Reading and writing are strong at Pullman Elementary, thanks to a partnership with the East Point Douglas McDonalds and general manager Accia Parker.
Started five years ago as a way to encourage a strong writing culture, the program allows students to earn a cheeseburger in exchange for reaching writing goals.
Working together with Pullman Elementary EL (English Learner) staff members Jesica Linker and Seukhwan “Sean” Ko, Parker has donated hundreds of cheeseburgers over the years as students make progress towards reading goals. Ko shared more on the program and what it entails.
“We began the partnership five years ago as a way to celebrate and encourage a strong writing culture at Pullman Elementary. My colleague Jesica Linker and I created a writing packet that all K-5 students use with the hamburger graphic organizer with the goal of fifth grade students writing five paragraph essays!” he said.
Practiced year round with a student celebration after Christmas, samples from the packet are taken throughout the year and sent to McDonalds. Not a test but rather a way to practice good writing, the packet leads students on a journey to good writing skills. Younger students add sequence words and details to complex sentences, building their skills of organization via a hamburger analogy: the topic sentence or paragraph serves as the bun, the three middle details or paragraphs as cheese, tomato, and meat, and the conclusion sentence or paragraph as the bottom bun. Using this analogy connected with a real world reward at McDonalds, the program packet teaches skills including the ARC Alphabet, parts of speech, figurative language, compare and contrast, fact and opinion, inferences, idioms, and dialogue to name a few. Also included are question starters, verb charts, sequencing, and theme. Come fifth grade, students are writing complex essays in place of complex sentences or paragraphs.
“Every student is rewarded with a cheeseburger and the hope is they ‘see’ and ‘digest’ the layers of organization as they eat and enjoy their meal!” Ko said.
Weaving in the district’s ARC reading and writing curriculum for extra support, the cheeseburger program has helped hundreds of students with a method to organize their writing.
“It is great to see a growing positive culture towards writing and drastic improvement/organization,” Ko said.
