Food trucks are everywhere!  They are even found at school events and offer delicious, convenient food for all.  It seemed a natural extension to use food trucks as a way students can showcase reading skills during their independent novel assignments.  We began with a terrific lesson outline from Spark Creativity.

Students chose high interest novels and began reading and looking for ideas to use to create a food truck.  There were check-ins throughout the planning process to help students stay focused on making connections from the novel to the food truck.  Brainstorming pages showed how each student was becoming a risk-taker in planning and using imagination to construct each project.  Students used a collaborative padlet to source supplies and offer suggestions and encouragement.  These  interactions highlighted how invested students became in making this a true festival.

Although the project seemed large; breaking the tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks helped students make decisions and plan effectively.  Amazingly, students not only read great novels; but they also planned a business pursuing decisions similar to a real business owner.  Things like the truck design for marketing, deciding on a menu, staffing the truck, and how to cook and serve food were all parts of this project that took students to the next level of engagement with learning.

Additionally, students worked on ratios and proportions through a math component and brought in a recipe to share during the Food Truck Festival.  Tastebuds were zinging and smiling as students sampled one another’s offerings, admired the trucks, and celebrated the culmination of an amazing project.

Check out the slide show photos of the creations.  Which is your favorite?