Reading Comprehension – Fact and Opinion

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      Why bother learning the difference?

      Determining fact from opinion is an extremely important reading comprehension skill.  When a reader separates fact from opinion, he/she determines important information from beliefs and thoughts of others.

      Opinions in writing may lead to ‘biases.  Bias is an unfair slant that the writer gives the topic.  In order for your child to get a fair perspective, he/she must be able to discriminate between opinions and factual information.

     You can help your child distinguish between fact and opinion when reading.

·         Have your child look for words such as: think, believe, should, must, always, hate, best, and worst.  These words may signal that the statement is an opinion and the writing may contain bias.

·         Your child can practice ‘fact and opinion’ skills by reading mostly non-fiction. 

·          When writing a report, remind your child to focus on facts and not opinion.  This will

        help reinforce the concept of fact vs. opinion.

·         When your child is reading a text, have him/her underline or highlight the facts and opinions with different colors.  This will allow your child to visualize the important information.

     The ability to determine fact from opinion is an important skill when it comes to reading comprehension.  Your child will learn to discard the unimportant information and pay more attention to the true message of the text.

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Tutorgiant.com provides complete Reading Comprehension lessons with worksheets.

See some of the lessons in our video library.

DETERMINING IMPORTANCE - Lesson (A) Determining Important Information (Grades 2-3)
DETERMINING IMPORTANCE - Lesson (B) Determining Important Information (Grades 4-6)
INFERRING (Critical Thinking) - Lesson (A) Introduction to Inferring (Grades 1-3)
INFERRING (Critical Thinking) - Lesson (B) Primary (Grades 1-3)
INFERRING (Critical Thinking) - Lesson (C) Junior (Grades 4-6)
MAKING CONNECTIONS - Lesson (A) Introduction to Making Connections (Primary or Junior)
MAKING CONNECTIONS - Lesson (B) Primary (Grades 2-3)
MAKING CONNECTIONS - Lesson (C) Junior (Grades 4-6)
PREDICTING - Lesson (A) Introduction to Predicting (Grades 1-3)
PREDICTING - Lesson (B) Predicting Using Headings and Subheadings (Grades 4-6)
PREDICTING - Lesson (C) Using a Table of Contents to Predict (Grades 4-6)
SUMMARIZING and MAIN IDEA - Lesson (A) Primary (Grades 2-3)
SUMMARIZING and MAIN IDEA - Lesson (B) Junior (Grades 4-6)
SUMMARIZING and MAIN IDEA - Lesson (C) Intermediate (Grades 7-8)
VISUALIZATION - Introduction to Visualization (Grades 1-3)