A-Z Learning Outside the Classroom

•Consider the focus and ability of the children. You might want to use sound, picture, touch or word clues or a combination of these.

•Base the treasure hunt on a theme or subject – and plan the route carefully. Consider the practical arrangements, e.g. will everyone start from the same point? Will everyone start at the same time? Plan a contingency in case of poor weather.

•Consider whether there will be prizes along the way or at the end. Prepare ‘kit bags’ – notebook, ICT equipment, collection jars etc. for each group. Ensure that children respect the environment.

•Enthuse the class with clips from films such as A Muppet Treasure Island, Peter Pan or Pirates of the Caribbean.

•Dress appropriately for the treasure hunt – in explorer, scientist or naturalist’s gear, or make pirate hats, swords and cutlasses and use coins or jewellery for treasure.

•On a small scale, sand trays can be used indoors or outside. Bury a collection of objects in the sand for the children to find, compare, match and sort. Choose objects linked to a current story, e.g. The Three Bears – (teddy counters) or an appropriate theme (The Zoo – animal counters).

•Display the treasure hoard (either indoors or outdoors) for observational drawing or painting or word/sound language focus.

•Promote exploration and a sense of curiosity through the use of clues around the classroom – e.g. hide a mystery object in the learning environment and provide clues (developing mathematical and language skills) to help children find it.

•Encourage the children to use the kit bags from the visit to explore the classroom provision.

•Light coconut-scented candles and play beach-themed background music to set the scene.

•Provide magnifying glasses, maps, eye patches and telescopes, and put up mosquito nets and hammocks to really set the scene.

Literacy and numeracy watch

Spoken language

•Create a ‘barrier game’ – two children work together, one as the describer and one as the listener. Without looking, the listener responds to the describer’s instructions. The describer must use appropriate vocabulary to direct the listener to place items on the treasure map.

•Explore the language used in stories about pirates and the sea, e.g. ‘spyglass’, ‘doubloon’, ‘grog’.

Role-play opportunities

Pirate ship, lighthouse, ship’s galley, treasure cave, treasure hunter’s house or tent, counting house

Writing

•Older children can devise their own treasure hunt. Encourage them to plan carefully where X might be – above or underground, under water, behind a tree, near, far, alongside? They need to think about how to write clues for the intended audience: whether to use pictures, words, phrases, colours, arrows or other symbols.

•Read out examples from newspaper stories of famous treasure finds. Ask the children to write the headlines or read the headlines and ask them to write the story.

•Create pirate biographies, fact files, school reports and record a This Is Your Life style account of a pirate or treasure hunter.

•What do treasure hunters carry in their pockets? Write a list of what you might find.

•Investigate pirates of today. How has pirating changed? Write a report.

Reading

•For early readers, search for letters/numbers in the built environment. What do these symbols tell us?

•There are many pirate stories on the market such as Cressida Cowell’s How to Be a Pirate, R.L. Stevenson’s Treasure Island or Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie.

•Read myths and consider the realities associated with famous pirates such as Henry Morgan, Blackbeard and Grace O’Malley.

•Read about famous treasure hunters and their discoveries, e.g. by looking at www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/31363189

Mathematics and numeracy

Number

•Ask children to assist in finding, sorting and matching the same objects. Encourage children to compare objects, using different criteria such as colour, size or type, noticing similarities and differences.

•Have a number treasure hunt – hide numbers for the children to find; when they return, ask them to put themselves in an order, forwards or backwards, or to sort numbers according to different criteria.

Shape, space and measures

•Clues to the treasure could develop positional language as well as co-ordinates and grid references at KS2.

•Focus on one sense – go on a ‘smelly safari’ or a ‘feely walk’ to develop observational skills and vocabulary. What can you hear (a car, a bird etc.)? Use ICT to record different sounds.

•Make collections, e.g. things that are round, green, odd-shaped, things beginning with the letter… Make use of ICT to gather evidence where possible. •Explore how ‘treasures’ such as pearls are formed. •Pirates ate citrus fruits to avoid scurvy – find out about the importance of vitamins and minerals and taste test. •Make ‘exploding treasure chests’ – freeze coins and jewels in ice-cube trays filled with water and baking powder. Observe what happens as they melt, and compare the effects of water, heat and vinegar on the process.

•Use paint sample charts to find different shades of natural colours. •Use the inspiration of the sea for starting points in art. •Explore texture, shade and colour. •Look at the work of Turner and explore how the artist used light. •Use the story of La Chouette d’or – the bronze owl – buried in a mystery location in France waiting discovery, or Masquerade – the story by Kit Williams, where each painting hides a clue to the whereabouts of hidden treasure, as the starting point for drama or dance to tell the story of a treasure hunt and a big discovery. •Pirates often had parrots – explore colour and texture of plumage. •Parrots are great mimics – play the ‘Parrot’ game in music, copying and repeating simple rhythms and notes played or clapped by a partner. •Turn children’s handprints into parrots by making thumbs into the beak and fingers into the feathers. •Use beads etc. to design jewellery.

•Experiment with tie-dying to create bandanas and bunting. •Make a treasure map pizza using cheese, peppers and olives to ‘map’ the island.

•Add fragments of items into the sand and ask for predictions as to what the object could have been. •Research famous treasure hunters past and present. Who owns what is found today? Discuss the idea of ‘treasure trove’. •Look at a map of the world and map references to find possible ‘Treasure Islands’. •Ships appear on many artefacts – explore what these images can tell us about life long ago. •The copper scroll that is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls was found in 1952 – explore the stories of how famous religious writings and artefacts have been uncovered and discuss the debates surrounding authenticity. •Piracy is still happening around the world – explore which commodities we value today.

•Encourage the children to move from clue to clue in different ways, e.g. hop 20 paces forward. •Play the ‘Pirates’ game as a warm-up to encourage listening and responding to instructions, e.g. ‘port’, ‘starboard’, ‘climb the rigging’, ‘walk the plank’, ‘scrub the desks’.