Dialogue guides students through narrative writing. Unit 2: Nonfiction Chapter Books. This lesson plan bundle guides you through informational writing. In unit 3 Writing Reviews. This lesson plan bundle guides you through opinion writing. In Unit 4, From  Scenes to Seriesyou’ll lead your first graders into writing realistic Fiction pieces

Writers Workshop Grade 2 Unit 2 Lab Reports and Science Books Lesson Plan Bundle

This lesson plan bundle guides you through all three Bends I to III of Unit 2, Sessions 1 to 19. The lesson plans include all components of the Mini-lessons: Connection, Teaching point, Teaching, Active Engagement, link, Mid-Workshop Teaching, Conferring, Share, and Anchor Charts. The product includes a unit plan, monthly calendar, essential questions, enduring understanding, objectives, Common Core State Standards, recommended Mentor Texts, and Science Experiments needed.

   The aim of this unit is to teach students more about information writing and, specifically, about the kinds of information writing that scientists are apt to do. During mini-lessons and small groups students are taught not only about informational writing but, about force and motion, and about the scientific method. This unit illuminates the work of being an information writer. Students will write informative / explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic.  They will use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

Writers Workshop Grade 2 Unit 3 Writing About Reading Lesson Plan Bundle

This lesson plan bundle guides you through all three Bends I to III of Unit 3, Writing About Reading ,Sessions 1 to 19. The lesson plans include all components of the Mini-lessons: Connection, Teaching point, Teaching, Active Engagement, link, Mid-Workshop Teaching, Conferring, Share, and Anchor Charts. The product includes a unit plan, monthly calendar, essential questions, enduring understanding, objectives, Common Core State Standards, recommended Mentor Texts, and Science Experiments needed.

     This unit is designed to help students learn to state clear opinions and to support these ideas with evidence. Students will learn to write about beloved books in ways that persuade others to love them as much as they do. Students will learn to think deeply about characters, favorite scenes, illustrations and lessons learned. By engaging in persuasive letter writing students will move towards an essay format toward the final unit's celebration.

Writers Workshop Grade 2 Unit 4, Poetry: Big Thoughts in Small Packages

This lesson plan bundle guides you through all three Bends I to III of Unit 4, writing about poetry, Sessions 1 to 17. The lesson plans include all components of the Mini-lessons: Connection, Teaching point, Teaching, Active Engagement, link, Mid-Workshop Teaching, Conferring, Share, and Anchor Charts. The product includes a unit plan, monthly calendar, essential questions, enduring understanding, objectives, Common Core State Standards, and recommended mentor poems.

     This writing unit is designed to introduce students to poetry writing. There are three bends to this this unit. The first bend, focuses on seeing with poets’ eyes, listening for line breaks, and generating ideas. In the second bend, students will experiment with language and sound to create meaning in their poetry. They will learn different craft moves from authors of poetry. Students think about their word choice and how this conveys the message of their poetry. In the third bend of this unit, students will focus on trying many different poem structures, revising, and editing their poems.

Writers Workshop Grade 2, Unit 1 Lessons From the Masters: Improving Narrative Writing Lesson Plan Bundle

This lesson plan bundle guides you through all three Bends I to III of Unit 1, Sessions 1 to 19. The lesson plans include all components of the Mini-lessons: Connection, Teaching point, Teaching, Active Engagement, link, Mid-Workshop Teaching, Conferring, Share, and Anchor Charts. The product includes a unit plan, monthly calendar, essential questions, enduring understanding, objectives, Common Core State Standards, and recommended Mentor Texts.

In this unit of study, you’ll build on your students’ prior knowledge and will continue with their small moment stories by brainstorming topic choices, planning/rehearsing their stories, sketching, and writing with emphasis on editing and revising too. The students will continue adding to their repertoire by studying the craft of an author(s) and incorporate these craft moves into their own writing. Their stories will recount well-elaborated events, including details, thoughts, actions, feelings, and providing a sense of closure. To do this work, students will look closely at the work of published writers and learn to let that writer function as a mentor noticing the author’s craftsmanship and thinking.