5-Minute Fillers: Comprehension, Spelling, and More

Volume 40

Pose the following question to students to start a lively discussion, or use is as a prompt for a quick journal-writing activity: What if you were asked to describe yourself to somebody who just met you? What three words would you use to describe yourself? Why did you choose those words?

Fact, Fiction, or Opinion?
Builds comprehension skills

Write the following statements on a board or chart, or say them aloud. Have students identify each statement as fact, fiction, or opinion.

• Being president is the hardest job in the world. (opinion)
• Mercury is the planet closest to the sun. (fact)
• The hippopotamus is the largest land mammal. (fiction, the African elephant is)
• Apple pie is the best tasting pie. (opinion)
• The Empire State Building is the tallest building in Texas. (fiction, it is in New York City)

Then give each student a sheet of scrap paper. Have them write and label three statements -- one that is factual, one that is fiction, and one that is opinion. Collect the students' work and use their statements as a class quiz.

Great Graphs
Builds graph reading skills

Collect from newspapers and magazines a variety of graphs. (The major news magazines are good sources; the USA Today newspaper is another excellent source.) You might laminate the graphs so you can use them over and over. Hand each student a graph and a sticky note. Have them write on the sticky note one fact they did not know that they learned from the graph. Have students share what they learned with their classmates.

Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
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