Sixth-graders in Deedra Spurlock’s class at West St. John Elementary School conducted a poll as an activity guiding them through the process of developing a claim for an argumentative essay.

They maneuvered through the writing process one step at a time, starting with an OREO cookie taste test.

Students tasted different flavored OREO cookies before taking an opinion poll to determine which flavor is the class’ most popular.

This led to engaging discussions with a blend of various high-level questions that forced students to use their thinking caps.

They then developed a claim using the data from the survey/poll, their discussion notes and anchor charts to produce well-written, multi-paragraph argumentative essays.