Did you know that September 19 is Talk like a Pirate day? Kids love pirates (and who doesn’t like breaking into pirate talk once in a while – let’s be honest!)
These fun, pirate-themed no (and low) prep literacy printables are a big hit with my students.
Here’s one special student’s cover page, followed by the activities! ->
Pirate letter sounds:
Many early writers need a strategy for hearing the sounds in words. Check out this post for a full explanation of Elkonin sound boxes, demonstration video and aĀ free sample very similar to what you see below.
Pirate theme Elkonin sound boxes – three levels of support (with rule-breakers already filled in or ‘behind bars’!
Pirate words and upper / lower case letter match:
These fun pirate themed letter and word activities can be done as cut-and-paste or printing / drawing activities! (Kids enjoy drawing explosion or smoke lines between cannons and cannonballs!)
Pirate sentence puzzles:
These pages were designed with the intention of printing the sentence strips onto colored paper. Students each receive a sentence strip of each color, cut the spaces between the words, then lay the words in order before gluing them down.
I like to review this activity with small groups before they attempt to figure out the sentences themselves. I read each question to them and encourage them to look at the pictures. For some students, I will actually print the answer on the page, then all that is left for them to do is match the sentence puzzle pieces.
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Reconstructing sentences in the context of a Reading Recovery lesson is quite different because the student would have constructed, written and reread the cut up sentence multiple times before being asked to put it back together. Ā This activity may need to be done with assistance, depending on the student. Ā I will often have a volunteer or reading buddyĀ do this with emergent readers. They color the box first (to remind them which sentence strip they are working on, assuming these pages have been printed on colored paper), look at the picture and predict what the story might say prior to looking at the sentence strip pieces. The reading mentor will see what can be done independently before prompting with 1) What might you see at the beginning of a sentence? 2) Do you see any words you know? 3) Look at the picture again and read what you have. 4) Reference the Top 3 Prompts.
Pirate reading comprehension, graphic organizers and writing templates:
On the yellow page below, there is a short, descriptive story supported by pictures that I like to read (and ‘jazz up’) to the group as they follow along, and discuss the details with before they ever see the ‘W’ questions page (highlighted below in green). There is room at the bottom of this sheet (‘The story begins’), it can be attached to cover the ‘beginning’ box of the graphic organizer page, or the page flipped over for students to continue the story by answering ‘What do you think they did next?’
I have done shared writing for the story middle sections on chart paper with my early literacy groups, and then had the students brainstorm ideas for possible endings. I’ll update soon with more!
Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day, Matey!
Related:
Motivating young kids to write for real purposes
Fun, pirate no and low prep early literacy activities, resources, freebies and links!
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