Grade 7 ELA Activities

Your child may have a lot of opinions. Maybe she likes to examine the facts. Or maybe your child is particularly good at supporting her opinions with facts. We often need to determine whether something is factual (and so can be proven) or whether something is largely one person's or the group’s opinion.

It's a detective's job to find evidence that proves a suspect's guilt or innocence based on the facts. But as the classic whodunit reminds us, finding the facts isn't always easy. If your child is good at collecting evidence to make a point, encourage her to practice her sleuthing in the game below. You might begin by talking about how a detective uses facts to solve a case.

In the game of Alibi, characters have to explain their whereabouts at different times on the day of a given incident (as in the board game Clue). To begin, one player becomes the detective. Then the other players create a fictional crime.

Imagine that each player is accused of the crime and that the detective must solve the crime by questioning the other players. Each player must come up with an alibi, the evidence that he or she was somewhere else when the unsolved crime occurred. What kinds of claims would they use to make their cases, and how would they support the claims with facts? How can the detective sort the facts from what are actually opinions?

As the detective questions the players, it is important to consider which of the statements are facts and which might be opinions. How can you prove the facts? What is the sequence of events?

To help your child act as a detective who uncovers fact and opinion, devise a list of statements for your child to prove or disprove. These statements might be generalizations about your family and friends that your child can confirm or deny by conducting interviews. Sample statements might include:

	Everybody in our family loved this book.

	No one likes the main character in this movie.

	We all enjoy eating popcorn.

	Every person in the neighborhood voted for the mayor.

By conducting interviews, your child should describe which statements are true and which are false. She should also provide evidence from her investigations. You might make the idea of providing evidence a part of daily conversation. When a questionable statement is made, ask your child to back it up with a supporting fact or opinion. Providing evidence will not only help your child show her understanding of fact and opinion, but will also encourage her to think about the importance of supporting details.

 Grade 7 ELA Activities