Fact and Opinion Aliens

I introduced fact and opinion last week. Since we were studying space we made aliens by folding a piece of paper in half, painting close to the fold, and then pressing the paper together to make a symmetrical figure. After drying, the kids added some details to the creations. Next the kids wrote "facts" about their aliens describing the figures, what planet they came from, what they did, what they ate, etc. When they were done, we stapled the aliens and the facts to the bulletin board. Then the kids read each others' papers and wrote three opinions (on the small, colored papers you see below). It was a fun way to practice and enabled me to see who wrote some thoughtful opinions and who had opinions that lacked depth. Here's some pictures of our aliens: