Week of October 13-17

Good morning!

This week we will be covering TEKS 4.11B- Fact and Opinion!

Students will be learning that a Fact is something that can be proven to be true.  You can prove it by seeing it, researching it, or measuring it.

One difficulty students normally have when determining a Fact is that some Facts can be proven to be not true.  For example I can say: Mrs. Harville is 6 feet tall.  This can be proven to be false by measuring Mrs. Harville's height.  What students fail to understand is that just because a statement is proven false such as this one, doesn't make it necessarily an opinion... it is simply a false fact!  Students need to be aware that just because a statement is not a true statement it doesn't necessarily mean it is an opinion.

An Opinion is a statement about what one person Thinks, Feels, or Believes. 

For example: Fridays are the Best day of the week!  This is an opinion because someone else might feel that Saturdays are the best day of the week.

Opinions have key words that students can look for such as: best, beautiful, most, worst... and so on.

Facts and opinions are very commonly found in advertisements.  For homework on Wednesday students will have to watch a few cute commercials posted and find 3 facts and 3 opinions from each one.  As you may be watching television at home or reading the newspaper help your child point out the facts or opinions they might see or hear.  This can be an ongoing process through the school year that could cement their foundation of knowing the difference between the two and you can also make it a fun game!

 Thanks for all you do!