Reading Rumpus: Pirates Don't Go To Kindergarten! - Talk Like A Pirate Day is coming September 19th!...

Pirates Don't Go To Kindergarten!

Pirates Don't Go to Kindergarten! is a cute take on the transition from one grade to the next, Pre-K to K in this case. New Kindergartener Emma wants to stay in her pirate themed Pre-K classroom with her pirate Pre-K teacher. The kindergarten is space themed and Emma will have none of that! She knows the pirate lingo and trusts the pirate captain; she's not so sure about that new teacher. Great illustrations add to the telling with a play on reality/imagination done well. Some pirate lingo may need specific vocabulary instruction (see below) and lends this tale to first and second grade reads as well.

Genre: Realistic Fiction Picture Book
Age: 4-8 / Grades: PreK-2 / Pages: 32
Date: August 2019
Thank You: Blue Slip Media
Publisher: Two Lions
ISBN: 978-1-5420-9275-3
Topics: Pirates, School, Behavior
Themes: Adjusting to new things, Accepting change
Characters: Emma is BUSY and her teachers are PATIENT. These are opportunities to teach correct behaviors by using Emma's unruliness as a non-example. Teachers can ask students to find other ways that Emma might have coped with her nervousness about attending a new classroom and point out how her disruptions are affecting the classrooms.
Plot: Will Emma ever transition from being a pirate to becoming an astronaut (aka: space-pirate)?

Originality: LOTS of 'Pirates DON'T' titles! Would be a great unit idea of "don'ts" for Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19th (2019)...
Could teach contractions, behaviors, compare & contrast titles/characters/settings, etc... OH! The possibilities!
Some examples? (you can click on the pictures to head over to Amazon)

And, of course:

Pirate Vocabulary and Idioms: cutlass, anchor, ahoy, batten down, hatches, mateys, gangway, peg leg, doubloons, yo ho, blimey, mutiny, rigging, crow's nest, parley, plank, shiver me timbers, bandanna, heave-ho
Space Vocabulary: liftoff, astronaut, cargo, shuttle, experiments
General Vocabulary: rowed, scattered, stormy, treasure, snuggled, seized, sneered, snarled, whopped, hollered
Onomatopeias: splash, thump, clump, scrunch, splat
HERE you can find a great back to school kit from Curious City DPW.

You can read more about author Lisa Robinson on her website HERE or find her on Twitter @elisaitw
You can read more about illustrator Eda Kaban on her website HERE or find her on Twitter @petiteturk

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