This week we will be continuing to learn about discussion and will be using all of our skills to write our own discussion by the end of the week.

Monday-Give our opinion justifying our choice

Now that we have spent some time learning about some peoples reasons for and against Zoos and have thought of our own opinion it is now time for us to give our own opinion on different subjects.

Will all our opinions be the same? Is that OK? Should we be able to explain why we think that way?

Remind your child of the arguments for and against so far.

Explain today’s task to your child. Use the set of questions provided to take turns asking and answering questions. The questions should encourage conversation and opinion. Encourage your child to read around unfamiliar words and use phonics to blend and segment.

Tuesday Write an opinion

Remind your child of yesterday’s discussion- They should have formed an opinion about Zoos by the end of the lesson. Explain that today we are going to write our opinions using for and against arguments.

What have they decided about Zoos?

Show how you can use but to compare two reasons

Read these sentences together

I think Zoos are good because they protect animals that are going extinct. I know some people think they are cruel but I think the animals are looked after carefully there

I think Zoos are good because they help people to care for animals and help them to learn about them too. I also think that they are great places to visit with my family or friends.

Can your child spot the conjunctions?

Ask your child to give their opinions

Encourage your child to speak in full sentences that explain their opinions and use conjunctions. After they have said their opinion out loud ask them to write it explaining why they feel that way.

Wednesday- Write a discussion

Today we are going to start writing our discussion- Remind your child of the lesson we did creating own story map of a discussion last week using pictures to help us. What was the first thing we needed to write?

The title- What is our discussion question? Should animals be kept in a Zoo?

Next we explained our question- Can they use their story map to remember what our introduction said?

Today we are thinking about the question should animals be kept in a zoo? There is no wrong or right answer to this question.

We can now write a part that explains what a zoo is just in case our reader doesn’t know.

Next remind your child of what the two arrows on either side showed- Reasons for and against

How many did we give? Is it important to give both in a discussion? Remind the children that we already wrote these last week.

Finally what did we include? – Our own opinion which is what we wrote yesterday

Task- Write your discussion including all of the features above. There is a sheet to support them if you feel that your child needs it.

Thursday- Editing and improving our discussion- Perform our discussion

Ask your child to read back their writing from yesterday. Can it be improved in any way? Can you support them with any spelling corrections or incorrect/missing punctuation? Have they missed any words? Does their work make sense? Can they add anything new to their discussion? Children should read back what they have written and should attempt to make amendments.

When your child has completed their work they can present their discussion to you.