Port Folio Objective 3.1

Objective 3.1

Offers a careful interpretation & analysis of children’s early literacy/numeracy skills & interests.

Action Plan

This activity is using a simple recipe to follow and help children learn to interpret quantities of ingredients and understand precision when measuring. The following recipe is making your own mini pizzas with homemade dough and a variety of toppings. This will be a great activity for children to do with their parents as a bonding moment as well learning opportunity.

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Make Your Own Mini Pizzas + Homemade Pizza Dough

Made by Georgia August 2, 2012

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Yield: Makes 18-20 mini pizzas / 2 balls pizza dough

Ingredients:

Mini Pizzas

1 ball refrigerated pizza dough, store bought or homemade (see recipe below)
1 cup pizza sauce or jarred pizza/pasta sauce
Your desired toppings (see below for ideas)

Topping Ideas
· Cheese: Mozzarella, Mexican cheese, Asiago, Parmesan, Romano, bleu cheese, feta, provolone
· Meat: Chicken, Italian sausage, bacon, ham, beef, chorizo, pepperoni, prosciutto, shrimp
· Vegetables: Tomatoes, artichokes, roasted red peppers, onions, green peppers, jalapenos, spinach, cherry tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, banana peppers, squash, sweet corn, peas, avocado
· Other: Pineapple chunks, black beans, fresh basil, garlic, sprouts, capers

Pizza Dough
1 (1/4 oz.) envelope yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Chopped dried herbs, such as basil, oregano or rosemary, optional

Directions:

Pizza Dough
Stir together yeast and warm water in a small bowl; set aside for 5 minutes.

Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and olive oil in a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Optionally, add dried herbs like basil, oregano or rosemary. Stir in the yeast water. Knead with the dough hook or by hand on a well floured surface for about 5 minutes. If using the stand mixer, once finished kneading, remove dough from bowl and shape into a large ball by hand.

Oil two bowls lightly with olive oil and set aside. Divide the dough into two pieces and roll into balls. Place each ball into the oiled bowls, seam side down, and coat the tops with a little olive oil. Top each bowl with plastic wrap or a clean, dry towel and place the dough in a warm place (I use an oven preheated to 250 degrees F, then turned off). Let rise 2 hours.

Once risen, either use immediately by turning dough out onto a floured surface and shaping. Or, wrap dough in plastic wrap, then a plastic bag, and freeze or refrigerate to use later.

To assemble pizzas:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick aluminum foil. Place pizza dough on a well-floured surface, press dough firmly with your fingers to shape, and stretch gently into a 12” x 8” rectangle.

With a round cutter, cut dough into 18-20 rounds; place rounds 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Top each with pizza sauce, cheese, and your desired toppings.

Bake mini pizzas for 8-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

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The recipe above will not only be fun and enjoyable for children to make with their parents at home, but also provide an ideal learning experience for children to compare and calculate quantities, measurements and follow instructions. I believe this to be a form of emergent curriculum where children may show an interest in cooking or eating and parents can use this to extend the learning opportunities.

Reading the recipe and the ingredients will help children practice different forms of literacy by comparing the notes and following instructions. Children will need to make sure they complete each method in the correct order and can explore the reasons why they need to do so.

Numeracy is apparent in this exercise as children will need to measure in many forms. They will need to measure the quantities of ingredients to use and learn how to share them around the pizza. The levels of learning will depend on the age and ability of each child and you can extend the learning as you go. For beginners it is will be important to learn the comparisons between one tomato and one cup of diced tomatoes. This is a great example of learning standard units of measurement and non-standard units as there are endless possibilities for both. As the children become more advanced you can include harder measurements such as cups and ml. Using spoon measurements and whole quantities will help children understand size, but as the quantities get smaller and fractions are introduced having a visual experience will help children understand the sizes.

The main learning experience for children is visual and is increased with the large use of comparative vocabulary. The simple differences of more or less will help teach children many forms of literacy and numeracy. This exercise is fun and enjoyable for children of all ages and with the bonus emergent learning that comes from the experience and language used, children can learn methods of reading and measurement without even trying.