Storytime: Pizza Pat

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

 Today we read Pizza Pat

Pizza Pat is a delightful tale of a man (named Pat, whom I renamed Ahmad when reading it aloud), who buys a new pizza tray to make his pizza. He diligently spreads the sauce, grates the cheese and applies the toppings to his pizza on his new pizza tray. Happily, he places the pizza into the oven and it comes out just fine alhamdulillaah. While the pizza is cooling down he cleans up the mess made from making the pizza and when he turns around to cut the pizza....it's gone! Mice took it! (But I don't think Ahmad, who used to be Pat, knows that).

The book is a fun read aloud because it is a cumulative tale, similar to Jump, Frog, Jump!.

Just like Jump, Frog, Jump! after a few reads, children will be able to join in and chorus read some parts of Pizza Pat with you insha'Allaah. This book can also be used when teaching fractions (you can see an activity here insha'Allaah), sharing, and why we should not take things without asking permission (Ahmad, who used to be Pat, cries when the mice take his pizza).

You can recite and briefly discuss this ayah (using an authentic tafsir) after reading the story:

وَلَا تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُم بَيْنَكُم بِالْبَاطِلِ وَتُدْلُوا بِهَا إِلَى الْحُكَّامِ لِتَأْكُلُوا فَرِيقًا مِّنْ أَمْوَالِ النَّاسِ بِالْإِثْمِ 

وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

 And eat up not one another's property unjustly (in any illegal way e.g. stealing, robbing, deceiving, etc.), nor give bribery to the rulers (judges before presenting your cases) that you may knowingly eat up a part of the property of others sinfully. 

{Al-Baqarah (2): 188}

This Step Into Reading book is for students in Preschool to grade 1. Children who are able to consistently recognize common sight words may enjoy this book and may be able to attempt reading it with some help from their teacher and/or parent. And if you're reading it aloud, students younger or older may enjoy hearing it...waallaau a'lam.