Victor Fernandez, 6, of Carpentersville scopes out the North Star with his homemade sextant made out of a toilet paper tube, protractor and a weighted string during the Pirate Crew program Saturday at the Dundee Library in East Dundee.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
Three 6-year-olds aspiring to be pirates learned valuable sailing skills and popular pirate jargon during a special Pirate Crew program Saturday at the Dundee Library.
Led by their librarian captain Kristen Mohr, students learned how to read the night sky using the North Star to sail their ships.
They made their own sextants with toilet paper rolls taped to protractors and a weighted string attached to the center. They peered through the tubes to look for the North Star (X's on the wall) and where it would be located in different parts of the world.
Students learned how to predict the weather at sea by the setting sun and learned the phrase, "Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning."
When Mohr quizzed the kids on another way they could predict the weather at sea, Jayden Jones, 6, of Carpentersville said, "They probably had TV."
The little mateys also learned how to tie three different kinds of knots. Miles Sheppard, 6, of Algonquin said the skill would come in handy to "help them tie their shoe laces."
Other activities included designing their own pirate flags (also known as a Jolly Roger), drawing treasure maps, and learning traditional pirate lingo, such as "Argh!" "Fire in the hole!" "Ahoy matey!" "Aye, aye, Captain!" and "Swab the poop deck," which made them laugh.
The children were sent home with biographies on real pirates as well as maps of star constellations so they could continue their learning.
Miles Sheppard, 6, of Algonquin designs his own pirate flag, also called a Jolly Roger, during the Pirate Crew program Saturday at the Dundee Library in East Dundee.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
Dundee Library children's library assistant Kristen Mohr shows six year olds, from left, Victor Fernandez of Carpentersville, Miles Sheppard of Algonquin and Jayden Jones of Carpentersville how to read a map of the stars during the Pirate Crew program Saturday at the library in East Dundee. They were able to take the map with them to learn and look for the constellations at home.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
Miles Sheppard, 6, of Algonquin gazes at the North Star (an 'X' on the wall) with his homemade sextant made out of a toilet paper tube, protractor and a weighted string during the Pirate Crew program Saturday at the Dundee Library in East Dundee. Children also drew their own treasure maps, design a pirate flag, and learned pirate lingo, knot tying skills and how to read a chart of the night sky.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
Children attending the Pirate Crew program Saturday at the Dundee Library in East Dundee got to pick which pirate personality they wanted to be for the day. They were able to take the cards home to do more research on the pirates, who where all real people.
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com