Menu Magic!

Starring: ADJECTIVES

Students will

• review the characteristics of adjectives.
• analyze the structure, content, and purpose of a variety of restaurant menus.
• explore how audience and purpose shape their writing.
• compose restaurant menus with attention to accurate and descriptive word choice.
• identify appropriate layouts and images that relate to their menus.
• interact with classmates to give and receive feedback.

Students will utilize Desktop Publishing tools to format a document.

Students will engage thinking that involves understanding elements of graphic design.

Students will use Internet resources to examine and research information that focuses their work.

National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

International Reading Association (IRA) Standards

• Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts. 
• Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
• Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Your mission (which you must choose to accept) is create with your cooperative group members the most interesting, delicious, scrumptious, mouth-watering, tantalizing, colorful, tasteful restaurant menu you can imagine!

.

1.	Design a colorful interesting cover using Microsoft Word.  You may include clip art, pictures, or personal artwork (scan).  You can also use the Drawing Toolbar in Word to add visual elements to your menu.
2.	Include a game or puzzle for the back cover of your menu to entertain children.
3.	Write an interesting story detailing how your restaurant began. You may include photos/drawings of the original owners.
4.	Include at least 20 adjectives that appeal to your sense of taste to describe menu items. Use at least 10 additional adjectives for the remainder of the menu.
5.	Include the following items: appetizers soup(s) of the day salads and/or salad bar entrees/main dishes side orders (may include breads) beverages (non-alcoholic please!) desserts
6.	Earn bonus points by including the following Chef's Specials Special(s) of the Day Early Bird Specials Dieter's/Lo-Cal Specials Vegetarian Specials
7.	Consider a menu targeted at one of the following specific groups: bankers doctors firefighters hula dancers parents plumbers skateboarders surfers teachers teens ... think up your own:
8.	Try creating a menu for a specific type of restaurant.  Ideas to consider include: Sandwich Shop Waffle House Ice Cream Saloon Crepe Shop/Hut Sausage Hut Avocado Pit Pizza Palace Hamburger Haven Seafood Shanty Yogurt Bar Onion House Steak Stop ... think up your own:
9.	You must include realistic prices for all prices for all items on your menu.

LOCAL RESOURCES

AND MATERIALS

Click here for a printable checklist of the assignment instructions listed above.

Lesson Plan (some materials here adapted from): Cooking Up Descriptive Language

Printable Menu Templates:

• Visit a local restaurant to talk about how menus are create, designed, updated, items priced...
• See if a local restaurant will have students design a menu that they use (a lunch insert, a specials menu, etc.).
• Another possibility is having students design an online-menu for a local restaurant (See Templates)

Self-Assessment:

Students should print, complete, and turn in the Assignment Checklist with a copy of their final menu.