50 Awesome 3rd Grade Opinion Writing Prompts
Self-expression is a critical skill. After all, it is one of the core components of communication, which is one of those things everyone should hone. Fortunately, there are different ways to work on self-expression for people at different levels. As such, 3rd-graders can benefit from 3rd-grade opinion writing prompts.
Here are 50 3rd-grade opinion writing prompts that might prove helpful:
1. Can You Have a Wrong Opinion?
Opinions aren’t necessarily based on facts. As a result, it is a good idea for grade-schoolers to think about whether it is possible to have a wrong one or not.
2. Can People Change Their Opinions?
Of course, it is also a good idea for them to think about the possibility of people changing their opinions.
3. When Should People Change Their Opinions?
Naturally, that leads to the question of what factors should convince people to change their opinions.
4. When Shouldn’t People Change Their Opinions?
That goes hand-in-hand with the question of what factors shouldn’t convince people to change their opinions.
5. Which Came First: the Egg or the Chicken?
Sometimes, paradoxes get solved because of advancing knowledge. Time points out that the egg predated the chicken. Still, this question is worth mulling over, meaning this writing prompt still has some value.
6. Is It Better to Have One Great Friend or Ten Good But Not Great Friends?
It might sound harsh. Still, one friendship isn’t necessarily the same as another. It can be thought-provoking for grade schoolers to spend some time thinking about the value of friendship.
7. Name a Book You Think Everyone Should Read Once.
Not everything needs to be thought-provoking. Even so, respondents should be capable of defending their choices.
8. Name a Book You Think Everyone Should Avoid.
Learning how to express dislike can be just as useful as its counterpart.
9. Name a Show You Think Everyone Should Watch Once.
The Pew Research Center makes it clear that there is a significant percentage of Americans who don’t read books regularly. Due to this, asking people to name books might be a bit difficult. As a result, asking them to name shows might be a better option.
10. Name a Show You Think Everyone Should Avoid.
Once again, it is good for people to get some practice for expressing dislike.
11. What Is Something You Think Everyone Should Experience Sometime?
Experiences are more nebulous than books and shows. Thanks to that, this is a less structured question.
12. What Is Your Favorite Food?
It can be interesting to see what foods people like.
13. What Is Your Least Favorite Food?
Similarly, it can be interesting to see what foods people dislike.
14. Who Is the Best Superhero?
Superheroes remain popular. Due to that, many grade schoolers should have an opinion on this question.
15. Who Is the Worst Superhero?
People don’t always put much thought into the worst of something. After all, if they don’t like it, chances are good they won’t want to waste much time on it. As a result, people can come up with interesting responses when something asks them to think about it.
16. What Is the Best Superpower?
More fantastical opinion writing prompts are a good way to get people to exercise their creativity.
17. What Is the Worst Superpower?
That is particularly true when opinion writing prompts are extremely open-ended, so much so that people can choose the criteria they use to answer the question.
18. What Is the Cutest Animal?
Animals are a popular topic. Due to this, it might be worthwhile to see what people consider to be the cutest animals.
19. What Is the Coolest Animal?
Cute animals can also be cool animals. Still, there is enough distance between the two concepts that these two questions can yield very different answers.
20. What Is the Most Interesting Animal?
“Interesting” is even more open-ended. If nothing else, this is an excellent way to learn weird and wacky things about various animals. One excellent example would be Discover’s reminder that starfish can insert their stomachs into their targets.
21. Dogs or Cats?
Dogs and cats are by far the most popular pets. As such, asking people whether they are a dog or cat person is a classic.
22. What Animals Make For the Best Pets?
With that said, people won’t necessarily consider either dogs or cats to be the best pets. There is nothing wrong with such answers. What makes sense for one pet owner doesn’t necessarily make sense for another, meaning this is one of those questions with very context-dependent answers.
23. Do Rats Make For Good Pets?
Some people think rats make for wonderful pets. The question is whether the respondents share that opinion.
24. Do Bears Make For Good Pets?
There are presumably people who believe the same is true for bears. However, that is much more of a fringe opinion, as shown by the U.S. National Park Service’s reminder that it is best for humans to avoid them. Still, it can be interesting to see how kids respond.
25. Do You Prefer Virtual Learning or Learning in Person?
Virtual learning has become much more topical in recent times.
26. Should Virtual Learning Be Made Available to Everyone?
Indeed, there is a legitimate question regarding the appropriate degree of accessibility for virtual learning, which is being asked and will continue to be asked.
27. If You Saw One of Your Friends Doing Something Wrong, Would You Tell On Them?
Kids tend not to think highly of telling on one another. Even so, it is interesting to see whether they have limits in this regard.
28. What Subject Do You Enjoy the Most?
Sometimes, self-expression is a matter of voicing one’s personal preferences.
29. What Subject Do You Enjoy the Least?
Some of those preferences are positive, while others are negative.
30. Do You Believe in Mandatory Subjects?
Mandatory subjects can be controversial topics.
31. What Is a Non-Mandatory Subject You Would Make Mandatory?
With that said, people won’t necessarily respond the same when they are given the power to decide on mandatory subjects.
32. Should School Have One Big Break During the Summer or More Smaller Breaks Throughout the Year?
Surprisingly, PBS reports summer break isn’t a legacy of agricultural society. Still, there are reasons why some people are pushing for breaking it up into smaller breaks situated throughout the year.
33. What Is the Best Way to Spend Summer Break?
Like before, this is just one of those writing prompts asking respondents about their personal preferences.
34. What Kind of Person Makes For a Good Friend?
Kids don’t automatically develop a clear idea of what makes for a good friend any more than adults do. That makes it wise for them to think about this sooner rather than later.
35. How Does a Good Friend Behave?
Of course, knowing what a good friend should be isn’t necessarily the same as being able to recognize a good friend. After all, humans can’t read minds, meaning we are reliant on other people’s actions to judge what is going on.
36. Do You Think You Are a Good Friend?
People can spend so much time on self-reflection that they get dragged down by it. A reasonable amount of self-reflection is a healthy habit.
37. Do You Think Schools Should Sell Junk Food On-Site?
Selling junk food in schools remains a controversial topic. It is tasty and convenient. Unfortunately, it is also unhealthy, particularly since dietary habits are habit-forming. Chances are good that kids have an opinion on the matter.
38. Do You Think People Should Eat Less Meat?
Some opinion writing prompts are best answered when people have spent some time researching the relevant issues. They may or may not agree with what they find. Either way, having that background can help them come up with more meaningful answers.
39. Do You Like Your Name?
Kids can respond either favorably or unfavorably to this question. The important thing is that they can support their answers.
40. If You Had to Change Your Name, What Would You Rename Yourself?
This writing prompt is meant to be more fun than anything else. Researching names can be surprisingly entertaining for some people.
41. Should Your School Have School Uniforms?
School uniforms are another much-discussed topic that gets brought up from time to time. Chances are good that kids also have an opinion on this one.
42. Which Is the Best Season?
Generally speaking, we think of the four seasons. However, it will be interesting to see whether anyone responds with something outside of that paradigm.
43. What Kind of Weather Do You Like?
Favorite weather is another example of an easy question readily answered using personal preferences.
44. What Is the Best Dessert?
People tend to enjoy dessert. As a result, many of us enjoy talking about our favorites.
45. Should Every Meal Come with Dessert?
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we think every meal should come with dessert. Presumably, the percentage of people who think so is higher among kids than among adults. Still, one shouldn’t make assumptions without having good reasons to back them up.
46. What Is Your Favorite Genre of Music?
Different people enjoy different genres of music. There is no right or wrong answer. What matters is the respondent’s ability to explain their choice.
47. What Is Your Favorite Place to Visit?
Much the same can be said for this question.
48. What Career Sounds Most Appealing to You?
This is one of those questions that kids are asked regularly. Some of them might already have surprisingly realistic answers. However, chances are good that grade schoolers are more prone to fanciful responses than their older counterparts. Fortunately, they don’t need to concern themselves about such topics for quite some time.
49. Would You Prefer Having $100 Now or $200 in a Year?
The time value of money comes up in a lot of contexts. For those who are unfamiliar, Investopedia states it is the idea that money in the present is worth more than the same amount of money in the future.
That is because time is valuable. More specifically, people can use the money to make more money, even if their options are as limited as putting it in a savings account.
Most kids won’t be able to articulate the idea to this extent. Despite that, they should be familiar with related topics, which can help them reason their way through this one. For instance, most kids understand the idea of delaying gratification so they can get something better in the future.
This writing prompt is very much weighted so that the future option is the preferable one from an adult perspective. After all, one doesn’t come upon a lot of opportunities to get a 100 percent annual return. It might be interesting to see whether kids would answer otherwise.
50. Would You Want to Live On the Moon?
Much of the planet remains unexplored because the deep sea is an extremely hostile place for human life. Still, space possesses the allure of being the final frontier.
Thanks to that, space travel and other space-related topics are exciting for a sizable swathe of the general population. That doesn’t necessarily mean people want to live on either the moon or some other non-terrestrial habitat, particularly since it is guaranteed to come with a wide range of hardships.
For example, living in a non-terrestrial habitat means being mostly cut off from the people and the amenities of the Earth. Similarly, living in a non-terrestrial habitat means facing dangers one wouldn’t expect to encounter on our planet.
Kids don’t necessarily see things the same way, so they will presumably come up with their answers based on their priorities.
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