Pizza by the Numbers

When master chef and Director of Sage Dining’s Allen Clark approached Young Fives teacher Stacey Whalen with a vision to incorporate math, science and fun, she jumped at the opportunity.
Our eldest preschoolers were excited to go on a field trip to the “big kitchen” to make their own pizzas.
After consulting a cookbook, taking orders and planning the meal, our little chefs enjoyed watching Chef Allen toss the pizza dough into the air, creating large circles. They then went to work in teams to estimate and measure the ingredients: tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni.
Layer by layer they created their cheese and pepperoni masterpieces, all while discussing how different types of ingredients grow or are prepared, what it is that makes a hot oven change the properties of food, and how one pizza can be split into many numerical combinations.
Minutes later when the baked pizzas appeared — the class not only learned about fractions — they enjoyed a special lunch with their favorite chef.
 
      
   
In the students’ own words: Thank you for inviting us to make delicious pizzas with you! We learned about throwing dough, measuring ingredients, the many shapes of pizza, and how slices are like fractions. We hope we can do it again one day!