Pirate Storytime 12/6/17

By Awnali Mills

Today’s storytime was all about pirates, and the books I chose were How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and Pirate Boy by Eve Bunting.

I started off singing Jbrary’s Pirate Zoom, Zoom, Zoom and supplemented this with 5 large circles I cut out of gold paper, writing the numbers 1-5 on them, and putting a magnet on the back.  As we counted down each number, I put the corresponding doubloon on the board.

Then we read How I Became a Pirate.  This is usually a great storytime book for me, but I had a younger crowd today (most were not old enough for my storytime).  Most of them sat really still for the book, but the book used all of their attention up, and I had a hard time getting them back for the rest of the storytime.

We stood up and sang This Is the Way We Swab the Deck
This is the way we swab the deck, swab the deck, swab the deck
This is the way we swab the deck, so early in the morning.
Walk the plank
Drop the anchor
Raise the sails
Steer the ship
Salute the captain

Then we did the flannel Pirate Wore a Red Patch.  The kids chose the color we put on each time we did the chant.

Because our book had talked about sea chanteys, we needed to sing one.  So, I grabbed my uke and we sang What Shall We Do with the Pirate Sailor

(Shrug shoulders))
What shall we do with a pirate sailor,
What shall we do with a pirate sailor,
What shall we do with a pirate sailor,
Early in the morning?
(Jump up in the air)
Hoo-ray and up she rises,
Hoo-ray and up she rises,
Hoo-ray and up she rises,
Early in the morning!

Because the kids weren’t set for another book, I skipped Pirate Boy and went right into the flannel Five Pirates on a Treasure Chest.

Then, we finished up with If You’re a Pirate and You Know It.
If you’re a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (swish, swish)
If you’re a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (swish, swish)
If you’re a pirate and you know it, then you’ll hear the sea winds blowin’
If you’re a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (swish, swish)

Walk the plank (stomp and fall down)
Say “Aye, Aye!” (and salute)

That probably wasn’t the best move, since one child turned to his mom and said, “Didn’t we just swab the decks?”  Oh, well.