Talk Like a Pirate and Welcome to Fall

We began the week celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day.  My husband was stationed in Hampton, Virginia before where I taught at the local history museum about Blackbeard and a Blackbeard Festival was held so we are well versed in pirates.   I also worked at the Duke Energy Children's Museum at the Cincinnati Museum Center while the Real Pirates exhibit came through.

Some interesting pirate facts to share.

• It was actually bad to be a well-known pirate, because that increased the number of people hunting you down unless you were a privateer like Sir Francis Drake who had the protection of the crown because he only attacked ships of political enemies of his home country.  
• There were some female pirates, but they often disguised themselves as men.  Anne Bonny and Mary Read both served with Calico Jack.  One night, their ship was attacked by the Navy and many of the men were too drunk or scared to fight but Anne and Mary tried to fight.  The men were hung for the crime of piracy, but the women were both pregnant so they were sent to prison.  No one knows what happened to them then.  
• X marks the spot comes from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
• There is no evidence of a pirate walking the plank.
• Life as a pirate was rough, but there was a pirate code that tried to keep things fair in the ship.  The treasure was divvied up by the quartermaster according to the rules.
• The Jolly Roger was not the only pirate flag.  Pirates often created their own flag to identify themselves to other pirates.  

We started with some pirate stories.  Pirate Princess is about a girl who wants nothing more than to give up being a princess to become a pirate.  She struggles at first with the hard work, but soon uses her skills at finding treasure to impress the crew.  Victricia Malicia, on the other hand, was born into a pirate family but didn't feel like she belonged.  All she wanted to do was read.  In Pirate Girl, a group of ferocious pirates capture a little girl at sea.  She tells them they will regret it, and they do, when her mother's band of pirates attack.  Roger the Jolly Pirate is a fun take on how the Jolly Roger came to be known as the pirate flag.  It's written and illustrated by the same guy who illustrated the Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events.

We created our own island to bury treasures using a silicon ice cube tray.  First we added beads for treasure.  Then we buried them using a combination of baking soda and dyed sand to represent different parts of the island like sand and plants.  We used some watered down liquid water color to represent water.  The silicon tray made it easier to do the next part, where we created a map of our buried treasure.  The tray provided a nice grid for us to start from.  Then came the hard part, remembering where our treasure was buried so we could mark it on the map.  Then we took our island to the sink, where we used vinegar to wash away everything to reveal the treasure.  It's great to include mapping skills with pirate themes whenever you can.

We also created our own pirate flags.  I gave Genevieve the choice of dark felt or black paper.  She chose black paper and glitter glue, although we could have used chalk as well to get a nice image.  After Genevieve made her own flag, I had her talk me through things I should include on my pirate flag to let people know that I am coming.  We played her Jake and the Neverland Pirates matching game as well.

Other great pirate activities to do at home include creating treasure chests, playing pirate dice. or creating your own scrimshaw.  Pirate dice, or liar's dice, is the game played in Pirates of the Caribbean.  Each player should have a cup and 5 regular dice (6-sided).  Shake the cups, then place them upside down on the table.  Each player may look at their own dice.  Then the first player will use the number of ones in their cup to guess how many ones there are on the table.  The next player can increase the number of ones they think there are or guess the number of twos.  Once a player moves on to the next number, players may not go back to guess previous numbers.  At any time a player may call another player a liar if they believe they have overestimated the total of the current number.  Scrimshaw is beautiful carved artwork.  And although I wouldn't recommend carving into bones with your kids, you can carve soft white clay or create plaster medallions and cover them with wax that is easy to carve.

We also have been celebrating the start of fall.  We read Stellaluna, as well as Verdi and Pinduli by Janell Cannon.  Stellaluna is about a bat that spends some time living with birds.  We read 5 Little Pumpkins, The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin, and Ready for Pumpkins as Genevieve loves pumpkins.  On a similar vein, we read Sophie's Squash about a little girl who adopts a squash as a plaything.  We also enjoyed Storm is Coming and In the Leaves which is a great story where a boy explains some Chinese characters while on a trip to a farm with friends.

We did some great art and science experiments.  First Genevieve made a fall wreath and garland from a pumpkin cut out kit.  We decided to color some plants, so we split the bottom of a piece of celery with leaves and placed each side in a cup with different liquid watercolor.  We also placed a white carnation in red liquid watercolor.  All the watercolors were watered down.  We watched to see throughout the day how the plants might change.

We also did a little chromatography.  Ours didn't turn out because my lab assistant wanted to add a lot of water, but you might have better luck if you try.  First we tore up two groups of leaves - one that had changed to red and one that was still green.  You could also grind them up.  Add a bit of rubbing alcohol (use with care as it is flammable and not something you want anyone drinking).  Then we added a bit of water (warm water will help speed up the process).  Let that sit a bit, while you prepare a coffee filter by cutting it into strips.  When the water is colorful, dip the tip of the coffee filter into the liquid and you can watch the color travel up the strip.  Colored stripes should stop at different points along the filter.

We tried candy chromatography as well.  I'd recommend Skittles, but you can use M&Ms or gummies too.  We used a similar technique to the leaves, to which of course we added too much water.  Another option is to wet the candy a bit and use the liquid to draw about half way up the coffee filter strip.  Dip the tip in water and a little bit of rubbing alcohol and watch as the liquid separates the colors used to make the coating.

We did a little math first with the Skittles.  We opened the pack and sorted them by color into little cups.  We guessed which color had the most candies.  Then we drew a chart to see which color actually had the most candies.