persuasive essay second grade

Persuasive Writing Unit of Study

This free persuasive writing unit of study is designed to fit into your 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade writing workshop.

Download this persuasive writing unit of study to help you plan an engaging and effective unit in your classroom.

This unit contains anchor charts, graphic organizers and lessons to help you create the perfect unit for your students.

This is another free resource for teachers and homeschool families from The Curriculum Corner.

This persuasive writing unit of study is just what you need to make your planning easier.

Within this newly updated unit, you will find both colorful and black and white anchor charts. This will help you conserve color ink if needed.

The unit contains anchor charts, graphic organizers & more. All resources are provided in a single PDF download.

What is persuasive writing?

Persuasive writing can be an important part of the primary writing curriculum. It encourages students to use their opinions and knowledge to influence others.

Persuasive writing can be thought of as extension of opinion writing. It differs in that the author’s opinion is followed by reasons for the opinion along with an attempt to persuade the reader.

This unit on teaching children to write persuasive pieces was designed with second grade in mind. However, you will find many mini-lessons that can be used for other grade levels. 

This unit was written with the help of Cathy’s student teachers (Joel Larrison, Kellie Wood and Amanda Rush.)

A writing workshop typically begins with a 10 to 15 minutes mini-lesson.

Some of the ideas for lessons below could run beyond the 15 minutes. Because of this, you might choose to spread some of the lessons over multiple days. 

You will want to reinforce some of your mini-lessons with reviews or follow-ups as needed. The types of writing being done by students will often times require more than one day to complete.

Persuasive Writing Mini-Lessons

• The first two days of this unit are designed to expose children to different types of persuasive writing.  It is important to have a good stack of mentor texts so children can explore the unique features of this type of writing.  This stack is different than other mentor stacks you might have created for other units because not all of your texts will be books.  You can add book & movie reviews and other types of persuasive writing that fit.
• We start many of our units by having our students “notice” various things about certain types of texts.
• In this case give small groups of two or three students two mentor texts.
• Then provide post-it notes and ask them to “notice” features of the writing by recording their observations on the post-its.  You may also choose to use our Group Noticings graphic organizer.
• After students have time to explore, gather them together and share their observations. Discuss the texts and their similarities.
• You can use the blank chart so that you can create your own anchor chart with your students. You will find an already completed anchor chart to help you start.

What is Persuasion?

• Read aloud the book I Wanna Iguana  by Karen Kaufman Orloff.
• After reading, discuss the term “persuade” and what it means.  Talk about how the main character in the story is trying to persuade another character in some way.
• Use the Persuasive Text Story Map to show what is happening in the book.  After completing the story map, discuss the Persuasive Writing Anchor Chart.

Choosing Persuasive Language

• Younger students often need help choosing the correct persuasive language.
• A lesson where you create an anchor chart with powerful word choices for this type of writing can be helpful. We have an anchor chart with some possibilities you can introduce. Your students might also think of new words to add to it.

Supporting Our Opinions  

• Read the book aloud and then complete the Persuasive Text Story Map (same as from lesson 2) as a class.
• Next, give the students a chance to create their own supporting details for a persuasive piece.  Together, choose a topic of high interest.  Perhaps it could be “Why the class should have a longer recess” or “Why teachers should give less homework”.
• Fill out the Persuasive Planner with the class to help guide children in creating strong supporting details for the opinion topic.
• Doing this will also give the students a model for planning when they begin to create their own opinion pieces.

Writing a Persuasive Paragraph

• Model how to write a persuasive paragraph using the Persuasive Planner the class created in lesson 4.
• You can show and discuss the Opinion Sentence Starters anchor chart and use it to help you begin your writing in front of the class.
• Be sure to “think aloud” as you write in front of the class. This will help them understand how you are using your planner and making writing choices as you go.
• Next, show the students the list of 16 persuasive writing topics provided. You can have each choose their own topic from the list of ideas (or think of a new one).
• Pass out Persuasive Writing Planners to everyone. Students can begin by writing their opinion topic at the top, and thinking of three supporting details to add below.  Once students have completed their planner, they can begin to write their own persuasive paragraph. This is where the previous modeling comes in handy! You will find a lined page in the download for students to use. Some students might need more guidance so be sure to conference with students during independent writing.

Introduction to Persuasive Letters

• For this lesson it is best to read aloud a book that has persuasive letters within the story itself.
• Discuss with students what the animals want in the book and the supporting arguments they give.
• As a class, pick a topic that students could use to write a letter. They might write to the principal, cafe manager or other important adult in the building.
• Write a class letter trying to persuade the adult of the class’ opinion. (A letter writing template has been provided if you wish to use it.)
• For example, students might try to argue that they should be allowed to watch a movie because of their hard work and good behavior. Another idea is persuading the cafe that they should serve a new favorite food.
• As the class participates in this guided writing activity, be sure to point out punctuation that letters should have.

Writing a Persuasive Letter

• Begin this lesson by gathering students to reread and discuss the letter that was written in lesson 6.
• Once again, emphasize the importance of supporting their opinions with details. Also remember to review punctuation.
•  Next begin brainstorming topics and audiences to whom they might write a persuasive letter.
• As students are thinking, briefly meet with each one to discuss what topic and audience they choose to write for. They should be working to complete the Persuasive Writing Planner.
• As they finish their planners, have students meet with peers to talk about their supporting opinions before they begin to write their actual letters.
• We have provided a simple letter template if you would like for your students to use one.

Introduction to Commercials & Ads

• Your students will probably love this lesson! Start by sharing some of your favorite commercials with your class from your computer screen, SmartBoard, or tablets.
• After each commercial, discuss what was being advertised, as well as one fact and one opinion from each commercial.
• Discuss the purpose of commercials and ads – to persuade people to purchase a product or service.  Emphasize that commercials and ads are most definitely a form of persuasive writing in our every day life.
• We have created a recording page, Finding Facts & Opinions in Commercials” to accompany this lesson. Students can record their ideas as they work if you would like.

Planning a Class Commercial & Ad

• For this lesson you will need to bring in a product that you think the students will enjoy creating a commercial and advertisement for.   (The crazier the product the more fun the class will have!)
• Show your students the product and discuss its characteristics and strengths.
• Together fill out the Commercial Advertisement Planning pages to fit the specifics of the product you brought in.
• We have provided two types of planners for each one so that you can choose which works best.
• These will serve as the model for students to plan their own commercials or advertisements in the next lesson.

Writing Individual Commercials or Ads

• Using the planning pages from lesson 9, model for or explain to the students how you would like them to write their own commercials or design their advertisements.
• Refer back to the Words for Persuasive Writing anchor chart to remind students of persuasive language they will can use in their writing. Also be sure to include specifics about opinions and facts within the advertisements that you want them to include.
• Then, have students choose one form of persuasive writing they would like to do – a commercial or an advertisement.  You might even decide to have them work with partners.
• Have students brainstorm products (or give them an extra day to bring something in) and fill out their respective planners.
• We have created pages where students can draft a commercial script and/or design an ad.  After a few days of writing and working, have students act out their commercials or create a hallway display of the advertisements they create.
• Discuss the persuasive nature of the ads and point out the facts and opinions contained in each.

Introduction to Writing a Book Review

• Another form of persuasive writing is a book review. Students will attempt to persuade their peers to read a particular book they have enjoyed.
• First spend some time reading book reviews as a class.  You will find some great examples (mentor texts) of book reviews here:  Spaghetti Book Reviews .
• Read some aloud with the entire class and also provide some time for students to read a few with partners.  Gather students to discuss the purpose of a book review – persuading others to read or not to read a particular book.
• Spend time discussing the importance of providing strong opinions and reasons so that the piece will truly persuade the reader.

Writing a Class Book Review

• Use a book that you have already read aloud to the class to model for students how to fill out the Book Review Planner.
• Once the class has completed the planner together, model how you would like for them to format their actual book reviews.
• There are many formats that book reviews can take – written reports, brochures, posters…even the commercials and ads your students learned in the previous lessons.
• You make the decision on the format for the book reviews based on the standards you are teaching.  If you choose a writing-only format, we have several different styles of papers to choose from at the end of the download.
• Again, be sure to “think aloud” as you are writing so students know what to include and why it is important. This also allows you to model good grammar, punctuation and other rules (book titles, indenting, etc).

Writing Individual Book Reviews

• Students now have the tools and knowledge to write their own book reviews.
• After choosing and reading a book they would like to write a review on, have students fill out Book Review Planners.
• You may want to choose one format for all of the students to use to write their reviews. Or you can show several options (models) and let students use their own creativity to write the book review.

Celebration

We always suggest some type of writing celebration at the ends of writing units of study.  The celebration for the persuasive writing unit can simply be a gathering of people for students to share their writing with. Or, you could have students present their commercials, ads and book reviews.  The intent is to make students feel proud of their learning and the writing process.

You can download this free unit of study here:

Writing Unit Download

Below we have included links to our favorite books to use when teaching a persuasive writing unit of study (contains affiliate links)

Looking for other free resources to add to your study? Try these:

As with all of our resources, The Curriculum Corner creates these for free classroom use. Our products may not be sold. You may print and copy for your personal classroom use. These are also great for home school families!

You may not modify and resell in any form. Please let us know if you have any questions.

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Friday 27th of May 2016

I love it~ do you think this will be appropriate for 3rd grade?

Jill & Cathy

Tuesday 31st of May 2016

Hi Kathy! We try to create most of our resources so that they can be adapted for the range of grades the website is intended to address, so our immediate answer is yes, but of course it will depend on your particular students and their capabilities - as with all of our resources. Hope you are able to use some of the persuasive unit ideas & resources in your 3rd grade class! If you have other ideas, don't hesitate to email us!

Sunday 1st of November 2015

Your site is amazing! I could spend the entire week on this site and still not get through all the amazing units! I am currently working on Persuasive writing with my students and your resources have been beneficial. Unfortunately I am unable to see the list of mentor texts that you mentioned were at the bottom of the page. All I can see is an advertisement. Any possible way you can send me your list of texts? Thank you!

Monday 8th of February 2016

Hi Lou! We had some troubles with Amazon links, but are working on getting them all fixed. If you click on the book titles within the post text it should take you to the Amazon links of the books we suggest. Sorry about that!

4th Grade Emergency Sub Plans

Friday 13th of February 2015

[…] so you can write in your own prompt. (You will find additional persuasive writing resources here:  Persuasive Writing Unit of Study.  This post includes an anchor chart and list of words used in persuasive […]

Best IDEAS FOR FALL!

Snack Attack Persuasive Writing Activity for 2nd Grade

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Teaching persuasive writing to your kiddos can seem tricky at first. You might find yourself wondering where to start or trying to decide what resources to use. But, don’t worry, because I have the perfect activity that your 2nd graders will love! This Snack Attack Writing activity is the answer you have been looking for. Come check out this awesome resource!

Please note this post contains affiliate links.  Please know that I make a very small commission from your purchase if you follow my links. There is no cost to you, but this extra coinage allows me to continue creating free resources and writing awesome content for you!

Snack Attack Persuasive Writing Activity

In Snack Attack! Students will write a persuasive essay convincing their teacher to provide a preferred snack to the class. This writing project will help your students write a persuasive essay using:

• A clear position statement
• Evidence or details to support their position

I promise your students will love this persuasive writing!

Suggested Books for Persuasive Writing in 2nd Grade

When teaching a new topic, I love using resources that will provide my students with some background knowledge. There are two books I highly recommend that will help spark the conversation of persuasion with your students.

The first book is Dragon Loves Tacos by Adam Rubin . This deliciously funny read-aloud is an unforgettable story about new friends and the perfect snack that will have your students laughing until spicy salsa comes out of their noses!

The second book I recommend is also by Adam Rubin. Secret Pizza Party is about a raccoon who loves pizza! However, someone is always chasing the poor raccoon away from his favorite food. What does he decide to do? Plan an elaborate secret pizza party, of course!

Both books are great ways to discuss how the author uses details to support their claims with your students.

Here are a few other books that would work for this writing activity, too:

• Dragon Loves Tacos
• Secret Pizza Party
• Snack Attack
• I Will Never, Not Ever, Eat a Tomato

Brainstorming Ideas

After reading the story, it’s time to introduce the writing! Tell students that they’ll be working on writing a persuasive piece where they’re trying to persuade YOU to bring in a snack for THEM!

From there, brainstorm some snacks that would be class appropriate. Write the snack suggestions the class comes up with on the board. Then, have students choose which snack they’d like to write about. Send them back to their seat to brainstorm why that snack would be perfect for you to bring into class.

This resource includes a brainstorming sheet. They can work through their thoughts which is a great way to help students zero in on their snack position. Students can also begin to develop details to support their opinion. The brainstorming sheet is super easy to follow and is a great visual for students when planning out their thoughts. 

Teacher Note:  I suggest you model how to fill out a brainstorming sheet as the students fill in theirs. This can be incredibly helpful for early and emerging writers.

Writing a Rough Draft

Now it’s time for the rough draft.

When your students begin to write their rough draft, it is important to remind them to use their brainstorming sheet as a guide. You will want to model for your students so that they understand the expectations. Follow these steps:

• Model how an introduction helps tell the reader what the author is writing about
• Use the brainstorm sheet to write an introduction sentence
• Then, model how to use details- remind students to use capital letters and ending punctuation as they write. Model rereading writing for clarity.
• Add a conclusion and discuss how a conclusion helps “sum up” the writing

Using a Rubric for Editing

This is one of my favorite things about this resource! Students will use a self-checking rubric which helps them learn the editing process. I always like to begin by discussing how to use the rubric. It is also a great way for your students to ensure their writing has all of its pieces. There are many ways you can have your students edit their writing pieces. For example, using the rubric, students can check over their writing independently or pair up with a partner who can share their opinion or make suggestions.

Revise and Rewrite

After students have had the opportunity to edit their writing, they can begin writing their final draft. During the rewriting process, I like to remind my kiddos that they are still using their self-checking rubric as a guide. They can also use any recommendations given by their partner. When students are ready to publish, I give them the special writing page included in this resource. They also get the opportunity to create a craft. As a final step, students should attach their rubric to the back of their persuasive writing piece.

Voting for the Best Snack

One of the best ways to increase student engagement with this writing activity is to actually buy the winning essay’s snack suggestion. I love making this part a friendly competition! First, have your students share their writing pieces in small groups. While your students are reading, you will want to circulate around the room to find 4-5 most convincing details. Have each student read their writing piece to the class and have your students vote on the best one. I would recommend using a blind voting system with two levels (5 essays, to 3, then 1). Last but not least, bring in that special snack for the class to share!

Free Persuasive Writing Resource

Now that you know all about this wonderful resource, I have some good news! Just add your email to the form, and you’ll get this entire product for FREE! I know this resource will be extremely helpful when teaching your students about persuasive writing. Not to mention that they will be highly engaged and excited to write!

So, tell me, what is one of your favorite parts of this resource? Or do you love it all? Comment below and share your thoughts!

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Free Printable Persuasive Essay Structure Worksheets for 2nd Grade

Persuasive Essay Structure: Discover a collection of free printable worksheets for Reading & Writing teachers, tailored for Grade 2 students to develop their persuasive essay writing skills.

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Explore printable Persuasive Essay Structure worksheets for 2nd Grade

Persuasive Essay Structure worksheets for Grade 2 are an essential tool for teachers looking to enhance their students' reading and writing skills. These worksheets are specifically designed to help young learners understand the fundamentals of writing organization and structure, which are crucial components of persuasive essays. By incorporating these worksheets into their lesson plans, teachers can provide their students with a solid foundation in persuasive writing techniques, enabling them to effectively express their thoughts and opinions in a coherent and convincing manner. Moreover, these Grade 2 worksheets can be easily integrated into various classroom activities, making them a versatile and valuable resource for educators seeking to improve their students' writing abilities.

In addition to the Persuasive Essay Structure worksheets for Grade 2, teachers can also utilize Quizizz, an interactive platform that offers a wide range of educational resources, including worksheets, quizzes, and games. This platform allows educators to create engaging and interactive lessons that cater to the diverse needs of their students, while also reinforcing key concepts in reading and writing. Furthermore, Quizizz provides teachers with valuable insights into their students' progress, enabling them to tailor their instruction to better support their students' learning. By incorporating both the Persuasive Essay Structure worksheets and Quizizz into their teaching strategies, educators can effectively enhance their students' understanding of writing organization and structure, ultimately fostering the development of strong reading and writing skills in their Grade 2 students.

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How to Teach Persuasive Writing in K-2

Susan Jones January 10, 2021 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate ads at no cost to you. See my disclosures for more information.

If you are wondering how to teach persuasive writing in kindergarten, first grade, or second grade, then this blog post is for you! I have three easy tips I am going to share with you that will help you and your students.

Before I dive in, I want to clarify two little things. First, when I teach students how to write persuasive pieces, I have already taught them how to write an opinion and provide some reasons. I like to teach students what an opinion is, how to share it, and provide reasons for it using a unit like this one: opinion writing unit , before asking them to persuade someone! Second, when teaching persuasive writing to my youngest students, I like to do this through letters. I find that when we can identify a real audience and write them a letter, students can think of better ways to persuade them. Okay, let’s dive into the three tips.

If you want to watch/listen to this content, feel free to press play on my YouTube video below where I share all the same information! While you are there, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to see all my teaching videos:

To read the three tips, just keep scrolling!

Tip 1: Use Mentor Texts

These books are specifically for persuasive writing and one of my absolute favorites is Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings. In this book, a little dog named Arfy writes letters to different people to try and get them to adopt him. I particularly like this book because based on his audience, he uses different reasons to persuade. This is something we talk about in one of the later tips as well!

Another text I love to use to showcase persuasive letters is I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff. This is a popular one! In this book, a little boy named Alex writes letters to his mom trying to persuade her to let him have a pet iguana. The entire book is written back and forth with letters between Alex and his mother and each letter provides reasons why he should or shouldn’t be allowed to own a pet iguana. This one is also fun because in the end, (spoiler alert) Alex ends up getting the iguana he wanted! This shows students the power of persuasion and lets the dream of something they really want and come up with ways to get it.

The last mentor text I want to share is a different one. This is one I use at the end of our unit. It is called, Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf and it is written by an 11-year old girl named Oliva Bouler. When I teach persuasive writing in a K-2 classroom, our letters tend to be pretty self-serving. This isn’t a bad thing at all! In fact, that’s why writing the letters can be so much fun – to try and get what we want. This text, however, lets students see how powerful our words can be and how we can try to persuade people to make the world a better place.

In  Olivia’s Birds , the author shares all sorts of interesting facts about different birds with her illustrations and how some human acts are destroying the birds’ habitats. In the end, she writes a persuasive letter to the Audubon Society and ends up single-handedly raising over $150,000 to help her cause! I love this book because it is inspiring and gets students thinking of ways they can change the world with their voices!

Please note: all books shown above are Amazon affiliate links

After we read Olivia’s Birds, we can use her ideas as an extension to write our own class book. Here are some of the ideas we use to brainstorm our own class persuasive letter:

Tip 2: Have your students Identify Persuasion in a Mentor Text

When using mentor texts, not only do I like to have students see persuasive writing in action, but I like to have them identify the persuasion in the texts. We do this using a think-aloud sheet like shown below.

As we read one of the mentor texts, we identify what the character wants, who the audience is, and then some of the reasons the character uses to persuade their audience. When doing this, I model this think-aloud with the class first and I use some student input as we gather reasons to persuade. I like having students walk through this process before we actually write our letters because it gets them used to brainstorming what they want, their audience, and some reasons to persuade. I also like this sheet because we can use it over and over again with different mentor texts!

You can grab this think-aloud sheet FREE here >> Persuasive Writing Activity and try it out in your own classroom!

Tip 3: Connect Reasons to their Audience

Unlike when we write opinions and share our reasons for them, persuasive writing has us making our reasons more personal. If we are trying to persuade someone, we need to think more in-depth about our audience! When doing this, I love to use a think-aloud and the mentor text, Can I Be Your Dog? which was shown above. Using a chart like shown below, we think about the different reasons Arfy uses to persuade his different audiences.

As we re-read the mentor text, we talk about how Arfy uses different reasons to persuade the people in the yellow house than the reasons he uses to persuade the fire station. This gets students not just thinking about what THEY want, but also how THEIR AUDIENCE could be persuaded!

I re-emphasize this as I model planning out my own persuasive letter to my principal! I like to use a fun example. I explain that when I speak to my son, I might use “baby voice” but I wouldn’t use that same baby voice with my boss! We need to speak differently and think of reasons that connect with each of our own audiences in order to effectively persuade them.

Those are the 3 tips I have to help you teach your students write persuasive letters! If you have other mentor texts or ideas that you love using with your kindergarten, first grade, or second-grade students, please drop them in the comments!

If you want to see more videos with ideas for teaching writing in a K-2 classroom, just click my writing workshop playlist below:

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Reader Interactions

July 18, 2021 at 2:54 pm

Very useful lessons of writing Thank you

October 1, 2021 at 9:06 pm

I just finished watching your first writing video and found it very educational. I have recently started to homeschool my fourth-grade son. I am noticing he finds it very difficult to think of information to write when he is writing from a prompt or a book. I am thinking about starting at a lower level of writing perhaps maybe first grade or kindergarten in order to build his writing confidence. I am open to any suggestions, please.

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Hello friends.

Welcome to Susan Jones Teaching. When it comes to the primary grades, learning *All Things* in the K-2 world has been my passion for many years! I just finished my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and love sharing all the latest and greatest strategies I learn with you through this blog and my YouTube channel! I hope you'll enjoy learning along with me :)

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