This summer at Amelia, we’re putting on our PJs and celebrating the summer reading theme, Dream Big!, with Pajama StoryTimes. Our first session was a big hit, especially because we had a delicious theme: pizza!

We read some great stories about making pizza, including The Pizza That We Made by Joan Holub, and even one about a boy who became a pizza, in Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig. Sam of Sam’s Pizza by David Pelham baked some yucky surprises (hint: they were all creepy crawly) into a pizza for his sister, and Curious George tried his hands (all four of them) at making and delivering pizza in Curious George and the Pizza by Margret Rey.

Because we also sang songs about making pizza, the literacy tip for this StoryTime involved one of the five practices for developing literacy skills, Singing. Kids can learn many things by singing songs, but two aspects that will help them get ready to read are new vocabulary (like the terms for pizza and baking) and hearing how smaller sounds work together to make words (such as the rhymes “man” and “can” or “cheese” and “please” in the song below). Singing with your child is a fun and easy way to develop these important skills.

Our favorite song of the evening turned out to be this adaptation of Pat-a-Cake:
Pat-a-pie, pat-a-pie, Pizza Man,
Make me a pizza as fast as you can!
Roll it, and toss it, and sprinkle it with cheese,
And don’t forget five pepperoni please!
The best part is acting out each step to make a pizza.

We concluded our pizza party by making two types of (paper) pizza. First, everyone helped decorate three large pizzas; with all the sauce and toppings we added, they became rainbow pizzas! (The pizzas were made from hula hoops and butcher paper.) After these gigantic pizzas went in the oven, the kids made their own personal pizzas to take home, paper plates cut into four slices (we also talked about fourths, halves, and wholes, a great early math lesson!) that everyone decorated beautifully.

I had a great time sharing stories in my jammies, and I hope you’ll join us for the next Pajama StoryTime at the Amelia Branch on Monday, July 23 at 6:30 PM, when we’ll be talking about the Tooth Fairy.