Pirates in training

Can you imagine how surprised the Year 1 children were when they met Captain Hook at the start of this term? He set them the challenge of learning how to become a pirate or he was going to keep all the treasure including their class mascots! The children were determined not to let Captain Hook win and agreed to start their pirate training.

Roslyn McConnell, Year 1 Teacher

First, the children had to master the art of talking like a pirate with “Ahoy” or “Aye, Aye Captain” being heard around our Year 1 classrooms for many days. Obviously If you can talk like a pirate, you must also look like a pirate and preparations were made to design our own swords, telescopes, and eye-patches. New skills were fully embraced by the children when they tie-dyed their bandanas. Patience and perseverance were required to apply the many rubber bands to the fabric, but the results were fantastic. Having the opportunity to create your own pirate t-shirt, using fabric paint, was always going to be great fun and the children are now set to set sail and join any pirate crew. But the training didn’t stop there…….

Next, our young shipmates learnt important geography skills from famous pirates as we explored the seven continents and five oceans, but they had no ship to set sail! So, plans were made to design and create their own pirate ship using a range of materials and workshop skills to ensure the ship stayed afloat when launched to sea. The final imaginative and creative pirate ships are awesome.

Finally, after making and being able to follow a ‘real’ treasure map, the Year 1 children were successful in completing their pirate training. Receiving their certificates, beating Captain Hook, and having their class mascots back in the classroom made it all worthwhile.

What a wonderful journey we’ve had and along the way, sharing the core text ‘Penguins make bad Pirates’ which was a great story but fictional as we have proven that Year 1 Foxes, Giraffes, Pandas and Penguins are now all amazing pirates. Aharrr!