[brandeli]

I have to write a lesson for grade 3-5 to use as a mini lesson for a Persuasive Essay. Anyone have any ideas? I was thinking of using some sort of literature to start the mini lesson.

Thanks,
Beth

[lynnylubner]

The book I Wanna Iguana is very cute and short. A boy and his mother write letters back and forth about the boy getting an iguana. Each letter from the boy uses persuasion tactics, and each letter from the mother counters the persuasion. I read this with my third graders. We then brainstormed as a class possible things they would want to persuade their parents. Then, I set up a block chart (Sorry, cannot attach, I'm still a new member. )
But I drew a circle in the middle: What I want
Then I drew a line at the top that said: Audience
Then below the circle: Three reasons for your persuasion
Three lines: Address parental concerns
Concluding statement

For example:
Audience: Parents
Want/Persuasion: Pet
Three reasons: I am responsible, I will take care of it, I will use allowance to take care of it
Counter arguments: I know you think I won't take care of it, but I know how much work it is...It's too expensive, so I will save money to buy it and contribute allowance for food/maintence
Statement: I hope you will consider my reasons for wanting a new pet.

Hope this is useful!

[AussieBird]

The PP has recommended an ideal picture book prompt. It is a great text for persuasive writing techniques such as establishing facts, clarifying ideas , prioritizing/ editing/ sequencing , forming conclusions that are based on agreed upon facts , using fantastic word choice , and writing with confidence .

If you go to this site and scroll to "Voice" and you'll find lesson plan ideas for I Wanna Iguana
http://##########.com/picture_book_prompts.htm

Mini lesson foci could be
" voice"-using effective persuasive skills is the main focus of this letter-writing exchange.
or
"word choice" -carefully chosen words are the basis of several of the persuasive techniques highlighted in this lesson.

[dolmansaxlil]

We're just wrapping up our whole school writing project on persuasive. A lot of us used I Wanna Iguana as an intro.

We had a persuasive text plan that we used first with persuasive texts we read (if you go to www.rainforestmaths.com and then click "writing fun" at the bottom, you can then find persuasive, which has lots of great student samples that we used.) The plan was something along the lines of:

Audience:
What you want:
Opening:
Strong Arguments: 1)
2)
3)
Powerful Closing

After using this on pieces that they read, we had them fill out a plan for their own writing (we're doing letters). They are then using this to draft their persuasive piece.

Some other things we did was look at advertisements to look at the strong language they use in order to sell products. After all, persuasive writing is just selling ideas! We also looked at point of view (we tied this in with The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, and had the students do a Readers' Theatre for an oral presentation mark as well).

[AussieBird]

Jenny Eather's Writing Fun is a great Aussie site- you can write online (click next to the bee at bottom right) in a whole range of text types or write online or offline on a graphic organizer for the text type you choose (click downloads and printables) and then print any of these finished pieces.
As the PP wrote, there are completed examples of each type from Gr 1-6 also.

Here is a link without going through her Maths Site:

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeath...ritingfun.html

[AussieBird]

Topic Box has a number of online activities relating to persuasion that could be useful for mini lessons eg fact and opinion quiz, unpicking arguments (Powerpoint), design a persuasive poster...

http://www.topicbox.net/browse.php?subject=English&topic=Text%20-%20Persuasion,%20argument,%20fact%20and%20op'
or go to
http://www.topicbox.net/browse.php?subject=English
and scroll to Text- persuasion

Also if you have a Smartboard , Polly the Persuasive Parrot shows features of a persuasive text
http://www.sgfl.org.uk/englishandlit...ces/nonfiction
Summary attached:

[silpada girl]

I will be starting a persuasive writing project with my fifth graders. I want this to be a fun activity that they take an interest in. I think I will get better results;otherwise I think these kids will become bored with their topics. I heard of one teacher who allowed a small group to think of an invention to try and sell. They came up with the product and why is was so great and what it could do. Each student was then required to write their own persuasive essay on the item. As a closing activity, each group was given 2-3 minutes to come up with a commercial to try and sell their product. They could draw it, make it, create a jingle,rap or otherwise. I do not have a lesson plan for this idea, but was wondering if anyone did anything similar, or if you thought it sounds like a good idea. thanks