Session 2 Visit 1 -- "Pirate Math!" 2/3/15

Avast! Ye be lookin' for a bit of pirate treasure? Aye, ya land lubbers, an old sea dog lik'un meself can tell. But the treasures ye be on the search for may be not what lies in store!

Miss Brown and I have, if you are reading for the first time, divided her class into two sections. That way each group gets thirty minutes of work time with me, and thirty minutes of digital learning. Each of these sections meets three times to follow a dramatic process through to learn about an core subject. This period of three visits is called "Pirate Math!"

Second graders are funny. They're like the ideal interactive audience. As a theater practitioner myself, It's important to create something that the audience will really buy into. In Miss Brown's class, I knew that if I was going to get kids interested in doing math, they'd need to find something where the math was secondary to the imagination they would be invited to explore.

So when I arrived, I decided to bring a friend with me. He was an old sea dog we simply referred to as, "The Captain." Some of the students began to notice similarities between he and I, but what they couldn't help but notice is what made the two of us so very different. For example, while I'm a man with a clean haircut, and two hands, this scurvy rascal has a hook for a hand and wears a bandanna on his head. Clearly this is a fierce pirate who is not to be trifled with.

Well so as to spare the tender feelings of the children I left the Pirate out in the hall until he was needed. I began by asking the students which of them LOVED doing math. There were a couple pretty enthusiastic hands, but several others who looked at them like they came from another planet.  I continued asking their feelings about math, and told them that I'd brought a friend who would hopefully make math a little more exciting for them.

As I went into the hall to "Get my friend" he came in and instructed the students that he was looking for a crew to help him find a great treasure. He told them that if they wanted to join the fiercest band of pirates the globe had ever seen they'd need to get some pirate gear. He left just as I came back in, and I asked the students what he talked about.

The students understood that they'd need to figure out what they could and couldn't take with them as pirates. We started by presenting them with a list of goods that they could acquire each student wrote in their math journals at least six items that they wanted to bring with them. Then each student had to look at how much each of those items weighed. The advice the captain gave them was to not pack more than 27 lbs of gear, and so each item had to be added up, but not exceed 27 pounds. Some packed light, others packed too much and had to unload a little, but they all were doing math without even recognizing it for what it was.

Once the students had planned what they would get, they knew they'd need to purchase all of it since there were no cutlasses, pirate dictionaries, mess kits, or treasure maps with them. Fortunately, The Captain had left me with a box of pirate treasure that each of them could use to purchase their gear. It ranged from 96 coins on the low end to 119 on the high end. They took their loot and headed to a pirate store where they were given the options of buying things Good, Best, or used. There were something that were OK to get used such as someone's old parrot, or an old pirate outfit that would just make them look fiercer from being worn at sea. Students tended to stay away from buying used gold teeth and food though.  Gross! Any gold coins they didn't spend they kept to have with them on their adventure across the open sea and towards the treasure island.

You'd be amazed how frugal some of those kids were.

With that, I left and bade them to prepare their best pirate voices for their entry onto the captain's ship the following week. This is a smart group of sailors I get to meet with.

Until next time!

Below is the Pirate Store they had to work with to determine weights and costs. :)

For Sale		Used	Good	Best		Weight
Pirate Outfit		6	9	12		3
Captain's Hat		2		5		1
Eye patch		1	4	2		0
Cutlass		5	10	15		5
Pistol		9	14	19		3
Tatoo			2			0
Compass			2	4		1
Rings		2	4	6		0
Golden Tooth		2	5	8		0
Boots		3	6	9		2
Food			5	10		per week
Clean Water			5	10		per week
Treasure Map		3	8	13		2
Peg Leg		2	5	10		0
Parrot		3	7	11		3
Monkey		8	14	20		6
Bandana				1		0
Hook		3	9	15		1
Spyglass		2	4	6		4
Matches				2		1
Mess Kit		2	3	4		2
Globe		8	12	16		8
Pirate Dictionary				4		2
Pirate Flag				10		1