5th grader's opinion writing results in a class pizza party from California Pizza Kitchen

Tarkington 5th graders wrote and mailed reviews to local restaurants recently. The focus of their reviews was to explain why their selected restaurant was the best restaurant. Some students received responses from their targeted restaurants. One student in particular made such an impact on the General Manager at California Pizza Kitchen that he paid a visit to Mrs. Collett’s class at Tarkington on April 24th and served the class a pizza lunch!

This assignment fulfilled the following Language Arts Power Standard in a meaningful and authentic way:

Write opinion pieces that support arguments with reason and information

• Create a clear introduction to a focused topic and opinion
• Identify and use appropriate structures of writing
• Collect explicit and relevant information on the topic and in support of the opinion from multiple sources
• Identify and use appropriate academic language specific to the topic
• Write a concluding statement/section that supports the opinion