on talk like a pirate day, we are the scourge of the school

September 29, 2017July 10, 2020 ~ Ms. P. ~ Leave a comment

For years we’ve celebrated the always interesting holiday Talk Like a Pirate Day. And how the celebration has grown in our school! Our first year was a surprise event, students left their cars and buses to find a campus full of adults in pirate gear. Those adults kept speaking in lyrical nonsense and what a fun day it was. After a few years students wanted in on the dress up fun, and now September 19th means fancy dress for all. The best part of the day is always the tiniest pirates and their enthusiastic depiction of pirate hooks, sneers, and eye patches!

Pirate Day fun includes…

Great pirate books of course. Favorites… How I Became a Pirate, Captain Abdul’s Pirate School, and Maisy’s Pirate Ship.
Using ASL signs as we read about pirates (see the example below for “pirate” other words to learn are ship, sea, flag)

ASL for "pirate"

Sing sea chanteys! Write your own to the tune of Popeye the Sailor Man!
Practice your “Arghhhh” and whoever does it best gets to be captain for a game of Captain Says (but orders must be bellowed in pirate speak)
Build a pirate ship or sword using tangrams!

Create a Pirate ABC just like this fun picture book Twenty Six Pirates
Make a map…and go on a treasure hunt. We’ve planted clues across the campus, in the library… lots of fun!
Always, always look for opportunities to work in an “Aye, Aye!”

pirate22

donating and shopping used books

July 6, 2016April 24, 2017 ~ Ms. P. ~ Leave a comment

Although I recommend all of the libraries in the area as great places to find books to read this summer, I also love the thrill of hunting for good used books. There is a reason for the saying, “One person’s trash is another’s treasure.” This summer I found books for kids and adults at Goodwill, a local library thrift store, and even a church charity shop. I purchased a mini library of paperback early chapter books to share at my elementary school library, a CD of Goosebumps books, and some great vintage kids books to use for everything from crafts to reading in the car (they are already a bit worn so perfect for messy hands).

When I was young my mother would take me to paperback buy, sell and trade shops. We’d bring in bags of paperback books for credit and shop, shop, shop. Alas, the selections were not as great as used bookstores I visit today. But it was interesting to see rows and rows of dogeared paperbacks that shoppers picked through as if each was an exciting possibility. The stores were small and crowded but they were one of the best ways to spend an afternoon (not to mention it was easy to find books that were for grownups only and sneak peeks).

If you don’t want to shop used please donate! It makes a big difference to the community and stores like Half Price Books donate back. Our library has benefited yearly from their book drives. You never know what you’ll find when you shop used books, and that my friends is half the fun!

The Snoopy is a Weekly Reader from 1966, and love the illustrations below. The book cover for Hoppity Skip has a 35¢ price tag.

1971 publication date (in Roman numerals, what a pain to translate!)

there’s a bear in there, take your bear to school day

November 10, 2015April 27, 2017 ~ Ms. P. ~ Leave a comment

This year for Take Your Teddy to School Day, first and second graders read and wrote about bears in the library. Fifth graders even joined in to write some informational bear books so that there was always enough to read. The library created a special bear cave in our reading area so our bears could read or hibernate. One of the great bear books we read was The Bear Ate Your Sandwich, a humorous book to make us ask questions and possibly to distrust dogs. Students brought their bears to the library where we all heard great bear stories, had a bear snack, and got some cuddles in while we learned.