Grade 5 Lesson 1

Item Page Lesson Plan

Page 2

Student Article

Page 5

Opinion Practice Activity Handout Page 9

Marlins Think Tank: Fifth Grade Writing Lesson Plan #1

VIS

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OBJECTIVE. What is your objective?

KEY POINTS. What knowledge and skills are embedded in the objective?

Student will be able to:

W.5.1. Write opinion pieces on topics or texts,

supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and

create an organizational structure in which related ideas

are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.

Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.

An opinion piece is generally written with

the purpose of persuading others to accept

the stated opinion.

An argument is more valid if it is supported

by facts and details (i.e. statistics and

evidence).

ASSESSMENT. Describe, briefly, what students will do to show you that they have mastered (or made progress toward) the objective.

Students will write their own opinion piece on the following topic: Based on the article, which position would

you play?

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OPENING (10 min.) How will you communicate what is about to happen? How will you communicate how it will happen? How will you communicate its importance? How will you communicate connections to previous lessons? How will you engage students and capture their interest?

MATERIALS.

Students will enter class and immediately respond to the following questions on the board:

Have you ever gone to a professional baseball game? Where did you sit? Who took

you to the game? Did the audience catch any fly balls? What was the most exciting

part of the game? Were all players engaged? Were some players more active than

others?

After students have been given five minutes to write, the teacher will begin to take notes on the

board as students share their brainstorming ideas. Students will share their experiences and then

the teacher will say:

“Today we are going to talk about opinion writing. We are going to read one article

about the different positions in baseball. Then we are going to formulate our own

opinions and support it with strong evidence. That is what successful writers do! Let’s

begin!”

Student

notebooks

INTRODUCTION OF NEW MATERIAL (10 min.) How will you explain/demonstrate all knowledge/skills required of the objective so that students begin to actively internalize key points? Which potential misunderstandings do you anticipate? How will you proactively mitigate them? How will students interact with the material?

Being able to write successfully means that you can construct a solid argument that has support.

Imagine if I said to you, “My team won the Little League finals last night!” You might not

necessarily believe me unless you saw my trophy, or if I brought you pictures of the team after

we won. These are examples of support.

Students will take the following notes:

An opinion is a belief or view on something. A judgment formed about something not

necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

Synonyms - belief, judgment, thought(s), (way of) thinking, mind, (point of)

view, viewpoint, outlook, attitude, stance, position, perspective,

persuasion, standpoint.

Everyone can have an opinion. Opinions cannot be proven. They are subjective to the

person who believes it. People can have opinions about anything: favorite baseball team,

favorite color, favorite food, favorite subject, favorite teacher, etc. When opinions are

written down for others to read they should have reasons to back them up.

A strong opinion piece has reasons to back up the opinion. “Because I said so,” or “Because I

feel like it,” are not good reasons. Your reasons should be unemotional and based on fact in

order to support or back up your opinion.

Sometimes, people write their opinions down for others to read. We will be learning about

opinion pieces today.

Before you do anything else in your opinion piece, address the topic. State the issue at hand.

Next, state your opinion. After you have introduced the topic and stated your opinion, you can

begin to delve into your reasons, or your support.

Student

notebooks

GUIDED PRACTICE (10 min.) How will students practice all knowledge/skills required of the objective, with your support, such that they continue to internalize the key points? How will you ensure that students have multiple opportunities to practice, with exercises scaffolded from easy to hard?

Student and teacher will read the article: “Baseball Positions – Which One is the Best?”

(I Do) The teacher will model how to identify an opinion in the passage with supporting details.

(We Do) Class will look for examples of two opinions and evidence.

(They Do) Students will work collaboratively to find all the other examples of opinions or

evidence in the passage.

Note: Circle opinions and underline supporting details.

(Article taken from: https://www.pitchingmachinestop.com/baseball-positions-which-one-is-the-best)

Essential Vocabulary:

1. umpire- an official who watches a game or match closely to enforce the rules and

judge on matters arising from the play.

2. advantage- condition or circumstance that puts one in a favorable or superior

position

3. essential- necessary; extremely important.

4. emulate- match or surpass (a person or achievement), typically by imitation.

“Baseball

Positions –

Which One is

the Best?”

Handout

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE (25 min.) How will students independently practice the knowledge and skills required of the objective, such that they solidify their internalization of the key points prior to the lesson assessment?

After discussing the article and the opinions shared in it, students will brainstorm and write

their own opinion piece on the following topic: Based on the article, which position would you

play and why?

They will first be required to list the topic, their opinion, and three pieces of evidence/support.

Once they have completed this, they may begin writing.

Lesson Assessment: Once students have had an opportunity to practice independently, how

will they attempt to demonstrate mastery of the knowledge/skills required of the objective?

The lesson assessment will be the product of the time utilized during independent practice.

CLOSING (5 min.) How will students summarize and state the significance of what they learned?

Three students will share their opinions and support it with evidence gathered from the text.

By: Scott McKirahan

As spring draws near and baseball season approaches, you might be wondering, “What baseball

position is the best? Which one should I play?”

Not only is each position important, but it can be argued that each one of them is the best

position to play. David J. Weller did just that last year in a series of articles he published on

the Youth Baseball Blog that explained why each position on the field the best is. Here's a

summary of some of those articles:

In Baseball Positions: Catcher Is the Best, David Weller says that the catcher is

the best position to play. He is involved with every single pitch and is

responsible for knowing opposing batters’ as well as his pitcher’s strengths and

weaknesses and using that to his advantage to tell the pitcher what to throw.

The catcher is the field general, telling fielders what bases to throw to and

making sure players are in the right positions for cutoff throws. He blocks bad pitches, has a

cannon for an arm that he uses to throw out would-be base stealers and is usually the toughest

guy on the field.

In Baseball Positions: First Baseman Is the Best, Weller says that first base

is the best position to play in baseball. Other than the pitcher and catcher,

nobody is involved more on defense.

Virtually every ground ball ends up being thrown to the first baseman, so he

has to be great at fielding throws and scooping errant ones out of the dirt. He

keeps runners from stealing second by always being ready for a pickoff throw and is the cutoff

man for all throws to the plate from right field.

In Baseball Positions: Second Baseman Is the Best, David argues that second

base is the best position to play. A second baseman has to have very quick

hands and a great glove. Nobody is in charge of covering more ground in the

infield than the second baseman so quick feet and great range are essential.

The second baseman is responsible for all throws to second base from the left

side of the field and for covering the base on steal attempts. His very quick hands make it

possible for him to turn a double play whether he is transferring the ball from his glove to the

shortstop to make the turn or he is the middleman, firing a throw to first base practically as fast

as he receives the ball from another infielder.

If you play second base, you are the cutoff man for all throws from right field and many throws

from center. Being able to pivot quickly and make an accurate throw is a skill that few people

have and one that makes a second baseman special.

In Baseball Positions: Third Baseman Is the Best, David Weller makes the

case that there is no better position to play than third base. Because no

other position player is closer to the batter, a third baseman must have

catlike reflexes, a strong arm and not be afraid of a hard-hit ball.

Most young hitters are right handed, and the good ones pull the ball.

Because of that, the third baseman must be ready for a hot shot down the

line on every swing. He can't back up, though, since he has to be ready to charge to the plate on

any bunted ball. A third baseman who can get to a bunt quickly and fire a rocket to first base

takes a very important strategic play away from the other team.

The anchor of the left side of the field, third base is a position that can only be played by right

handers.

In Baseball Positions: Shortstop Is the Best, Weller states that there is no

better position to play than shortstop. Because of the range of skills needed

to play the position, the shortstop is usually the best athlete on the field.

The coach knows it, all the players on his team know it and all the players

on the other team know it, too.

The shortstop has to have a very strong arm since he is the furthest away

from first base of any of the infielders. He has to have great range, too, since he covers ⅔ of the

left side of the infield. He has to cover second base on steals as well as plays at second base and

absolutely must have quick hands to turn a double play. The cutoff man for hits to left field and

left-center, a shortstop has to be able to pivot and fire a rocket to home, too!

Few players are in a position where more spectacular plays are required. A shortstop has to be

able to make plays to his right and left, often diving, and throw from some very awkward

positions. Seldom is there a game where the shortstop doesn't have the dirtiest uniform on the

field.

In Baseball Positions: Right Fielder Is The Best, David says that right

field is the position all Little Leaguers should want to play. Although

some may see it as a place to put the weakest fielder on the team, that

simply is not the case. A right fielder is the man responsible for keeping

runners from advancing extra bases in several situations.

Not only does a right fielder need to have the one of the strongest arms on

the field in order to gun runners down at home or third base, but no position has more

responsibility when it comes to backing up other players. The right fielder backs up throws made

to first by the pitcher as well as all throws from the left side of the infield to second base.

In the Major Leagues, the right fielder is usually one of the best power hitters on the team.

In Baseball Positions: Center Fielder Is The Best, David J. Weller points

out that center field might be the best position to play. Captain of the

outfielders, no player on the field has to be faster or cover more ground.

His incredible speed is evidenced on the base paths, too, where he

frequently leads the team in stolen bases.

Not only is the center fielder responsible for covering the deepest part of

the ball field, but he has to be fast enough to back up both the left and

right fielders and get to balls in the gap on both sides. A strong arm is a

must; nobody has a longer throw to home plate than a center fielder does.

Because there are so many more right handed batters on Little League

teams that hit with power, playing left field means you are going to need

to be able to run very fast both backward and forward. Line drives will

just clear the infield so the ability to field balls off the ground while on

the run is just as important as being able to track down fly balls.

The left fielder also needs to be ready to get on his horse and make some

pretty spectacular over the shoulder grabs. And, like all outfielders, a left

fielder definitely needs to have a good arm. Frequently, he is fielding some of the deepest fly

balls, so being able to gun an advancing runner down at second or third are things that only

someone with a great arm can do.

If a player is chosen to play left field, it means that he has an outstanding arm, is extremely fast

and has a great ability to track a ball from the moment it leaves the bat. A player chosen to play

left field joins a club of extremely elite players including Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Barry

Bonds and Manny Ramirez.

The pitcher is the best position on the field because they are involved in

every single play. The pitcher is the player who sets the tempo for the

game, and controls how well the other team performs. Some pitchers

can throw as hard as 100 miles per hour, and some can throw loopy

curveballs to keep hitters off balance. The entire team relies on the

pitcher to do well! If a team has a great pitcher and 8 below average

players, the team still has a chance to win. However, a team with a bad

pitcher and 8 All Stars will most likely lose. Many great pitchers like

Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, and Dan Straily all help their teams win!

As you can see, no matter what position you ultimately play, that position is vital to the team.

Although you may not join the list of all-time greats at their position, you will undoubtedly

become a better player when you practice and do you best every time you are on the baseball

field.

"Baseball is a lot like life. It's a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most

of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life." - Ernie Harwell

Write your own opinion, based on the following topic:

Topic: Based on the article, which position would you play and why?

Opinion: _____________________________________________________________________

Support/Evidence:

1) _____________________________________________________________________

2) _____________________________________________________________________

3) _____________________________________________________________________

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