Lesson plan Grade 3 English Language Arts
Should Winterbourne Orchard Water at Night? A Grade 3 Opinion Lesson
A grade 3 opinion writing lesson set at a fictional apple orchard, where students sort reasons for two watering times and defend one with two reasons.
Objectives
- Students will sort reasons from a text into two groups by the choice each reason supports.
- Students will write an opinion paragraph that states a choice and gives two reasons with linking words.
Vocabulary
Key words: orchard, opinion, reason, soak, because
Teacher overview
Winterbourne Orchard is a fictional apple farm outside an invented town, and the question in front of it is whether to run its watering lines at noon, as it does now, or at night. The handout gives four points about each watering time, all of them true within the scenario, so a student can pick either answer and still be right if the reasons hold it up. Third graders often treat an opinion as something that cannot be argued about, and many will say "because I like it" when asked why. Sorting a fixed list of reasons before writing gives them evidence to point at instead.
Procedure
Hook (5 min): Ask the class to picture a sprinkler running on a hot, sunny playground at lunchtime, and then the same sprinkler running at night. Ask which one probably gets more water into the ground, and take a show of hands without saying who is right. Tell the class that a real orchard has to make this choice every week.
Read and sort (12 min): Read the handout's fact sheet aloud while students follow. Draw two columns on chart paper, headed Water at noon and Water at night. Reread the fact sheet one reason at a time and have students say which column it belongs in, then have them mark the same sort on their own handouts. Several sentences sit under one watering time yet argue for the other, such as the water that dries into the air at noon, so let the class disagree and settle each one by rereading the sentence.
Model the paragraph (10 min): Think aloud as you choose a side and write an opinion paragraph on chart paper with four parts: a sentence that states the choice, a first reason beginning with "One reason," a second reason beginning with "Another reason," and a closing sentence. Underline the two linking phrases and say why a reader needs them.
Independent writing (13 min): Students answer questions 1 through 6 on the handout and then write their own opinion paragraph on lined paper. They may pick either side, and they must use two reasons that appear on the fact sheet.
Closure and check (5 min): Ask three volunteers to read only their first sentence aloud, and ask the class to say the choice each writer made. Then collect the paragraphs and count how many contain two reasons from the fact sheet. If more than a third of the class used one reason or none, reteach the "Another reason" move in a small group before the next writing block.
Student Handout
Watering Time at Winterbourne Orchard
Winterbourne Orchard grows apples on a hill outside the town of Marlow Bend. Thin hoses run along each row of trees. Small sprinklers on the hoses spray water onto the ground and the low leaves. Right now, Mrs. Ferreira turns the water on at noon. Her neighbor says she should turn it on at night instead.
Here is what Mrs. Ferreira knows.
At noon the sun is high and hot. Some of the water dries into the air before it soaks in. The soil at the top gets warm and hard. Mrs. Ferreira is already outside at noon, so she can walk the rows and spot a hose that has come loose. If a hose sprays the wrong way, she sees it right away.
At night the air is cool. Less water dries away, so more of it soaks down to the roots. The pump costs less to run at night, because the town charges less for power after dark. But the leaves stay wet until morning, and wet leaves can grow spots that hurt the fruit. Nobody is in the rows at night, so a loose hose could spray for hours before anyone finds it.
Answer each question. Use the fact sheet.
- What does Winterbourne Orchard grow?
- When does Mrs. Ferreira water the trees now?
- Write one reason from the fact sheet that supports watering at noon.
- Write one reason from the fact sheet that supports watering at night.
- What can happen to the leaves if the trees are watered at night?
- What is your opinion? Should Winterbourne Orchard water at noon or at night? Give two reasons from the fact sheet.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Answer: Apples. The fact sheet says the orchard grows apples on a hill outside Marlow Bend.
- Answer: At noon. The fact sheet says Mrs. Ferreira turns the water on at noon right now.
- Answer: Accept any one of these: she is already outside at noon and can walk the rows, she can spot a loose hose, or she sees right away if a hose sprays the wrong way. From the night part, also accept that wet leaves can grow spots that hurt the fruit, or that a loose hose could spray for hours at night before anyone finds it.
- Answer: Accept any one of these: the air is cool so less water dries away, more water soaks down to the roots, or the pump costs less to run after dark. From the noon part, also accept that some water dries into the air at noon before it soaks in, or that the top soil gets warm and hard at noon.
- Answer: They stay wet until morning and can grow spots that hurt the fruit.
- Answer: Accept either choice. A full answer states the choice in a sentence and gives two reasons that appear on the fact sheet, with the second reason marked by a linking phrase such as "Another reason." Do not score the choice itself, only whether two fact-sheet reasons support it.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students the fact sheet already cut into eight reason strips, and have them place each strip in a noon pile or a night pile before answering. Provide a paragraph frame with the four sentence starters written out, so the writing task is filling reasons into a shape they can see.
Extension
Ask students to write a second paragraph answering the neighbor, in which they name the strongest reason on the side they did not pick and explain in one sentence why it did not change their mind. Keep it to reasons that appear on the fact sheet.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "orchard," "soak," and "reason" with a sketch of a row of trees and a hose, and show soaking by pouring water onto a dry paper towel. Provide sentence frames: "I think the orchard should water at ___," "One reason is ___," and "Another reason is ___."
Extensions
Students can survey three adults at home about when they water a garden or a lawn and bring back one reason each. Adding those reasons to the chart-paper columns the next day shows that the same question comes up outside the orchard, and it gives the class more reasons to weigh.