Cooking Up Good Speech!

It may not be the best known holiday, however  it seems to have caught on in many parts of the United States and around of the world….September 19 th is known as “International Talk Like A Pirate Day.”  There is quite a story behind the origins of this fun day so after you have swabbed the deck,  weighed anchor, and hoisted the mizzen,  take a look at the story here!

In honor of ”Talk Like a Pirate Day”, I am sharing a very simple to prepare pirate food called Hardtack or Sea Biscuits (and yes, this was actually eaten by pirates who sailed the seas a long time ago) and could easily be made at home or in the classroom.  If the school cafeteria will let you use their oven, it would be easy enough to make with the kiddos and bake  in school!!

This week’s language game is called “Talk” the Plank—(I thought this would be a fun play on words since the students need to do lots of describing and sentence building for this game.)  

**Ask the physical education department at school if they will loan you a few gym mats and you will have instant planks!!

Download the printable game cards and spinner and the lads and lassies will be shouting “ Yo, Ho Ho” all day long!   Check out  Talk the Plank Cards  and Talk the Plank Spinner here!!

***special thanks to Lesson Pix for creating the awesome pirate themed pictures!!  Check out their blog for more great “Pirate Day” ideas!   

“TALK” THE PLANK GAME RULES:

• All students will begin the game by standing at the end of their gym mat (or a designated starting point)
• Have the students take turns drawing  pirate themed vocabulary cards. 
• Ask student to  describe the word or use the word in a sentence.  (Cue them to think of three words/phrases/sentences that describe the picture/word.  If they choose to use the word in a sentence, be sure they use it in proper context and in a complete sentence)  
• After completing the language task, they can then spin the spinner.  If the spinner lands on “Walk the Plank” they must take one step forward (use the gym mat as a plank or have a designated start and finish line for the plank).  If the spinner  lands on “X Marks the Spot!” they are safe and do not need to advance forward! 
•  The student to reach the end of the plank first is Shark Bait!!!!   
• ****You will need to use a brass brad to assemble the spinner.  I recommend that you laminate all game cards and the spinner for better durability and smoother spinning.

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Sea Biscuits—aka “Hardtack”

    Hardtack biscuits, also called sea biscuits, were a pirate staple on the open seas. These hard biscuits lasted  for weeks when no other food was available. Hardtack was eaten with stews and soups.  To soften, sea biscuits were usually dunked in water, brine, coffee, broth (or some other liquid) ; floated on top of soup so it could soak up the liquid of the soup, or placed on top of food cooking in a skillet meal.  Pirates sailed the sea for months so Sea Biscuits became a food staple and they ate them with or without the weevils and maggots!   AAAAAHHHHRRRRGGGGG!!!!!

Let the kiddos pour and mix the ingredients….kneading the dough is a great sensory-motor activity for little hands!!! 

Another great opportunity for the kids—-let them roll out the dough and then help them compare the differences between the round ball they started with and the flattened dough they are rolling and stretching

Remove from oven and cut into 3-inch squares
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Serve crackers with soup—or for the little pirates, cut up some cheese cubes and grapes for cheese and crackers!! 

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Looking for some pirate lingo to use on September 19th????

Pirate Phrases

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! – exhortation of discontent or disgust

Ahoy! – Hello!

Ahoy, Matey – Hello, my friend!

Ahoy, me Hearties! – the same as saying “Hello, my friends!”

All hand hoay! – comparable to all hands on deck

Avast
ye- stop and check this out or pay attention

Aye – yes

Batten down the hatches – put everything away on the ship and tie
everything down because a storm is brewing

Bilge-sucking – insult

Blimey! – exhortation of surprise

Blow me down! – expression of shock of disbelief akin to “Holy
Crap!”

Blow the man down – command to kill someone

Booty – treasure

Buccaneer – a pirate

Bucko – a buccaneer

Cat O’Nine Tails – a whip with nine strands

Corsair – pirates in the Mediterranean Sea

Crow’s nest – small platform atop the mast where the lookout
stands

Cutlass – short heavy curved bladed sword used by pirates

Davy Jones’ Locker – fabled, mythical place at the bottom of the ocean
where the evil spirit of Davy Jones brings sailor and pirates to die

Dead men tell no tales – phrase indicating to leave no survivors

Doubloons – other coins or found in pirate hoards and stashes

Feed the fish – will soon die

Hang ‘im from the yardarm – punishment of those captured in battle

Head – the pirate ship’s toilet

Heave Ho – give it some muscle and push it

Hempen Halter – a noose for hanging

Hornswaggle – to defraud or cheat out of money or belongings

Jacob’s Ladder – the rope ladder one uses to climb aboard a sloop

Jolly Roger – pirate’s flag including white skull and crossbones over
a black field

Keelhaul – punishment in which a person where dragged underneath the
pirate ship from side to side and was lacerated by the barnacles on the
vessel

Lad, lass, lassie – a younger person

Landlubber – big, slow clumsy person who doesn’t know how to sail

Letters of Marque – letters issue from governments during wartime to
privateers endorsing the piracy of another vessel

Man-O-War – pirate’s ship outfitted for battle

Me – my

Mizzen – third mast from the bow of the ship on ships that have three
or more masts

Old Salt – an experienced sailor

Pieces of eight – coins or found in pirate stashes

Pillage – rob, sack or plunder

Poop deck – the part of the ship farthest to the back, which is
usually above the captain’s quarters. This is not the bathroom.

Privateer – government-sponsored pirates

Rum – pirate’s traditional alcoholic beverage

Run a shot across the bow – warning shot to another vessel’s
captain

Savvy? – do you understand and do you agree?

Scallywag – mild insult akin to rapscallion or rogue

Scurvy dog – the pirate is talking directly to you with mild
insult

Scuttle – to sink a ship

Seadog – old pirate or sailor

Shark bait – will soon join Davy Jones’ Locker

Shipshape – cleaned up and under control

Shiver me timbers! – comparable to “Holy Crap!”

Son of a Biscuit Eater – insult directed towards someone you don’t
like

Thar she blows! – Whale sighting

Three sheets to the wind – someone who is very drunk. One sheet is
mildly drunk and four sheets is passed out.

Walk the plank – punishment in which person walks off a board jutting
over the side of the ship while at sea. The consequence is drowning and a visit
to Davy Jones’ Locker.

Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! – pull up the anchor and the sail
and let’s get going

Ye – you

Yo Ho Ho – cheerful exhortation to demand attention