We’ve been writing opinion pieces in 4-B. We’ve focused on important (to us) topics: “Which is better: indoor recess or outdoor recess – in Iowa – in January?” “Mittens or Gloves? THAT is the question.” As with most things, I have my own opinion and am not afraid to express it. The 4-B Kids expressed their views too. These were some of my favorite sentences from their articles. “I feel like I would like mittens better because when people are huddled together they get warm and in mittens your fingers are huddled together.” (Jenna Potter) “Mittens are handmade which gets really wet because they are soft and thin.” (Juan Arvizu-Ersland) “Mittens always smell weird if you get them wet.” (Elly Fogt) “In my opinion gloves are better they are more flexible and you can grab stuff better but, on January 30, 2019 I was watching the news, and they said a lot about the weather because it was -60!!” (Anthony Knaack) “In my opinion gloves are better and especially when you’re a kid and playing in snow how do you pick up the snow and make a snowman and make snowballs when you have mittens on?” (Jada Cheville) In my opinion gloves are better than mittens. For example mittens have one place for your thumb then the rest of your fingers go into a pouch. (Karson VanHeiden) “In my opinion I think that mittens are better and warmer than gloves. It is always better if your fingers are together.” (Izzy Ross) “I think gloves are better because you can move your fingers around, and you can catch a football.” (Kohen Gienger) “I like inside recess because there are more inside recess games to play with like puzzles, war, cards, board games, uno, and checkers.” (Paili Nicholson) “To conclude this, I will say outside you burn off energy so you are kind of ready to learn and not exactly crazy.” (Anthony Knaack) “I think that indoor recess is better because you will have more time to do stuff, because when you go outside you have to bundle up and that takes awhile to do. Another reason is you can do a lot more indoors in the winter than outdoors – like draw, play games, and not be cold. I feel that indoors there isn’t as much drama as outdoors and and there’s no tackling indoors so no one has to come in crying or hurt.” (Jada Cheville) It’s important to learn to read. It’s more important to learn to think when we read. This week we’ll spend time reading and thinking about opinion pieces from our Time for Kids magazines. We’ll talk about texting while walking, parents posting kids’ photos on-line, the elimination of plastic straws and plastic bags, and whether or not voting should be mandatory. We’ll keep in mind a quote by Daniel Patrick Moynihan that we’ve had for handwriting practice: “You are entitled to your own opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” It’s important to be able to read. It’s more important to think when we read.