Pizza Parlor

Building Oral Language and More

Stage of Literacy Development:

Stage 1: Beginning Literacy

Ages:

4-6

Grade Range:

PreK K 1st

Food Groups:

Primary:
Oral Language & ELL, Vocabulary
Secondary: 
Concepts of Print, Letter-Sounds & Phonics

Transcript

Teacher: We have a new center to play at. Its called Mrs. Campbells Pizza Parlor. And at the pizza parlor you are going to have a chance to pretend that you are a store owner. You might be working at the pizza store; and, two friends will be very hungry and will be wanting to place an order to get their pizza.

Teacher: [Students Name], would you like to be our pizza maker?

Teacher: So [Students Name] will be taking the pizza order forms and making you a delicious pizza. Now, there are two order forms. One order form will have a spot for your name; it will have a spot for how many slices you would like. And then this says toppings. And you can use the toppings that are listed on the pizza parlor store, or, what could you do if you didnt want to copy those toppings? What do you like on your pizza?

Student: Cheese.

Teacher: Cheese! So you could write cheese. Could you sound it out, and stretch it out? What if you were making a pizza for your dad? What does he like on his pizza?

Student: He likes a pickle pizza.

Teacher: So maybe you could write pickles! And you could make one for your dad, you could make one for your mom. You could pretend you were really hungry and put as many toppings as you would like. Some of my friends might decide to use this pizza order form. And you could circle the toppings, and write some toppings on your own.

Teacher: I would like [Students Name] to come and work the cash. You will need to take you order forms and hand them out to your customers when they come.

Teacher: [Students Name] and [Students Name], would you pretend that you are starving and youre going to get some pizza for lunch? Ive given you some money. Dont lose it, because [Students Name] is going to ask you to pay for the pizza.

Teacher: Pretend to walk in our pizza door, its right there.

Student: Good morning, how can I help you?

Teacher: Please fill in your pizza form.

Student: Please fill in your pizza form.

Teacher: What does it say, [Students Name]? What would [Students Name] like on her pizza?

Student: Mushroom and pizza, and green pepper and grape.

Student: How many slices would you like?

Teacher: What sound do you hear at the beginning of pickles? /p/, /p/, /p/.

Student: P.

Teacher: Write it down! Lets clap the syllables to help us hear the sounds. Pick (clap),les (clap).

Student: K?

Teacher: Write it down!

Teacher: Pickles.

Student: L?

Teacher: Pickles.

Student: S?

Teacher: Great! Now can you give your order form to Max? Hes busily making pizza.

Related References

Activity Objective

The goal of Pizza Parlor: Building Oral Language and More is to create activities and purposes for students to use complex oral language structures. The teacher brainstorms ideas for creating a classroom pizza store in the drama center and models how to engage students in various roles to develop their vocabulary and to provide an opportunity for meaningful talk in the classroom. The teacher also encourages writing skill development by asking students to write down their customers' pizza orders.

Quick Tips

Additional Comments:

- Using a picture book to introduce the idea of a class drama center is a great way to motivate students to start thinking about the kinds of things they might say or do in this setting. 
- Modelling what students might say or do in a restaurant is especially important for ELL students as they may have very different experiences in these settings.
- Visual cues and pictures engage all students in the activity. 
- Provide opportunities for authentic writing tasks in the classroom, such as writing menus.