Overview Depending on the reading level of your students, this unit could take from 3 to 5 weeks. The reading level of the novel is advanced for my junior high students and requires extensive vocabulary development activities. By using the activities found here and reading in groups or as a class, any level reader from grade seven on can enjoy the novel. A discussion of the historical background of the time or a social studies unit about 17th-century England would also be helpful. After visiting the sites below, students draw and label the parts of a ship.
Students work in groups of four with assigned tasks.
The director coordinates the work, the artist draws the ship, the recorder takes notes and the researcher reads information . Each student completes a set of definitions for the specialized nautical vocabulary . Journal about Pirates Students will keep a double-entry journal with an entry for each of the 24 chapters. In the left column, students will respond to events in the story and comment on their own thought and feelings . They also discuss what they might have done in a similar situation.