Fretful Over Fast Food

Designed by:  Katie Howard,  Caughman Road Elementary     

                     Grade Level: 4      Subject: Language Arts                      

1) Core Curriculum Objective:    Make judgments using evidence to support decisions in writing. (4-WP-5)

2) Essential/Focus Question:  If you were given $10.00 to take a four year old child that you're baby-sitting to a fast food restaurant, which one would you choose?  Why?

3) Overview:  Your students will have fun pretending they are seventeen year old baby-sitters, and are able to drive to a fast food restaurant.  The students will write a three paragraph essay using actual facts from fast food restaurants to decide which one they would choose to eat at with the child they're baby-sitting.  They'll enjoy using the writing process to organize their ideas and opinions for this informational/persuasive essay.  Illustrations will add to the fun final project for possible posting at a local fast food restaurant.  Just imagine drawing the car you'll be driving when you're seventeen, if you are only nine or ten now!

4) Resources for Teacher:

-local fast food menus (may want to enlarge on posters)

-phone books

-construction paper

-local area maps

-Writers Express written by Kemper, Nathan, and Sebranek

Resources for Students:

-paper, pencils, crayons, markers

5) Assessment Criteria:  

93-100     A

85-92       B

75-84       C

70-74       D

0-69      F  

6) Culminating Assessment/Student Guide

1.  Make a list, web, cluster, or outline of your plan  10 pts.______

2.  Use facts from the fast food restaurants, these can be found on the menus, flyers, and brochures  10pts.______

3.  Write a rough draft of the three paragraph essay: 20pts.______

Beginning-1st paragraph: Here you should introduce the subject to the audience in a clear and interesting way.  You may want to speak (write) as if you are seventeen and talk about your job assignment  which is to take the child you're sitting for to a fast food restaurant for dinner.

Middle-2nd paragraph:  In this paragraph you will explain where you have decided to take the child to eat and give some factual information from the brochures or menus that support your decision.  You may want to mention why other restaurants would not be a good choice. Include three reasons for your choice.

Ending-3rd paragraph:  In this final paragraph you will summarize the main reasons for your choice in a fast food restaurant and may even express why you hope others will agree with you in your selection.

4.  Editing-Proofread your work for errors such as clarity, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and accurate facts.  Have a friend proofread your work also.  10pts.______

5.  Final Copy-Did you make all of the revisions that you felt needed to be done after proofreading?

Did you do your personal best on your handwriting?  Are there any errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, sentences structure?  Did you include at least three reasons why you made the fast food restaurant choice? Is there an illustration to go with your essay?  Is your essay and illustration displayed on construction paper?    50pts._______

Enrichment/Extra Credit:

You may earn extra credit by writing a personal narrative of a time when your parents left you with a baby-sitter.  Was it a fun experience or was it an awful experience?  Give good reasons for you choice. 

If you finish earlier than you classmates you may also write about the kind of car you would like to have as a teenager with a brand new drivers license.  How will you purchase the car?  Where will you get the money?  What color, make, and model will the be?

7) Instructional Activities:

Session one-  As students sit in a large group on the floor, present some packages from local fast food restaurants such as Wendys, Mc Donald's, Burger King etc... .  Allow the students a few minutes to turn and share with a peer which restaurant is their personal favorite to eat at when given the opportunity.  Ask the students if they have ever been taken to a fast food restaurant by a baby-sitter, or if they have ever thought about being a baby-sitter.  Tell them that some baby-sitters are old enough to drive and may have to take the children that they are sitting for to a restaurant to eat for dinner.      

Tell the students that they are going to have a writing assignment where they will get to pretend that they are seventeen years old and have a driver's license!

Explain that the problem is that they also have to take the four year old they are sitting for to dinner at a fast food restaurant with only $10.00 to spend.  They will have to decide on the best place to eat at and give factual information for their choice, using fast food menus and brochures. 

Have students return to their seats and they are to get out a sheet of paper and pencil.   They should write down what their first choice to eat would be using just their past experience to make the choice.  Have them jot down a few reasons for this choice. 

The teacher should then tell the students that what they've been writing and thinking about could be written in an essay.  Explain to the students how every day they have to make decisions about what to wear to school, or who to play with at recess.  A lot of these decisions require minimal planning.  However, tell the students you want them to take a good bit of time and plan which fast food restaurant to take the child to for dinner that they are baby-sitting.

On an overhead, chart paper, or the chalk board write the following steps down for the students to restate in their own words with their answers:

1.  Define your goals for this essay.

-What are you making a judgment about?

-What decisions do you have to make?

2.  Make a list of your options.

-What are some of the restaurants you could choose?

-Are you sure you have the menus of the restaurants to use as factual information?

3.  Study the options.

-Look carefully at each option.  Perhaps you may need to use a phone book and a local street map to get the best location for the restaurant.  You may want to compare the menus available for price and nutritional information.   Don't forget that you may want to compare the items offered in value or combo meals.

4.  Rank the options.

-Put your options in order from best to worst, easiest to hardest, from quickest to longest, etc...

5.  Choose the best option. 

-Make sure you have considered the money, taste, quality, play space, and nutritional value of the selection.

6.  Review all of the steps.

-Take the information you have recorded home and go through the process again to see if your thinking has changed.

(Writers Express page 312, Write Source)

Session 2:

Hand out the culminating assessment/student guide.  Remind the students that the subject for their essay is to choose a fast food restaurant.  Tell the students that their audience will be teenage baby-sitters.  allow a few minutes for the students to think and share with the person next to them weather they want to write in a serious voice, funny, or somewhere in between.

Next using the student guide handout, have the students read and ask questions for clarity.  They may then begin their rough drafts.  Students should be familiar with proofreading their own work first then having a peer proof their rough drafts.  By the end of the second session students should begin revising their rough drafts and begin their final copies and illustrations.

Session 3:

Students should complete final copies with illustrations and choose a piece of construction paper for displaying their work in either a class book, bulletin board, or for display at the restaurant of their choice.  You may want to laminate the final papers and art work for durability.