5 little pirates (freebie)

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's freebie!

Today I am going to share another activity I put together.  This one used a song that I found on Strong Start and modified it just a tiny bit.  I put the song on one sheet and laminated it so that it can be looked at for reference, but also so that students can look for words and circle them with a dry erase marker (Mr. Clean erasers work great to get the dry erase marker off!!).   I then took a work glove (I tried to find an example on Amazon, but no luck) and added velcro to the finger tips.  Then cut out the pirate pictures and added velcro to the pictures so they would hook to the glove.  Now the glove can be use with the poem to act it out.  As each pirate leaves, a student can pull it off the glove.

You can get your own copy of 5 Little Pirates by going here!  Please leave a comment on this post if you download.   Also check out my previous pirate freebies and classroom activities and my pinterest board to see some of the other activities I included in the box.

Pirate box & a freebie

I spent some time this week working with our local TTAC working on developing literacy kits that teachers can check out of the library. The library is really a neat thing to have access to.  All we do is browse online, click check out and it it is mailed to us at school with an envelope to mail it back.  The library has curriculum materials, testing kits, teacher books for professional development, and best of all assistive technology.  It is great to be able to trial something with a student before we buy it and this gives us just that opportunity.

This past week I spent two days working on a pirate literacy box. I included lots of fun stuff in this box such as Shipwrecked to work on sight words, Communication boards for a Go Talk 9+, Beginning Sounds cards and a wheel, Pirate alphabet cards, a rhyming pirate file folder game and activities to go with the books Shiver me letters and How I became a Pirate.

I, of course, forgot to take a picture of the whole
box all put together, but I did take pictures of two activities that I want to share. The one I am going to share today is Pirate rhyming.

I made this to go with some of the other books included in that kit that had a rhyming theme to them. My thought process was that they rhyming activities could be used as a follow up to the book.   It is really easy to put together.  Simply print the pages.  Glue one page of cards to the right side of open folder and glue the directions to the font of the folder.  Laminate the folder and other set of cards.  Cut out cards and use velcro to adhere the cards to the folder to store.  Add velcro to the set already glued down so the student can put the match on top.

You can get your own copy of this activity by going here!  Please leave a comment on this post if you download.  Make sure you come back tomorrow to check out another activity that I put together.  Also click here to check out my previous pirate freebies and classroom activities and here for my pinterest board to see some of the other activities I included in the box.

Pirate Week part 2!

Well the boys finished up Pirate Camp last week with a demonstration.  They were a ship and the parents pretended to be a Merchant ship.  When we went to exchange our candy for their chocolate chip cookies they attacked!  They boys learned so much last week about being pirates and some of the marine biology and history from our area were snuck in also.  They made some really cool things also that I now will  put into my back pocket for my next pirate week such as a boat and a bandana. (The sword was really cool also, but I don't think I can get away with making that in school).

So anyway, on to my pirate week at school.  We made pirate spy glasses.  I think these were my favorite and the most of the kids favorite.  To make them we first talked about how pirates use a spy glass to see off of their ship.  Then we got to work making out own.  We used paper towel rolls (Upcycling!!) and decorated them with markers and ocean themed foam stickers.  Then I took a piece of clear saran wrap and attached it to the end of the spy glass with a rubber band.  That was it!  Simple and the kids had a ball during free play making up pirate stories and going on treasure hunts.

When we went outside, I told the kids they would have to walk the plank before they could go to the playground.  If they made it through the sharks they would be ok.  I wish I took a picture of the look on their faces when I told them this.  It was hysterical!  As you can see from the picture our plank was simply a ramp that they walked across, but they loved it.












In honor of my pirate week, I decided to link up with Teaching Tribune again (They are having some great linkys this summer!) and discount two of my products 50%.   The first product is Shipwrecked.  This is a sight word game featuring cute pirates!  The other one is Where is the Turkey? bundle (Yes, I know it is not a pirate theme, but go with it!!).  This is an interactive book that has a classroom edition and a student edition. It works on positional words.

Throwback Thursday Pirate Style!

Picture Credit: David Willbanks

It is time for another Throwback Thursday over at The Teaching Tribune.  Keeping with the pirate theme for this week, I am reposting a game I made when I first began blogging.  This game continues to be a class favorite.  Of course, I do not have any pictures of the kids playing it!  I put the sticks in a sand bucket to help fit the theme. 

**This post originally appeared on Learning Ahoy!! on June 12, 2011**

Ship Wrecked! (math & sight word game!)

After seeing a game called Don't Get Zapped on Swap Frog First Graders (I love this blog by the way) I decided to add my own spin to the game to make it fit the pirate theme. The name of the game is Shipped Wrecked. Students pick a stick and read the work or solve the problem. If they get it correct they get to keep the stick, if they get it wrong they put it back. If they pick a stick that says Ship Wrecked then they need to put all of their sticks back. If they pull a stick that says trade with another player, then they need to give their sticks to another player and the other player takes the first players sticks. I think lose a turn is self explanatory :o)

To make this game, print out the game sheet on to address labels. Then cut in half and place on craft sticks.


Let me know your thoughts and if you have any other ideas on how this game can be adapted. Also, please check out Swamp Frog First Graders if you haven't already by clicking on the button.

Ship Wrecked Addition to 20

Ship Wrecked Sight Words

**End of post**

Pirate week!

My oldest two boys A & B are at Pirate camp this week so I thought it would be the perfect time to share some activities that we did in my ECSE classroom for our pirate week.  I will say, I think it was my favorite theme and the kids loved it.  I even had feedback from parents that heard all about it at home.

The first thing we did was read the book  How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and David Shannon (I just loved David Shannon books!!).  At the end of the book we found a mysteriously placed treasure map. (Of course, I forgot to take pictures of this part).  The captain of our crew (AKA, me), led the students on a quest for buried treasure.  Our letter of the week was X, so we were looking for the X.  We found it!! And when we found the X, we found another map.  This continued for a few rounds until the map led us to a city playground next door to our school that has a pirate ship.  There we found the treasure box filled with gold and jewels.

After having some fun playing on the pirate ship.  The crew went back to the classroom and rotated though centers. Some were free play (kitchen, blocks) and others were structured.  In one center the students made their own pirate maps out of paper bags.  First they cut off the bottom and then cut a slit down the side (lots of following directions).  Next they drew their treasure map and added a foam x to mark the spot where their treasure would be buried.  The last thing they did was crumble up their map to make it look old.

Be on the lookout over the next few days for more posts about the fun pirate things we did!

Freebie Updates!

I have been updating some of my old files so that they are more user friendly and easier to download. (At least I think! Do you prefer Google Docs or Dropbox?)  Check them out and let me know what you think.



Click here to go to the post about Monkey Matching

Click here to go to the post about Roll a Word: Pirate Edition.
 










I also have a bunch of Freebies on my Teachers Pay Teachers and Teacher’s Notebook store.  Go check them out, leave me some feedback, and follow my store so you never miss another freebie.  (I love freebies!!)

Pirate Roll a Word 2! (FREEBIE!!)

Hello Everyone!! I wanted to share a freebie with you. I made this for the young lady I tutor(she is going into 1st grade) and she loved it. I added a pre-made die template this time and also the words to add to your own die. You can click here to check it out in Google Docs. If you have not seen the other pirate version you can check it out here. There is also a fall version here. ** 7/22/13 I have updated this game to include a blank die template and game board template.  Please leave a comment if you download.  Thanks!**

Roll a Word Pirate Edition 2

 If you have an special requests for certain words, just let me know and I can make it for you! Just in case you are looking for some of the dice where you can change out the words here are a few on Amazon.

Roll a Word- Pirate Edition

This is a game I adapted after I saw it on Kindergarten Crayons. I use my move cubes to put the words on each side of the die. The student can then roll the die and color in a box for each time they land on each specific sight word. The game stops when one word gets to the top. Click here to get it for FREE from my TPT store.

Here are some links where you can find cubes that you can put your own pictures in.
Education Cubes
Amazon

Making sand... mmmm it was good :o)

First I need to start off by saying Thank you to an anonymous donor who supported my Donor's Choose project. I came home from ESY today to an email saying I had a new donation. This totally turned a not so good day around! Huge Thank yous!! Question for all my readers.... how do you "advertise" your Donor's Choose Projects?

So as I have said before our theme for ESY is Pirates. We like to do cooking with the kids since it is something not all of them get to do during the school year. Yesterday we made sand. It is a lot like dirt, just a different color.

First the kids crush up vanilla wafer cookies. We put them in a plastic bag and have the kids pound on them. Some of the kids hit it with a spatula. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of this part. My wonderful co-teacher reminded me after by saying, "Hey, don't you want to take pictures for your blog!"

Next, we made vanilla pudding.

Then we folded the cookies into the pudding. We also put some pudding on the bottom of the cups we were using for a layered effect.

We then put the mixture into cups and topped with a bit more of the cookies. Each cup then got an umbrella, some rocks (check out my beach walk post for info on these) and some fish gummies.

The kids loved making and eating this. They also delivered it to various people in the building. I stressed when we were delivering that we ALWAYS wash our hands before beginning to cook.

I also wanted to mention that I am planning on having a giveaway when I reach 50 followers. I am so impressed when I log on a see I added another follower. I can't believe it!!!

A walk on the beach

Yesterday during ESY we made a snack called "A Walk on the Beach". This is a trail-mix type snack and each thing represented something that you might find at the beach. The kids LOVED this. We added more to it by having them count out the number of pieces they had and had discussion on why different items were used. So here is the "recipe": (BTW we found everything we used at Walmart)

sand: green sugar sprinkles (we currently have green sand in our classroom so this worked out great!)
drift wood: pretzel twists
sea shells: mini colored marshmallows
fish: goldfish crackers
whales: Whale crackers
life preservers: fruit loops
octopus: gummy octopus
"stuff" that washes up on the beach: dried banana
and my most favorite...
beach pebbles: chocolate rocks

Check out how cool these rocks are! They look so real. The kids thought I was nuts when I ate one.

Here are some pictures of the finished product. Notice how different student displayed their differently.

This is a close up of the octopus!

You could do so much with it. you could graph it, sort it, 1:1 correspondence, make up a story about what you found on the beach using the trail mix for props.

Let me know if you use this and what you do with it. I would love to hear other people's ideas!

Math Mat & first day of ESY

Some of you know that I teach special education. Today we had our first day of ESY (summer school) and it went fantastic!!! We tried out some of the pirate themed games I have made and the kids loved them. Tomorrow we are making a trail mix where each part represents something from the ocean. I will try to post pictures tomorrow night.


Today I made a Treasure Chest Math Mat. I plan on having the kids roll a die and put that number of gold coins on their chest. For some kids I may just call out a number and have them put that number on. I may also put coins on their mat and just have them tell me how many are there. I will all depend on the student and the ability level.

Enjoy! Please let me know what you think and share, share, share!!!


Treasure Chest Counting Mat

Fav Blogs and Color by number

I linked up with the Clutter Free Classroom to share some of my fav blogs to stalk. Here is a few, but by no means is this my limit.... I am trying to find an app on my ipad like flipbook that lets me view all of them. Any suggestions?

Primary Perspective











I also worked some more on my pirate unit yesterday and here is my latest creation. Let me know what you think. I am definitely open to comments/suggestions!
Pirate Color by Number

Pirate Pre-writing

I am continuing to work on my pirate unit. A few of my students are still in the pre-writing stages of learning so I thought I should make some pages to help them also. Let me know what you think!

Pre Writing Practice

Ship Wrecked! (math & sight word game!)

After seeing a game called Don't Get Zapped on Swap Frog First Graders (I love this blog by the way) I decided to add my own spin to the game to make it fit the pirate theme. The name of the game is Shipped Wrecked. Students pick a stick and read the work or solve the problem. If they get it correct they get to keep the stick, if they get it wrong they put it back. If they pick a stick that says Ship Wrecked then they need to put all of their sticks back. If they pull a stick that says trade with another player, then they need to give their sticks to another player and the other player takes the first players sticks. I think lose a turn is self explanatory :o)

To make this game, print out the game sheet on to address labels. Then put in half and place on craft sticks.


Let me know your thoughts and if you have any other ideas on how this can be adapted. Also, please check out Swamp Frog First Graders if you haven't already by clicking on the button.




Ship Wreaked Addition to 20

Ship Wreaked Sight Words

Letter Hunt

What a way to spend my Friday night... making additional activities for my pirate unit. I am hoping to also make a worksheet or two to go along with this activity. I am hoping to find plastic coins to use instead of the paper ones. I would like to put them in a "treasure chest" or "hide" them in sand to make the hunt a bit more exciting. The also may provide some sensory stimulation for some of my kiddos. If you decide to download please let me a comment! Thanks!!

Letter Hunt

Captain's Log

I have so many idea's for this pirate unit that I feel like I can't get them on paper quick enough. Ever have that feeling? The is intended for a creative writing of sorts or journal writing. I can also make it in black and white if anyone wants it that way.

On another note, I can not believe that the school year will be over next week. It went by so quickly!! There is so much more I want to teach more students, good thing I have them again next year.

Captain Log Color