September 19th, was Talk Like A Pirate Day and Rock Your School! When my students came to school today, they found Mrs. Wanke dressed like a pirate and a treasure chest locked up! The treasure box had three kinds of locks securing it. One was a number code, another was a litter code, and the last one was a key lock. We wanted to know what we had to do to see what was inside the treasure box.
I explained that they would have to do a series of challenges to learn the codes and earn the key! They were SO ready and motivated to complete these tasks!
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First we listened to a couple of stories to set the tone for the day and to grow our scheme of pirates.
I explained our for our first challenge we were going to create our very own buried treasure map. We had to follow specific directions to create this map. (This fit nicely since we have been working on following directions and working on maps with our story from last week.)
These are the directions that students had to follow. I printed them on the back of the map so parents could see the activity, but I read them aloud to my students.
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After this challenge we earned a the letter K. There would be two more challenges to earn the letters E and Y to spell the word KEY. Once they spelled the word KEY, they would get the key to open the lock.
Our next challenge was a STEM challenge. Students had to work with our partner to create a pirate ship that could actually float and sail across our ocean (kid pool) carrying 3 pennies.
They were only given certain materials. Aluminum foil, 3 strips of masking tape, a small ball of clay, a coffee filter, and a straw.
I was so proud, they worked really hard and cooperatively with their partners. They developed a plan and worked together to problem solve when things did not go as planned.
Sharing with consent from parents.
Sharing with consent from parents.
We had SO much fun creating these and watching them sail across the ocean. My students would jump and hug their partners when their ships sailed across!
Here is just a video of one of our ships sailing across the ocean!
After completing this challenge, they earned the letter E!
After lunch we came back and were ready to get that treasure box unlocked! We had several activities to do during math! The first one was to create, as a team, a giant 100's chart with gold coins!
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Sharing with consent from parents.
Sharing with consent from parents.
This was a VERY difficult challenge! They worked so hard and persevered! Students erupted into cheers when we got our last letter Y! We finally got one of the locks open!
The next math challenge was to find the missing number in the number bonds. Each correct answer gave students a letter for the code below. The secret code spelled out the three number for the combination lock.
Once again, I was SO impressed with how hard we worked to complete this challenge.
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All this hard work paid off and students learned the combination and opened our second lock!
The final challenge of the day had to deal with our spelling! I gave students a sheet of paper to write words that had the spelling pattern we have been working on. On this page four spaces were circled. If we successfully spelled the words, the circled spaces would reveal the letter combination for our final lock!
Well...guess what? WE DID IT! We got the final lock opened. Students could barely contain themselves when I opened the treasure box. Inside was GOLD OREO cookies!
Painted with Wilton Gold Color Mist
You can get it at Walmart, Amazon, or Party City. Walmart had the best price!
