Pirate Activities for the First Day of School
Children can be captivated by the mystery and adventure of pirate life. A pirate theme is one that's easily incorporated into the classroom throughout the year. Activities related to pirates on the first day of school can help to ease the bridge between summer fun and academic work. With creativity almost any activity can have a pirate element to it.
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Pirate Icebreaker Game
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Both teacher and students need the chance to become comfortable with each other on the first day of school. An icebreaker game can help the process along. Play a game of Pirate's Gold. Start by arranging students into two teams. Have one team be the pirates and the other team be the coast guard. Have each team go to separate sides of the room. Give one member of the pirate team a piece of fake jewelry. Instruct members of the coast guard team to walk into oncoming pirates and ask what they have in their hands. If the pirate with the jewels makes it across the floor without being questioned, the team gets a point. Reverse the team roles every other round for variety.
Pirate Craft
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A craft project on the first day of school allows children to express creativity. Do a pirate-related project that helps children learn their way around their new classroom by making pirate treasure maps. Pass out brown paper bags, black markers, paintbrushes and lemon juice. Show students around the classroom, pointing out various important areas and ask them to draw a map of the room in the style of a pirate map. Ask them to name the different areas something pirate-related such as "Cross Bones Computer Station" or "Skull Rock Reading Corner." Have students use the black markers to draw the bag and make an X to mark the spot for treasure, using the lemon juice. When the map is held to a heat source, the X becomes visible.
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Pirate Mad Lib Creation
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For a beginning-of-the-year English review, have the students write pirate-themed mad libs. To write the mad lib, tell students to write the story, leaving several blank word spaces throughout. Under the blank spaces, tell the students to write the part of speech of the word that should go there. Have the students pair up to complete each other's pirate mad libs on completion. Have the students take turns reading the funny results aloud.
Pirate Name Game
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Play a name game with a pirate theme as a way for both you and students to learn everyone's name. Form a circle and name one person to start. Tell each person to say a pirate-related word that starts with the same letter as his or her name, followed by the person's actual name; for example, Pegleg Peter or Eyepatch Eileen. Have everyone try to recite the names with the pirate words in order during his or her turn before saying his or her own name.
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References
- Photo Credit Pirate image by Dubravko Grakalic from Fotolia.com
