Ahoy There!
*This is our last week for the school year, and we are in our “camp” mode. Typically, I try to send parents summary emails but decided to post today’s here instead.* During the school year, we have “topics” rather than themes. For camp? A week of crazy fun!
Ahoy Me Hearties!
What a fun day! I’ll admit, my voice was a bit rough from all the avasting and yohoing today! We started off the day with wooden treasure chests to paint, newspapers to make hats, and sparkly pipe cleaners for those who prefer more sparkle to their headwear!
On the rug I put a long box, which I’d thought would be a boat, but I was told we needed a pirate cave, so a pirate cave it became! I put out a toboggan and some brooms. I realized I’d forgotten a plank, so I brought out our balance board.
Ok, in my adult mind, I though they’d use the brooms for the mast. I was surprised when P held up the board like a mast, and said, “We need a sail.” Some easel paper, lots of tape and there was a sail!
The children realized that the mast wouldn’t stay by itself. There was a lot of brainstorming and experimenting to find items strong enough to hold it straight. But they did it!
A little after 10, we convened on the rug to discuss this week’s theme. I talked about the fact the pirates are robbers, and it real life would hurt others. We also discussed imaginative play and still being responsible for following safety and school rules. We sang “When I Was One,” a silly song about jumping on a pirate ship. I told the children about the code many pirates followed. They had strict rules about no fighting on the ship and no gambling. The crew voted on where they would sail. When treasure was found, each member of the crew got an equal share, the Captain and Quartermaster got double that. Pirates who had been injured or lost a limb were give a larger share. They were amazingly democratic for the time!
We discussed our own code for the week. Even though we are playing in a piratey manner, school rules must be followed.
When we find treasure, everyone will get the same amount. (We decided one each.) When a treasure is spotted, in order to give the younger/shorter legged of the bunch an equal chance, we we point and yell, “There be treasure, Admiral!” (Ahem, I’m the Admiral.)
We read How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long. The book discusses the pros and cons of a young boy joining pirates. Pro: no one tells them to go to bed, brush their teeth, or eat their spinach. Unfortunately, no one will tuck him in good night, and all they have to read are maps! No bedtime stories! The child leads the pirates to bury their treasure in his backyard, and he draws a map. The children decided that it was a fiction book!
We sang “This is the Way we Swab the Deck” and talked in a very pirate-y way.
Break for snack prep. I read half the group the new Mo Willems book, I Like My New Friend, then read it again to the next group.
Snack was quite tropical, including clementines, banana, and goldfish snacks! We talked about how important Vitamin C was for sailors, without it, they’d get scurvy. When someone announced they’d finished their clementine, Mrs Stock said, “No scurvy for you!” It became quite the game!
We ate by “candlelight” since pirates didn’t have electricity!
After snack more ships and caves and some water play. Since it was supposed to rain all day, I’d planned a treasure hunt in the building. The rain stopped, so we quickly created clues for children to find a treasure outside. The first clue: “Here’s a place where you can fly, pump you legs up to the sky.” The children agreed it was the swings. Again, in order to prevent the older, faster children leaving the others behind, we all held hands and became one big “ship.” We walked together, swaying with the waves, and looking for whales and sharks. When the children saw a small roll of brown paper, the shouted, “There be a clue, Admiral!” We followed the clues to the picnic tables, which lead us to the front of the school. There was a treasure box with a big tape X on it! I wish I had a picture of the children’s faces when I opened the box and they saw the “jewels!” We took the chest back to the picnic tables and children each chose one “gem.”
Then the ice cream man came! Hooray for camp!