
Grade 3 mini-pirates from Gidgegannup Primary School, WA, with the Flying Dutchman, WA children's author, Mike Lefroy, at the HeARTlines festival, June 2007.
Photo Louise Schofield.
Author Talks and Workshops - prices and sample content
Preparing for an author visit
Pirate activities for Primary Schools
More About the Clawbeak books
Author Talks and Workshops - prices and sample content
Anne will be available for school talks and workshops in Tasmania for Children's Book Week.
Costs: $350 for a half day, $500 for a full day
Talks and workshops by negotiation with teachers.
Sample Program, Grades 1-2
Discussion about the Clawbeak books.
Reading
Clawbeak puppetry
Pirate dancing
Outdoor Pirate game
Sample Program, Grades 2-4
Discussion about the Clawbeak books.
Reading
Acting out parts of the Clawbeak book
Q and A about writing, with focus on how you can write a great story.
Outdoor Pirate game
Sample Program Grades 5-6
Discussion about writing and publishing
Reading
Acting out my Warts 'n' All play
Writing Workshop - writing the Wild Thing
Outdoor Pirate game
Sample Program, Secondary School
The journey to publication - finding your story's problem, crafting, editing, submission, working with your editor, page proofs, the publication process, marketing.
Reading.
Workshop - exploring the Wild Thing in Literature, from Maurice Sendak to J.R.R. Tolkien, to Christopher Paolini. Introduces archetypal story structure and 'Writing your Wild Thing' excercise.
Preparing for an author visit
Author visits are most successful when the children and teachers are prepared.
The Children's Book Council of Australia website has a page dedicated to teacher ideas for Book Week.
http://cbca.org.au/bookweekIdeas.htm
Please inform your school office that your author will be arrival, and ensure the author is met by a teacher or student and guided to where s/her will be working.
Note that Dr Anne Morgan is a qualified and experienced teacher. She has a Working With Children clearance in WA and is a registered teacher (provisional) with the Teachers Registration Board in Tasmania.
Pirate-based classroom activitites for primary schools
The pirate theme works brilliantly with primary school children from grades 1-5, and teachers can find a wealth of piratey ideas and teaching resources elsewhere on the web, beginning with the infamous Talk Like a Pirate website
Here are two literacy-based pirate-based classroom activities.
Readers’ Treasure Chest
- Make or procure a ‘sea chest’ for the classroom.
- Oganise a ‘doubloon-making workshop’. Each ‘doubloon’ will be a circle of cardboard, painted gold or silver.
- Whenever the kids read a book, they write their name and the title and author of the book on a ‘doubloon’ and drop it into the treasure chest. For younger children, a silver coin can represent a picture book and a gold coin can represent a chapter book.
- When the treasure chest is full, the class can dress like pirates and have a pirate party.
Writing pirate profiles:
- Ask the children to give themselves a pirate name.
- Ask them to draw a picture of themselves in pirate clothes.
- What’s the name of their pirate ship?
- What does the pirate wear?
- What does the pirate eat?
- What musical instrument does the pirate play?
- What does the pirate love doing more than anything?
- What does the pirate dream about?
- Describe the other pirates on board.
- What is the name of the ir parrot?
- Why did the parrot fly away to sea?
- What does the pirate fear most?
- What does the pirate want most?
You are also invited to send in your comments and ideas for other Clawbeak-based classroom activities, for the use of other teachers.
Ideas from Jenny Webster, Grade 3 teacher at Gidgegannup School , WA.PIRATES: Captain Clawbeak and The Red HerringLANGUAGE (verbal linguistic)Before reading Captain Clawbeak and the Red Herring, brainstorm nautical terminology and any information or ideas children already know about pirates. During reading, add new terms and ideas.DescriptionsPirate wanted poster : description and drawing. Wanted for ...Pirate literature
Character Web
Research
Drama/Art (visual spatial)
Music (rhythmic)
Maths (logical)
Science
Technology
Society and Environment
Mapping (logical)
These approaches to the Clawbeak books are based on Gardener's Multiple Intelligences : a thematic approach. Gardner bases his ideas on that traditional western teaching concentrates on mathematical and linguistic teaching. Gardner's theory values a range of intelligences therefore accepting and widening the range of children's talents and abilities. |
More About the Clawbeak books
The Clawbeak books are funny, pacy adventure stories. With a treasure trove of illustrations by Wayne Harris, Clawbeak has been known to capture and hold to ransom the imagination of even the most reluctant of readers. Even a shipload of bloodthirsty, octogenarian pirates have been known to trade in their rusty cutlasses for library cards after getting hooked (?!) on reading by the Clawbeak books.
Children's author, David Rish, has this to say about the second book in the Clawbeak series:
Captain Clawbeak: The One and Only, written by Anne Morgan, illustrated by Wayne Harris, Random House Australia, 2006Perhaps you’ve already met Captain Clawbeak, the loud-mouthed salty macaw, in Anne Morgan’s previous book ‘Captain Clawbeak and the Red Herring’ in which the irascible pirate bird adopts Jack’s family (Dad the home-maker/pirate ship builder and vet Mum) and then wreaks his own particular brand of havoc.In this, the second in the series, Jack is horrified to learn he is to become a big brother. He knows about the problems caused by baby siblings from his best friend Joey who has a lot of them. (‘Babies are yuk!’)And indeed things are different. Mum and Dad, busy with preparations for the birth (rather than the berth!) don’t seem to have the time for him. Even Captain Clawbeak’s got all broody. Loud-mouth salty macaws, however, are extremely rare and Jack’s bird may possibly the last of the species. In his desperation to be a father, Captain Clawbeak brings home and egg. It hatches into a crocodile, Whippersnapper. Jack knows they can’t keep it and he has the problem of trying to find a home for it. Problems galore ensue from the baby croc biting Jack’s teacher on the rear end, to Big Bertha, the mother croc, charging Jack and the zoo’s education officer. Happily, it all ends up well. There’s even another loud-mouthed salty macaw and it is love at first sight, ahhh!Anne Morgan is a very good writer who knows how to hold a young reader. She provides lots of fun and fast-paced action, along with thoughtful doses of familiar family angst. Her clear, clever prose is stronger supported by the humorous illustrations of the ever-excellent Wayne Harris.Aimed at a middle-primary audience, there’s plenty to offer the hammy teacher who like to “Argh-argh” while reading aloud to a class, though the book(s) also work well as read-alones. There’ll be the pleasant hum of laughter from the beanbags in your book corner.Morgan is developing into an Australian version of Margaret Mahey and I look forward to the next installment when babies, human and macaw, will be sure to create further disruption to Jack’s life.“Captain Clawbeak: The One and Only” is a little gem and if you haven’t already unearthed it, go panning at your local bookstore soon.
|

