Curious George and the Pizza Party

Host a pizza party, complete with the telling of Curious George and the Pizza Party!

Rey, Margret & H.A.
Curious George and the Pizza Party.
April 2010.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Review copy provided courtesy of publisher.

Curious George has never been to a pizza party before, so when a little girl from his building invites him to the party, he's more curious and excited than ever! Upon promising to have fun and be on his best behavior, the man with the yellow hat left him at the little girl's door ready for the party. However, George's curiosity gets the best of him and wrecks havoc on the party, nearly ruining the pizza dough. The children however, love George's creativity and use it to inspire their own pizzas! With the help of the children, George gets his mess cleaned up in time to ensure the party isn't ruined!

Definitely loved this book! It could be one of my all time favorite Curious George books - making homemade pizzas and having a pizza party is great fun... and, of course, the book can be used in all sorts of other ways as well - retelling activities, comprehension, sequencing, etc. I know I'll be using this one in my preschool class this year!

Learning/Reading Activity:

• Host a pizza party! Help your child create and mail invitations (like the chef hat ones in the book). Then, take a trip to the supermarket to purchase all the ingredients you'll need... be sure to take the time to talk about healthy choices for pizza toppings (different veggies, etc.). Be sure to purchase whole-wheat (or whole-grain) English Muffins to create the pizzas on (this will be less messy than making and rolling out your own pizza dough with children) and will be a healthy choice. Set out a pizza-making bar on the kitchen table and invite the guests to top off their English Muffin pizzas to their liking!
  

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

Pizza Party Friday

It's Friday... and the Olympics are on (tonight and for another week). What better night than to make some homemade pizza, kick-back and relax while watching this world-wide sporting extravaganza?!

Wagner, Lisa.
Cool Pizza to Make and Bake (Easy Recipes for Kids to Cook).
2007.
Abdo Publishing Co.
Review copy borrowed from local library.

This is a very interesting concept book for kids, as it shares not only some easy pizza recipes for their enjoyment, but is also full of information relevant to the making of pizza - tools that will be needed, cooking terms, and even the coolest pizza ingredients (although I was disappointed that my personal favorite, flatbread shells, weren't among those mentioned)!

Learning/Reading Activity:

• Share the book together as a family. Mention that each person will be allowed to create his/her personal favorite for Friday Night's Pizza Party!
  
• Determine what your "crust" will be... Traditional dough, bagels, or pita bread?
• What kind of cheese(s) will you use: Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, Parmesan, Cheddar?
• Toppings? Mushrooms, Black (or my favorite, Green) Olives, Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon, Pineapple, Onions, Green Pepper? Or any others that your family deems necessary for the perfect pizza!
• Purchase the required ingredients... if making tradition dough, work together as a family to do the mixing!
• Work together and recreate the Pizza-Riffic sauce (recipe is included)!
• Then, top your pizzas your way! Offer each other ideas and suggestions to increase communication as a household!
• Kick-back, settle down in front of the Olympics and enjoy those pizzas!
  

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

Pizza and Pasta Math

So... there are a whole bunch of ways to use pizza and pasta to explore mathematical concepts. I was really hoping to focus on fractions (with pizza at, at least), but the book I wanted to review for that concept wasn't available... so, I settled for these Pizza Counting... not that it isn't great in its own way! As for pasta, this was a wee bit harder, but I did find one book that took a creative approach to pizza and pasta and have somewhat of a mathematical concept!

Dobson, Christina.
Pizza Counting.
2003.
Charlesbridge.
Guided Reading Level: M
Review copy borrowed from local library.

In this clever book children will quickly catch on that the counting takes place based on the number of different toppings found on each of the pizzas. The book is great for practicing not only counting skills, but also simple addition for children who still need to visualize numbers and actually count up the two (or more) items to come up with the total (or sum). The crazily-decorated pizzas found within (a clock, a kitten, etc.) will have children giggling and anxious for what's to come! The book also provides interesting trivia - all related to pizza... Do you know how many 12 inch pizzas placed crust to crust are needed to build a path to the moon? Fractions are also briefly introduced, but I think I would find myself straying away from these pages, as fractions are supposed to represent equal parts and that isn't necessarily the case here (what, with crazy faces/decorations and all). I think the book would be most useful for simple counting and addition!

Learning/Reading Activity:

• I have created an addition work packet to coincide with the pizzas in the book, based on counting specific toppings and then adding to see the combined totals. The packet can be downloaded here. (I've recently upgraded to Microsoft Word 2010 - the packet appears to have saved/downloaded as a .docx file. I tested this on my other computer with an older version of Word and it formatted correctly. If you have trouble, leave a comment here and I'll save it on the other computer as just a .doc file and reupload!)
  

Hardesty, Constance.
Grow Your Own Pizza: Gardening Plans and Recipes for Kids.
2000.
Fulcrum Publishing.
Review copy borrowed from local library.

What a super-fun book for kids (and adults)! This book provides readers with the chance to get creative with their gardening, while at the same time encouraging healthy eating habits and using mathematical concepts (most appropriate for older children, but still manageable with the younger ones)!

Three particular gardening plans and recipes are appropriate for this week's pizza and pasta theme: Queen Margherita's Pizza Garden (easy gardening), Your Own Personal Pizza Garden (medium gardening skills), and It's-Not-Spaghetti Garden (advanced gardening). I'm going to separate the remainder of this review based on those three categories!

Queen Margherita's Pizza Garden

• This garden is ideal for beginning gardeners: 3 simple plants (tomatoes, garlic and basil).
  
• The garden is created in the shape of a rectangle (perfect to discuss with the youngest gardeners)... or you can get more complex with older children by discussing the gardening plot as "area."
• The garden can also be started (and fully grown) indoors as a "container" garden.
• The recipe itself is a no-oven recipe (although it does require microwaving)

Your Personal Pizza Garden

• This garden is ideal for those of you who have some minimal gardening experience: 7 ingredients (oregano, basil, tomatoes, green onions, bell peppers, zucchini, garlic).
• The garden is actually shaped in a triangle. Again, this allows the perfect opportunity to discuss either shapes or area, depending on your child(ren)'s math skills!
• Again, this garden too, can be started (and completed) as a container garden if space is limited or unavailable!
• A suggested activity is inviting 11 of your child's friends to join in on the personal pizza making fun, as the pizza makes 12 servings!

It's-Not-Spaghetti Garden

• This garden is ideal for more advanced gardeners: again 7 ingredients (however, a bit more needy of TLC) - carrots, garlic, parsley, basil, bell peppers, spaghetti squash, yellow summer squash.
• Sorry, no fancy shape here!
  
• This not-spaghetti garden has growers experimenting with spaghetti squash as a healthier alternative to actual spaghetti (interesting for children to see that spaghetti looking "stuff" can come out of that squash) - and from what I hear, it's even better than spaghetti... I have yet to that experimental!
• Container gardening plans are also available for this garden - a cool thought, knowing not everyone has a backyard with ample garden-growing space!
• This garden/recipe also has directions to create a nearly homemade primavera sauce to compliment your spaghetti squash meal!

This is an awesome book, chuck full of neat gardening activities (spring salad bow garden, salsa garden, rainbow garden, be-berry-patient patch, Three Sisters Native American garden, stir fry garden... to name a few others) that allow parents and children to work alongside each other and experience that sense of accomplishment at having grown so many home-grown foods! Math can be included in gardening activities in any number of ways... from staking out the garden, to planting the seeds according to package directions to measuring the amount of water each plant is given! Definitely something to check out!



If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

More Pasta Fun!

I had originally thought that the pizza aspect of this theme would be the most fun... however, after reading these two stories and planning such fun activities... I'm thinking I might have been wrong! Hopefully you'll enjoy these pasta activities as much as I enjoyed reading and planning them!

Sayre, April Pulley.
Noodle Man: The Pasta Superhero.
2004.
Orchard Books.
Guided Reading Level: L
Review copy borrowed from local library.

The Dente family could easily be considered the know-it-all family when it comes to pasta... except they have just one problem - they can't seem to outsell their pasta now that pizza take-out has overtaken the town. Son, Al Dente (funny for parents to pick up on) comes up with a plan to try and sell more pasta - portable pasta makers that can provide fresh pasta to order. However, selling the pasta this way door-to-door seems less than successful... but, the pasta does come in handy in other ways! Children will love the crazy ways in which pasta is put to use in this clever tale! In fact, this book is so fun, I'm thinking I may have to incorporate this in to my class' "P Week" activities!

Learning/Reading Activity:

• Head out to Walmart or your cheapest local grocery store and pick up a variety supply of pastas. After reading Noodle Man: The Pasta Superhero, have your child use the pasta varieties to create a superhero of their own. Create the superhero using pasta and create some sort of super power using the pasta. For example, in the story, fusilli pasta was used as stilts to cross a flooded street... lasagna noodles were used as slides to rescue two children from a burning apartment.
  

Johnson, Paul Brett.
On Top of Spaghetti.
2006.
Scholastic Press.
Review copy borrowed from local library.

The long-time favorite children's song On Top of Spaghetti is combined with a unique story that is sure to have kids laughing and eager to sing along. The lyrics to the song are weaved into the text of the story, giving it both meaning and humor! This book is a perfect way to introduce children to the song before attempting to sing it!

Learning/Reading Activities:

• Read the story and then sing On Top of Spaghetti. You can sing along with the song after downloading here.
  

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

More Pizza Fun

A few fun Pizza read alouds for today with activities to match!

Castaldo, Nancy.
Pizza for the Queen.
2005.
Holiday House.
Guided Reading Level: L
Review copy borrowed from local library.

Based upon a true story, Pizza for the Queen shares the story of how Margherita Pizza came to be. Italian chef Raffaele Esposito, owner of Pietro e Basta Cosi pizzeria headed to work for a typical day. His typical day quickly turned atypical, as a request was made by Queen Margherita to try one of the pizzas that everyone is talking about. Raffaele sets out to make three of the most popular pizzas requested by customers. However, he's lacking the key ingredient to one of the three and therefore sets out to create a unique third pizza, that combines ingredients that match the colors of the Italian flag. The creation later became known as Pizza Margherita, gaining its name from none other than Queen Margherita and her love of the pizza creation.

Learning/Reading Activity:

• Use this recipe and create Margherita Pizza for dinner one night. It will be a cultural experience of sorts for children and also educational, as they will have an understanding of how this particular pizza came to be!
  

Gemignani, Tony.
Tony and the Pizza Champions.
2009.
Chronicle Books.
Review copy borrowed from local library.

Tony Gemignani is actually a World Champion Pizza Tosser! This fictionalized account of the championship is sure to have kids drawn in from the get-go! Children will love learning about the World Championship team and their fancy moves that gained them the world title! The story is educational and very fun to read!

Learning/Reading Activities:

• Head out to the local grocery store and pick up a ball of pizza dough - one for each member of the family. Watch this video about pizza dough tossing and then, the real kicker... give it a whirl in your own kitchen. See if you can toss the dough correctly and then take turns adding in your own special moves! Kids will love this activity!
  

Sturges, Philemon.
The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza.
1999.
Dutton Children's Books.
Guided Reading Level: M
Review copy borrowed from local library.

In this take on the traditional version of The Little Red Hen, Philemon Sturges modernizes the tale by tackling a subject so many children are familiar (or at least interested) with - making a pizza. While the little red hen goes about making a pizza, he requests help from each of his friends, all of whom are too busy doing their own thing. However, when it comes time to sharing the pizza, they're all ready and willing - luckily, rather than being spiteful, the little red hen shares the pizza... and after enjoying the benefits of the pizza, all of little red hen's friends agree to help with the dishes!

I've always been a fan of The Little Red Hen, so I was very eager to include this in today's write-up! I hope you and your child(ren) find it as enjoyable it as much as I do!

Learning/Reading Activities:

• Maggie Nuttall has created a wonderful teaching guide to use in collaboration with The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza). There are science, math and art activities, as well as comprehension questions and more! The packet can be found here.
  

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

Non-Fiction Monday: Pizza and Pasta

I think this will Pasta and Pizza theme will be a fun, different theme - something that everyone will likely appreciate! Have fun with it!

Rotner, Shelley and Julia Pemberton Hellums.
Hold the Anchovies!: A Book about Pizza.
1996.
Orchard Books.
Guided Reading Level: I
Review copy borrowed from local library.

Little ears will easily absorb all this information about pizza! The books walks children step-by-step through the process of making pizza... from collecting the grains to make the dough, to growing the tomatoes (for sauce) and peppers (for toppings) to the oven's roll in browning and crisping the final product!

Learning/Reading Activity:

• This book would make for a perfect sequencing activity if you're looking to check out your child(ren)'s comprehension skills but have trouble holding their interest with other books. A fun pizza sequencing activity can be downloaded here.
  

Thomson, Peggy.
Siggy's Spaghetti Works.
1993.
Tambourine Books.
Guided Reading Level: P
Review copy borrowed from local library.

This book is so chuck full of information about how to make pasta, readers will soon be begging you to try it out at home! The illustrations, walking readers through Siggy's Spaghetti factory seem almost life-like... you can almost imagine yourself touring the factory! Not only is the process of making pasta demonstrated, Siggy's Spaghetti Works goes into great detail about how the different pastas are formed (ABC's, macaronis, spaghetti, etc). Siggy shares how pasta is colored and flavored and also shares with readers information about how pasta first came to be!

I must warn you though, while this is an incredible story detailing the "life" of pasta, it is a lengthy read and will take some time. It might be best to read this to yourself first and figure out how to break it up over the course of two or three readings so kids don't lose interest! However, it's very worthwhile, especially to introduce this pasta and pizza theme!

Learning/Reading Activities:

• Purchase a cheap pasta maker and make an afternoon of it with the kids! Amazon.com has several different models for under $30, one of which can be purchased here!
• Family Fun has a very simple, homemade pasta recipe that doesn't even require the use of a pasta maker! The recipe can be found here.
• Here are two other recipes for making homemade pasta using a pasta machine - one using eggs and one not using eggs. Both look very simple!
  

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!