Let’s Make Pizza

Looking for a super simple recipe that packs in lots of great skills and deliciousness to carry out with your students? English muffin pizzas are where it’s at!

I had the opportunity to observe a simple cooking activity full of great skills in Kerry Thompson’s class at TSBVI. Students were participating in a cooking program for their Friday lunch. The end result was delicious, but the process to get there was loaded with concepts, connections, and literacy. Some of the coolest things I observed were students making choices, following a tactile symbol recipe, hand-under-hand support, and manipulating a wide variety of packages and containers.

Materials

• Sequence box (optional as appropriate)
• Recipe for student to follow
• Labeled ingredients
  • English Muffins
  • Pizza sauce (Kerry’s students used a squeeze bottle)
  • Cheese
  • Pepperoni
• Toaster oven
• Foil
• Utensils

Procedure

1. Provide students with a recipe for the pizza in their preferred medium. Kerry’s students used a tactile symbol recipe book.
2. Ask students to help retrieve the ingredients as appropriate. The students in Kerry’s class used a sequence box, but your students may retrieve items from cabinets, the refrigerator, or from your hands.
3. Support students as needed to cut their English muffins in half.
4. Support students as needed to add sauce and toppings.
5. Cook the pizzas in a toaster oven or large oven.
6. Enjoy!

Variations and Extensions

• Offer hand-under-hand support as needed.
• Allow students who are tactually selective to wear gloves to participate.
• Provide the recipe in your student’s preferred literacy media so that they can facilitate the process and practice reading.
• Build self-determination and social skills by asking the student to lead a group of peers or family members in completing the activity.
• Include math skills by counting spoonfuls of sauce, counting the pepperoni, or measuring out the cheese.
• Ask students to survey their peers about favorite pizza toppings, and create a graph with the findings.
• Include O&M by taking the student on a shopping trip to purchase the ingredients.

Learn more ways to make pizza a meaningful learning experience