Ahoy Thar, Me Hearties!

Yo, ho, ho and a classroom of fun!

Pirates are a great theme for any time of the school year but did you know that September 19th is “International Talk Like a Pirate Day?  Once upon a time in June, 1995, 2 guys were playing racquetball and...for reasons still unknown, began to give each other encouragement on their racquetball techniques in "pirate slang"!  Because this made their game more fun, they decided then and there that the world needed a new national holiday and "Talk Like a Pirate Day"  was born!  After eliciting the help of syndicated humor columnist, Dave Barry, in 2002, the "cannon" ball got rolling and the rest is history!  

Have some fun and use the resource shown here to get a reference to some of the more common phrases to get you started "talking like a pirate" in your classroom!  Refer to the children as "mateys" or "scurvy dogs" (if they're being naughty) and call out "AVAST, me hearties" when you want them to pay attention to something!  Say "Arrrrr" a lot and grunt a few times as you get in touch with your inner pirate. Click {HERE} for additional information to perfect your pirate talk! 

Click {HERE} to download the FREE "Talk Like a Pirate" printable file

There are a lot of pirate "props" out there in the stores, especially with Halloween coming soon, but you can easily make some of your own to use with your students now. The pirate hat shown here has "at" word family words glued on the two sides (cat, sat, hat, mat, fat, bat, etc.) with picture prompts and words.  Provide a hook for a hand by painting a party cup (or you can leave it red) and rolling up a small piece of aluminum foil.  Make a hole in the top of the cup (BEFORE you paint it!!) and push the aluminum foil into the hole.  The child holds onto the foil inside the cup with the cup covering his hand.  Curve the foil to look like a hook.  The children LOVE these! 

Click {HERE} to download the FREE Pirate Hat template

Some wonderful pirate books are available to read to your class.  

Here are some of our favorites.  

"Tough Boris" by Mem Fox is a great one and lends itself beautifully to student writing extentions. The book has a patterned text that reads "Once upon a time there lived a pirate named Boris von der Borch.      He was tough.   All pirates are tough.        He was massive.  All pirates are massive.        He was scruffy.  All pirates are scruffy.....etc.  
(Despite the limited text the illustrations are rich with detail that tell the story.  This is a great one to show on a big screen if you have one available!) So much discussion will take place!  After reading the book a few times,  post the sentence frames 

 "Once upon a time there lived __________

                                                 He-She-It _________________.

                                                 All ____________    ________________________

Here is an example:

Once upon a time there lived a dog named Beau.

He chewed bones.

All dogs chew bones.

He barked at the cat.

All dogs bark at cats.

He ran around in the park.

All dogs run around in the park.

But of all the dogs in the world, I like my dog, Beau, the best.

Try composing one together as a class before asking the students to do one on their own. a good class topic might be to have them write about their teacher!  
Here is an example:

Once upon a time there lived a teacher named Mrs. Johnson.

She wrote on the board.

All teachers write on the board.

She gave us homework.

All teachers give homework.

She read us books.

All teachers read books.

Our teacher, Mrs. Johnson, is the best teacher in the world! 

Have the students write 2-3 things that are fairly common behaviors to their chosen topic. Be sure to have them make some kind of closing sentence.  Have them illustrate their pages and make small booklets.  It is amazing the things students will write about!  

It is always motivating to the students to have new pointers that fit a classroom "theme" or unit of study. These are easily made with some dowels, ribbon, fun foam and sequins!  

Use these fun pointers for Shared Reading in a pocket chart or "Read the Room".
Click {HERE} for more details 

As a culminating activity we always show the movie Peter Pan (the OLD NBC 1955 one with Mary Martin as Peter Pan!) and eat Pirate Booty popcorn!  We also pass out snack baggies with cannonball malt balls, gummy sharks, goldfish crackers, and gold foil-covered chocolate coins.  The children are fascinated by all the "flying" in the movie even though they can clearly see the wires!  Cyril Ritchard was the ULTIMATE Captain Hook...sorry, Dustin Hoffman from the movie Hook!  Disney also has an animated version children enjoy!

Click {HERE} to download a FREE PIRATE ARRRRR! Game

For more Pirate inspiration, check out our Pinterest board about Pirates! It is loaded with fun ideas and resources. Click {PIRATES on PINTEREST} to find it!