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Lessons and materials

Braille Cell Pizza Twists

Making pizza twists is a fun way to incorporate the Expanded Core Curriculum with braille skills.

In an effort to incorporate several areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum into a lesson with a high school student with low vision and multiple disabilities who is learning uncontracted braille, I decided to have him search for a recipe on Pinterest (Daily Living Skills), make a grocery shopping list in uncontracted braille (Compensatory Skills), shop for groceries during his O&M lesson and ask for assistance if needed (Social Interaction and Self-Determination skills), and navigate to the check-outs to purchase the groceries (Orientation and Mobility). During his direct vision services, he used his portable video magnifier to read the directions to make his recipe (Sensory Efficiency) and even practiced making braille cells while making the Pizza Twists.

Materials

  • baking sheet
  • parchment paper
  • large print or braille recipe
  • large print or braille grocery shopping list
  • one tube of crescent dough
  • shredded mozzarella cheese
  • a stick of butter
  •  pepperoni
  • a jar of marinara sauce
Ingredients for pizza twists
Ingredients for pizza twists

Procedure

  1. Print out the large print recipe or email the document to the student. Have the student type or braille a grocery shopping list for the ingredients.
  2. Have the O&M instructor work with the student at the grocery store in order for the student to learn to navigate the grocery store, shop for ingredients, and purchase them.
  3. Follow the steps in the recipe and have the student make the Pizza Twists. Have the student practice braille dot configurations by placing the pepperoni on the dough accordingly.
Pizza recipe
Download Pizza Twist recipe

Variations

Instead of bread sticks, the student can also add the marinara sauce directly to the dough to make a pizza.

Collage of braille cell pizza twists
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