Friday, January 15, 2010

Avast ye scurvy dogs!

Pirates is a pretty easy theme.  Lots of cute books about pirates, though some of them I've found to be too long for my kids.  I did mean to wear an eyepatch and a pirate hat, swiped from my son's dress-up bin, but... I forgot.  Oh well.

When I took out the books, I looked at them, put them back, and told the kids that they were just too scary.  Naturally they assured me they liked scary books, even scary pirate books, so we began...

Book 1:  That's Not My Pirate by Fiona Watt

I love this series of touch and feel books.  And so does every single kid I've met.  I read each page, then let all the kids come up and feel the texture on each page.  If it's taking a while for me to let each child touch the page, then I talk about other words that could describe that texture: smooth, shiny, slippery, not bumpy, etc.

Book 2: A is for Arr! by Laura Purdie Salas
Many ABC books seem to have too much text with each letter to use for storytime.  This one was a little shorter than most, so I did read it for a couple of my older groups, but just did the letter and associated word for my younger kids.  I tried to use Arr as many times as possible during this book. :)

Book 3: Night Pirates by Peter Harris
For a couple of my groups, I read this book, and for others, I read Book 4 instead.  I liked this book because it had girl pirates (rough, tough, little girl pirates), but most of the kids I read this to didn't "get" that the pirates were stealing the front of Tom's house and then returned it upside down.  The illustrations really could have been done better in order to convey this.
Book 4: I Love My Pirate Papa by Laura Leuck
Good, sweet story about a boy going through his day with his pirate dad, and how his dad helps him "buckle on his gear" and reads to him about Captain Hook before he's tucked in.  Here again, there were a few things that went over the kids' heads with some unfamiliar vocabulary, but the message of love did come through.

After the books, we colored a pirate coloring page from Family Fun.  I'm thinking of doing a treasure-hunt next time, with a map of the library.  Maybe hide "gold" coins that they can trade in for treats. 

Did this theme the week of January 11, 2010.

No comments: