If ye be looking for some fun pirate holiday books to read to your
students, I have a few suggestions for you.
Many children are familiar with the poem, "Twas the Night Before Christmas", written over one hundred ninety years ago. It begins...
"Twas the night before Christmas when all through
the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."
Now let's put a little pirate spin on it...
"Twas the night before Christmas aboard the Black Sark.
Not a creature was stirrin', not even a shark!
This is from A Pirate's Night Before Christmas by Philip Yates. Santa doesn't visit pirates, but Sir Peggedy does! He's not dressed in red but he's "dressed all in black from head to his heels, an' his clothes are all covered with seaweed an' eels." The narrator of this poem is not a father. Instead it is told by the cabin boy who fears Sir Peg has forgotten his present when a treasure map lands in his lap!

Baking cookies and leaving some for Santa to snack on after he lays out all the presents under the tree are Christmas traditions that many of us share. Author Kristin Kladstrup celebrates these traditions in her book, The Gingerbread Pirates.
We're familiar with the Gingerbread Man who comes to life, but how about a gingerbread man who becomes Captain Cookie and must rescue his crew, The Gingerbread Pirates, who are jailed inside a glass cookie jar. He has to hurry because there's some guy named Santa who wants to eat them!
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Like most teachers, I did my best to make every minute of the day a learning moment, even during the holidays! If you're a little like me, try out the FREEBIE below, Prepositional Phrases Hunt and Bingo Game inspired by The Gingerbread Pirates.
Prepositional phrases may be introduced in 3rd grade in some curricula. Common Core places the concept in the 4th grade Language standards. If your students have been taught the structure of a prepositional phrase, then you will find this product useful.
After reading the book to your students, have them share with partners
a family holiday or cookie tradition. Then remind your students that pirates
love to hunt for treasure, and so they will go on a treasure hunt for
prepositional phrases used in the book. Distribute copies of text pages from the book to partners of two or three. They will reread the pages you assign them and hunt for prepositional phrases which they will transcribe onto a recording sheet. Once the phrases are located, listed, and reviewed, play the Prepositional Phrase Bingo game. (As part of the review, be sure to have students identify the preposition and the object of the preposition.)
Thanks for taking the time to visit! Enjoy your upcoming shore leave! Let's rendez-vous here in January when our lives have calmed down!