Writing a Pro/Con Chart

     For the third nine weeks of the school year, we are working on writing about our opinions.  Last week we asked the question, "Is winter the best season?"  As a class we created a Pro/Con chart to help us organize our thinking.  Below you can see our completed chart.  We talked about the fact that pros are good things and cons are bad things; the smiley and frowny faces help the students remember what the words mean.

     When students are writing opinion pieces, ask them to start with a pro/con chart.  Once they writing in all of their opinions, they should decide what they think.  For our writing, the opinions are either, "I think winter is the best season," or "I do not think winter is the best season."  When they know what their opinion is, they will write it across the bottom or their pro/con chart.