Talk Like a Pirate Day

I used to post a calendar with all the crazy holidays on it.  I had a lot of fun, but a few years ago I lost my hallway spot (lesson learned - don't wait too long to put up your bulletin boards if they are in a shared area!)  Anyway, one of my favorite holidays for obvious reasons, was Talk Like a Pirate Day.  This year it snuck up on me and I had all of my lesson plans worked out for the week, but once I realized my oversight I quickly switched things up a little bit.  I really wished I would have taken some pictures, but the kids kept me hopping.

Kindergarten

In kindergarten we are still practicing with our shelf markers and the whole check out system. Because of that, I haven't started centers with them yet.

We read How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long.  Before letting the students loose on the stacks we reviewed using shelf markers and did the Shelf Marker Bookie Lookie.  Since I work alone, I do self-checkout.  At this point my kinders aren't ready for that, so I limit them to only checking out from the picture book section which is near the check out computer.  This allows me to help out both with finding a book and checking it out.  After they are done checking out I gave them the choice of drawing their own treasure map or coloring in a treasure map.  Both of which I found online for free.  I'll have to come back and put the links to the 2 printables.  Of course, reading their book or looking at magazines is almost always a choice for after checkout.

1st Grade

We read How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long also.  Since we have very few new students in the 1st grade, they were familiar with self-checkout and centers (and we have been using them since the very beginning of the school year).   I still keep a close eye on the circulation computer, but I can roam a bit more.  After the story, students were able to check out and then chose a center to go to. 

Keyboard Center:  I have four keyboards with the cords cut off.  At this point they can "type" the alphabet, friends and family names, spelling words, or I have cards on various themes.  I had pirate themed words for them to use. 

Listening Center:  I have 4 iPads that I use in the listening center. I have either purchased or created QR codes that link to youtube videos (via safeshare.tv) of books being read.  Of course, I found pirate stories for this center.

Roll and Color: For this center, the students rolled the die and colored in the named item on the sheet.  This was a free download from Teachers Pay Teachers created by Schoolhouse Talk.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pirate-Themed-Roll-and-Color-Pages-880146

A Parrot for a Pirate:  This was another free center created by Activity Tailor on Teachers Pay Teachers.  The sheet has 6 parrots.  Each parrot is assigned a number from 1-6 and there are 5 squares below each one.  The students take turn rolling the dice and coloring in one of the squares.  When all 5 are colored in that parrot is the winner.

 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Parrot-for-a-Pirate-a-FREE-open-ended-worksheet-activity-1439742

2nd Grade

I didn't have a read aloud for this group.  Every once in awhile, usually when there is a focus that I want to highlight, we will do a center rotation.  I don't have a story or lesson, instead I divide the time up into 4 chunks and the students rotate between 4 centers.  I used the same centers as first grade with one exception.  Roll and Color was replaced by book checkout and a Mimio game.  I had originally wanted to do an alphabetizing Mimio game, but I didn't get it done in time (at least to my liking).  Instead I did a word search utilizing ABCya's Word Search Creator.  I used pirate words from the keyboard center.  I really like that you can reset the game (scramble the letters) without having to retype the words. 

3rd Grade

I had planned on starting a review/introduction to Microsoft Word.  Our students used it some last year, but we did receive new computers with Windows 8.1 in the lab, so things looked a little different to begin with, and a lot of time passed since they last used it.  Instead of doing the writing prompt I had originally picked out, they were asked to write about being a pirate.  I gave them copies of a pirate name generator (with a few tweaks - I replaced bloody and wench as options).  They could use that to find their pirate name or make up a name of their own.  This week, they just worked on finding Word and getting started.