FFA Sentinel: Pizza PALS

What can have cheese, pepperoni, olives, peppers, onions, ham, sausage, pineapple or all of the above, and is one of the most popular food choices on the menu? PIZZA, of course! Over three billion pizzas are served each year in the U.S. This is why members of the Beauregard FFA Chapter chose to educate the fourth graders at Beauregard Elementary School on just where all of the ingredients of a pizza originate as part of their FFA PALS activity.

PALS stands for Partners in Active Learning Support and is a mentoring program that matches FFA members with elementary and/or middle school students. PALS mentors teach young students about the science and business of agriculture. FFA members taught three different sessions of the lesson to 150 future members throughout the day.

To start the lesson, students and members both participated in a new twist on the popular game “Simon Says” called “Farmer Says.” After pulling weeds, milking cows, driving tractors and acting like chickens, an “Excellent Listening Farmer” was declared from the class. Moving into the educational side of the lesson, members discussed with students about each ingredient in the pizza, starting with the crust. FFA members presented what each of the ingredients was made of, what those ingredients looked like originally, and how we harvest them. Students were also informed of how each of the ingredients were grown and what region of the country they are from. It was surprising to some that all the ingredients in their pizza were from a farm!

After members had taught the background of what pizza is made of, the hands-on portion of the lesson began. Students were divided into groups according to animals they had been given when they entered the room. Moos, clucks, neeahs and baas were heard all over the room as students separated into groups. Once they had found their fellow animals, they began making their own “Sweet Pizza.” Sugar cookies were used as the crust, icing as the marinara, yellow chocolate as the cheese and red candies as the pepperoni. As each ingredient was used, FFA members reiterated where each of the ingredients came from and how they are grown. After the “Master Chefs” had answered all of their questions, they enjoyed their beautiful, tasty creations.

The Pizza lesson is definitely fun, but, more importantly, FFA members wanted to instill in our younger children the importance of agriculture, and how it impacts our daily lives. One of the best quotes of the day from the fourth graders was “Farms really are important!”