Reading Restaurant

by Robyn Gioia

I was introduced to Reading Restaurant at a school get-together. Our school shared a professional day with teachers from a top-rated school in another district. Our assignment was to bring our favorite teaching units to share with everyone.

We met with the reading teachers. A manila folder was handed to us by two smiling masters. The manila folders were designed to look like restaurant menus. On the front cover was the title Reading Restaurant. When you opened the folder, you were met with a menu of different projects.

Instead of book reports or summaries, students have the opportunity to do a creative project.

Just like a restaurant, students select from each menu section. Their final selection must equal 100 points. For example, if they chose a 70 point dinner, they must choose another item worth 30 points.

The projects vary and can be tailored to the level and interest of your students. Some of the cool things are designing movie theater posters, writing and performing a play, or creating a cereal box that highlights selected literary elements with a playable game on the back. Of course you can add your own projects, but the restaurant menu format and a variety of projects is a big winner with the kids.

In my class, students usually mull over the selections. At the end of the month, each student presents their project to the class. I use a rubric to grade their project and presentation skills. Afterwards, the student audience is allowed to ask questions of the presenter. This generally creates a lot of excitement and generates a lot of interest in the different projects and featured books.

Robyn Gioia

Award winning author/teacher Robyn Gioia has worked in both private and public US schools, as a principal at an international school in Japan, taught Emirates in the UAE, gifted MS students in Puerto Rico and is currently teaching in South Korea for the DoD. Her controversial history book, America's REAL First Thanksgiving, St. Augustine, Florida, Sept.8, 1565 was featured on the front page of the USA Today Life section and continues to be the topic of numerous newspaper and radio shows. In her new historical fiction Under Siege!, two boys must go behind enemy lines to help in the 1702 siege of St. Augustine. (teacher resources available on website)
website: www.robyngioia.com