For the past couple of weeks during writing we have been working on opinions.  While everyone seems to have strong opinions about a given topic, we have been working on supporting our opinions with evidence.  We have spent lots of time practicing this orally, often by telling wether or not we like a book that was just read, and using evidence from the story to support our thoughts.  Children also really enjoy convincing me that they should earn class tallies for a given portion of the day, which is dependent on solid evidence.  They have become very creative in their reasoning!
We have practiced writing several opinions as well, including "Which do you like better, recess or choice time?" and "Would you rather have hot lunch or cold lunch?"  As part of this we have worked on wrapping up our writing with a concluding statement.

Angie Barger was with us again on Wednesday morning for some more tracking fun, using plaster tracks to make stories in sand.  This week we have also been sharing each child's shadow puppet show, which tells the story of tracks in the snow.