CIRCUS�CONTENTS

Circus props 2 Vocabulary 3Circus illustrations 4Non-fiction activities 7 Discussion texts 7 Explanatory texts 16 Instructional/procedural texts 27 Non-chronological texts 34 Persuasion texts 39 Recount texts 48Fiction activities 56 What ‘real’ writers do 56 Creating stories 65 Ideas for story starters 80Poetry suggestions 83

PIRATE CONTENTS

Pirate props 98Vocabulary 99Pirate illustrations 100Non-fiction 103 Discussion texts 103 Explanatory texts 109 Instructional/procedural texts 119 Non-chronological texts (including reports) 127 Persuasion texts 132 Recount texts 135Fiction activities 136 Write parts of stories and include non-fiction elements 146 Whole stories ideas 149Poetry suggestions 152

Inserts… Adding depth to characters 136 Alliteration 90 Clerihews 154 Creating stories from recounts 65 Conscience alley 132 Editing 61 Observation games and games to generate ideas 62 Helping children use non-fiction books 129 Hot seating 13 Retelling stories and experimenting with story ideas 74 Tick lists for explanation, report and recount 23

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• Annotate a picture of a pirate, his/her ship and the island he/she is about to land on. A picture of a pirate ship can be found on page 122 or 123 (Pirate ship)

• On page 130 (Pirate Sam) is a picture of Captain Sam with speech bubbles. In each one write a different piece of information about what he does, what his ship, the Merry Mermaid, is like and who is on his crew. A poem about the Merry Mermaid can be found on page 160.

• Ask children to imagine they have been banished to a desert island. Make a list of what they would want to take with them.

• On page 131 (The Merry Mermaid advertisement) there is an advert to encourage people to holiday on a converted pirate ship. Look at the advert and work out which phrases are generalisations about ships and which are specific comments that can only be applied to pirate ships.

Ask children to design a pirate clothes catalogue. Some items are universal (e.g. shorts) while others are more specific (though not unique) to pirates – such as eye patches. Make two columns headed ‘pirate’ and ‘not pirate’ and draw clothes, with catalogue details about them, in the correct column.

• Map out a voyage that a pirate ship sails then write the captain’s log or diary recording what happened and when. Make sure it is in the right order.

Ask children to write further logs. Include details like which seas were sailed (use atlases to find realistic names), who was on board, what they ate, how much treasure they found and where, what the ship’s doctor had to treat and how many sharks they spotted.

The story, Mighty Mermaids, on page 139 might help provide some details for the logs.

• Write an invitation to a pirate party being held on board a pirate ship.

• After pirates have brought treasure back from an island they write down what they have as an inventory list. OR Read the story on page 139 (Mighty Mermaids) and create the mermaids’ inventory of the treasure the pirates were after.

• Write a school report given to a pirate when he was at school (this could even be a ‘pirate school’ where pirates are trained). Think about what he might be good at and what he might not be so good at.

• Write a set of rules suitable for the crew of the Stinking Bee to follow a poem about the Stinking Bee can be found on page 161.

• Devise a pirate quiz with questions that have multiple choice answers, for example:

Q1. If you became a pirate would you a. raise money fairly? b. steal money from other people? c. go scuba diving for sunken treasure?

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At the end there could be an analysis of answers, for example:

Mostly As – check the meaning of pirate in the dictionary Mostly Bs - well done, you would make a brilliant pirate Mostly Cs – read the quiz through again and try to work out where you’re going wrong.

• Watch part of a film with pirates in it. Use information gleaned from the Internet and other public sources to make comparisons about real life pirating and how pirates are portrayed in films.

• Decide on a specific age group then research, present and display information about pirates to your audience.

• Write a report of a voyage and include what happened when the ship stopped at an island and then when it was attacked by another ship. Remember to keep language in the past tense, use both general and technical words and phrases, write in the third person, include facts and description and keep the tone formal.

• Imagine that pirates rent out their ship for a fashion show with a pirate theme to it. Write the newspaper report that was published the following day. Make sure there is a catalogue of items for sale as well.

• Create a biography of a pirate. Then rewrite it as an autobiography and compare the two accounts.

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Helping children use non-fiction booksLook out for the following things in a non-fiction text:

1. A short explanation of what the book is about. This is there to help someone who is wondering if the book is going to be any use to them and is usually shown on the contents page.

2. Pictures and text to explain what the book is about. This helps the reader form a mental picture of the book’s content and to learn new words and ideas. Information is often arranged with headings, sub-headings and eye-catching titles. Sometimes it is also put in alphabetical order and annotated diagrams are included.

3. An end summary of things that have been explained.

4. Extra information such as a glossary, index, or appendix.

Unlike story books, non-fiction books are usually scanned and flicked through rather than read from the beginning to the end. Therefore children need to be given specific questions to think about. It is also useful to teach them how to assess the information they are accessing by thinking…

Is there a picture of what I am looking for to help me?How is the information in this book arranged? Will it help me find the information quickly?Is this too hard/too easy for me? Am I looking at the right page or is there a better one? Can I answer the question or should I look somewhere else in the book?What is/are the most important word(s) in this sentence? I’ll write down words NOT sentences so that I can remember them.Can I put this sentence into my own words so I don’t just copy down what the book says?Do I understand what I have just written?

Photocopy these questions as an aide-memoire for older children to stick in their books or display as a poster on the wall in the classroom.

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Write information that Captain Sam might say about himself, his crew or his ship, the Merry Mermaid in each of the speech bubbles.

beltdagger in

sheath

tattoo of a butterfly

neck scarf

bandana

friendly face

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A pirate ship, the Merry Mermaid, has been made into a holiday home.

Sail across the sea, climb the rigging, stand in the crow’s nest, hoist the skull and

crossbones flag, sleep in a hammock or bunk, scrub the decks, walk the plank (and

be caught in a net), eat at the captain’s table, visit the chests of treasure in the

ship’s hold, dress up as a pirate.

Work as a pirate.

Live as a pirate.

The holiday of a lifetime is waiting for you.

Contact www.pirateholidays.com for more details or phone 01378 278336

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• Discuss why someone might want to become a pirate.

• On page 160 (The Merry Mermaid) is a poem about Pirate Sam. He needs crew members for his next voyage so designs captions, posters and adverts to encourage people to join the happy crew of the Merry Mermaid. Ask children to draw their own adverts, signs and posters to persuade people to join it or a different ship.

• The story on page 139 (Mighty Mermaids) ends with Black Tooth on trial. One Eye tries to persuade the captain that his friend is innocent. Write then perform the speech One Eye makes to the captain. Another sailor, Slit Ear, thinks that Black Tooth is guilty and argues that he should be punished. Write and perform his speech condemning Black Tooth.

• Ask children to create their own situations where pirates should and should not be punished; these could involve smuggling a person or animal on board the ship, fighting, not playing their part fully in a raid, complaining, trying to escape when they had signed up for the whole trip, disobeying orders or being kind to a prisoner. Act scenarios out before working out the case for and against the pirates involved. Use the conscience alley technique (see below for more details) to help children persuade others of their own point of view.

• On pages 115 to 117 (Pirate’s life) there is information about what life was like on a pirate ship. Use this as a basis for further research then produce a leaflet explaining what hopeful pirate recruits could expect on board.

• The ruthless Captain Brave rules the Stinking Bee with a rod of iron. He smells mutiny brewing and introduces a new punishment for anyone who dares complain. This is added to the list of ship’s rules and punishments that the crew drew up and agreed to live by before setting sail. Some crew members can see the need for such measures and support the captain. Others are totally against it and some are undecided.

Decide what the new punishment is, e.g. those found guilty will be suspended from the crow’s nest for twenty-four hours, be fed rotten sprouts, hauled under the keel, made to walk the plank. Both sides think of ways to persuade (which could include bribery as well as verbal persuasion) those who have yet to make up their minds. Some think that the new punishment is necessary; others think it should be abandoned and the captain fed to the sharks. Prepare both their arguments.

Conscience alleyConscience alley imagines what happens inside someone’s head when they have to make a decision about something. They weigh up both sides of an argument. It is a great way to encourage children to voice a point of view, co-operate with each other and rehearse what they will later write.

Choose what the decision has to be – for example, a prisoner on board ship is left unguarded. Does he risk the sharks and the fact he cannot swim very well and throw himself overboard OR does he stay put and be at the mercy of the pirates?

List and rehearse the points for and against for both options then divide the class into two and form two parallel lines.

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Encourage each person in the line to have a different phrase to try and persuade the person who is about to walk down the middle of the two lines.

As the person walks slowly down, each child must repeat their reason for either running or staying.

Once someone has walked down the conscience alley and heard both sides of the argument they must say what they are going to do and why.