Maya McFadden Photo
Kindergartner and classroom chef Aylanais learning with the help of local apizza.
After East Rock School kindergartener Aylanais cooked up a freshly illustrated “cheese pizza,” she topped it with broccoli, pineapple, pepperoni, and mushrooms for a tasty and very New Haven-spirited class lesson.
East Rock Community Magnet School kindergarten students did some intensive out in the field learning at Frank Pepe Pizzeria last week. In the days following their field trip, the students got to work creating their own pizza recipes and paper plate pizzas in the classroom at their 133 Nash St. school.
In kindergarten teacher Samantha Naja’s classroom this past Thursday, her students participated in a lesson on “how to” writing for her “Slice of New Haven” classroom unit.
Students worked on writing a “how to” guide to making a pizza based on what they observed during their field trip and created their own version of their favorite pizzas using art supplies.
Before jumping into the lesson the class took a vote on which pizza they enjoyed most at Pepe’s. A classic cheese pie took the win with 12 votes, with pepperoni coming in second with four votes.
In three small groups Thursday for the 40-minute lesson, students completed “how to” packets describing how to make pizza from scratch.
Naja worked with the students to create sentences and spell out tough words like “dough.”
“What do we need first, guys?” Naja asked a group of seven students.
“Dough!” the students called out in agreement.
Using their fingers or popsicle sticks as word spacers the kindergarteners wrote: “First, we need dough.”
“Can someone sound out ‘need’ and tell me what you think it sounds like?” Naja asked.
The students and Naja sounded out the word in the three sounds: “N‑EE‑D.”
Naja asked, “What’s that sound like?”
“Two e’s!” said kindergartener Jayden.
Students then went on to write a how-to guide that described putting sauce, cheese and topping on a pizza.
While sounding out “cheese,” students agreed that the word has the same vowel team as “need.”
After writing out their how-to guide the students also drew pictures with each sentence to show and tell how a pizza is made.
“Remember your words need to match your pictures,” Naja said.
Ms. Debbie works with students on pizza making.
At another table students worked with classroom assistant and Yale student Simi Kagbei and special education teacher Ms. Debbie to create paper plate pizza’s colored with brown crust, red sauce, and sprinkled with yellow paper clippings for cheese.
“I want you to make your pizza so delicious I can take a bite,” Ms. Debbie said.
During Naja’s “Slice of New Haven” unit students also learned about the history of some of New Haven’s oldest pizzerias like Frank Pepe’s and newer nearby pizza places like One 6 Three.
Students used crayons and glue sticks to add toppings to their pizzas.
They each chose from options of having broccoli, mushrooms, pepperoni, and pineapple on their pizzas.
Kindergartener Jordyn (pictured above at left) added every topping to her pizza because “pizza is always good no matter what you put on it,” she said.
Kindergartener Makaylah adds toppings to her pizza.
When asked what they learned during their pizza-focused unit, kindergartener Nisha said she learned not only how to eat four pizzas in one sitting but that pizza is Italian.
Kindergartener Makaylah said pizza is her favorite food and she was excited to learn how to make pizza so she can make it everyday at home.
East Rock Assistant principal Scott Voisine, who has worked in the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) district for 20 years, said East Rock has focused much of its efforts this year on showing students the real life connections to their classroom learning through field trips.
After more than a year of no field trips due to the Covid pandemic, he said classes have resumed to learning “from books and action around New Haven.”
This year the school’s basketball players have been to a Brooklyn Nets game and upcoming field trips include a marine biology museum visit and a trip to roller magic.
Reached for comment via email Sunday, East Rock Principal Sabrina Breland said educators’ creativity in their classrooms make a huge impact.
“I believe that teachers do best when they feel like they have ownership over their instruction,” she said. “The content, in most cases, is provided by the district. The curriculums dictate what to teach and only the phonics’ curriculum tells teachers how to present the material. In almost all other areas, teachers are given the flexibility to teach the content and concepts in ways that make sense for their students. The ability to put their own stamp on a lesson and deliver it in a way that motivates and engages students allow teachers to personalize instruction. I find that teachers are more invested when they are able to put their own mark on their lessons.”
She described Naja as a dynamic educator and team player “who is willing to do whatever it takes to move students along instructional bands.”
“She consistently plans lessons that are highly engaging and students love learning in her class. Mrs. Naja weaves in technology to motivate students and to make content and concepts more accessible for some of her students.”
She added, “As a result of her flexibility and open mindedness, she has been able to skillfully weave 21st century skills and traditional practices together to give her students the best of both worlds.”
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