Aaarrrghh! Me Hearty-Pirates!

Usually we have Fun Friday, but this week we had to have a Marvelous Monday and it was all about Pirates! We dressed up, we had treasure hunts, Pirate snacks and found a treasure chest!After all the preparations Stevie and I had most likely spent a Pirate's fortune and I realized that I can live with a cut in salary in my retirement, since I won't get to be throwing these fun events for 25 kids on a regular basis...or buying books or buying supplies or buying snacks...yeah, a cut isn't going to hurt as much as it might. :-) So, after we got settled in with a 2 hour delay and an adjusted schedule, we divided them into 4 teams. Each team was responsible for reading one of the clues and leading all the rest of the pirates to where they thought the treasure was.The first clue lead them to bandannas for every one. Here they all are where they found them.And as soon as we put on their bandanas they began to look much more piratey...just wait.The second clue lead them to eye patches and earrings!This team was not too keen on going under the deck to find their treasure, but here they come finally.Now we are starting to really look good.Oh, yeah. Everyone got to make a hook hand, too. Arrgghh. It's a dangerous life, me matey!~After lunch, when we didn't have to go outside and put our coats on anymore, so we put pirate parrots on our shoulders.

Here's the side story of the parrots. We made them last Thursday, but as soon as we put the feathers on them and the kids went to the bathroom, those crazy parrots "flew" away! What fun it was to see them almost believe our story...I leaned out the door and pretended (pretty dang convincingly, I thought) that I saw them flying away. Then today when they came in the parrots were back perched on their tables with a note left on the chalkboard.

Loved hearing them say, "Hey, the parrots came back!" :-)

Clue #3 got us some rope belts.

And the last clue was where we found out daggers...stubby little things made of flimsy paper, of course...Don't you love the little mustache?While we were tracking down our daggers, the treasure chests were put out on our "ship". There was much rejoicing at the booty we had scored!

We learned a pirate song (I'm a pirate, that I be. I sail me ship upon the sea...) and we had a fun pirate snack! Swords and cannon balls...

So, it was a fast and furious day. I heard reports from a couple of mommas. One couldn't find her daughter at After School Explorers because she was still in full pirate gear! Another, who is a teacher, said her daughter came rushing into her room after school giving them all a big, "Aaarrrrggghh!"

Ahoy, mateys! Captain D here!

Check out the booty I scored!

Yep. This is a great job, Matey!