Make your case

Reasons that hold up. Part of reading and writing.

Make your case

Reasons that hold up · Alberta Grade 6 · maddyhelps.com

Name
Date

Your class has $300 to spend: a buddy bench, or new sports equipment? Tick whether each statement helps an argument or not. Then make your own case — a claim, a reason, and evidence.

Statement	Helps	Doesn't help
A buddy bench helps kids who feel left out at recess find someone to play with.
Sports equipment is boring.
Two of our three soccer balls are flat, and the skipping ropes are broken.
Only little kids would want a bench.
A bench lasts for years, but balls get kicked over the fence and lost.
My cousin's school has a swimming pool.

My choice (the claim)

My best reason

Evidence that backs it up

What someone who disagrees might say — and my answer

For the grown-up

Make your case

“A buddy bench helps…” helps — a reason for the bench; “Sports equipment is boring…” does not help — an opinion with no reason behind it; “Two of our three…” helps — evidence for new equipment; “Only little kids would…” does not help — it mocks people instead of answering the idea; “A bench lasts for…” helps — a reason, with evidence; “My cousin's school has…” does not help — it may be true, but it has nothing to do with this choice. Either choice can win; what matters is a reason that is relevant and evidence that is true.

The last line is the hardest and the most useful. Answering the other side is what turns a list of reasons into logical reasoning, and it is what the writing test rewards.

Why this matters is on the reading and writing page. More sheets