Over the past month, first graders became experts at stating and writing their opinions. Opinion writing improves critical thinking skills and helps students work on writing structure. To express their opinion in writing, students stated their opinion, provided reasons and examples, and restated their opinion in a different way at the end.

Students transformed into reviewers by thinking about the places and things they love and writing five-star reviews! Their goal was to persuade others to try their place or thing. We ended this writing unit by writing book reviews, and recommending some favorite reads to others! To write a persuasive book review, students needed to tell a little bit about the book without giving away too much! Or, as we like to say, “Don’t spill the beans!” We are so proud of the first graders' writing progress this year! We look forward to ending the year with some fiction writing.