I teach pirates as robbers on water. There are pirates today. Anybody who robs ships or boats is a pirate.

Pirates didn’t really bury treasure (see link below) but treasure hunts are great for following directions.

Go on a treasure hunt or a scavenger hunt.

Use a pirate map to learn about maps ( legends, symbols,…)

Pirates used a democratic form of governing on ships.

You could teach about democracy.

Notes in a bottle, or pirate rules for creative writing.

Sailing opens the door to wind and air science.

Compass use for navigating.

Make flags in art.

Counting booty and dividing it among the crew makes for fun math lessons. (fractions, percentages, division)

Pirates probably sang songs to help everyone work together while sailing. Make up some pirate songs. What musical instruments would pirates have had on ships?

What could they bring along to eat?

Why would someone become a pirate?

How do ships sail?

Put the students to work investigating these and other questions. Books in the library!

http://www.themeunits.com/Pirates_c.html

also some ideas I had would be to do a treasure chest hunt, you could get parent volunteers and go over some basic map skills and at the end of the unit group the kids with parent volunteers and give them each treasure maps (of the school) and X marks the spot on the map. Then you could have little gold coins where the X is…. you could get the principal and counselors involved, or other teachers. It would be a fun way to end the unit.