Treasure, mutiny and scurvy

Gary Moskowitz

The students in Anne Jones’ third-grade classroom at R.D. White

Elementary School have been speaking in secret codes this week.

Dressed in cardboard pirate hats and black eye patches, students

-- in the middle of reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure

Island” -- refer to treasure as “T,” a map as an “M” and “Treasure

Island” simply as “T.I.”

Students have immersed themselves in the classic story this week.

A ripped ship’s sail, complete with cannonball holes, hangs from the

ceiling. Students’ journals are filled with crayon drawings of boats,

pirates, swords, islands, treasure maps and lists of words they have

learned from reading the book.

Jones, her teacher’s aide and a parent came to class Thursday

dressed in striped shirts, eye patches, large hoop earrings and

bandanas on their heads as part of a weeklong project on reading the

book.

Assistant Principal Chad Blatchley charged into the room dressed

like a ship’s captain and read a chapter of the book aloud to Jones’

students, while referring to them as “swabbies” and himself as “this

old sea dog.”

Jones said she wanted to share with her students the same

excitement she felt when she read the book as a child.

“My grandfather read this to me when I was 8, and the book has

such wonderful imagery. This brings it to life for them,” Jones said.

“They know real things now, like there were women pirates, and that

pirates were not romantic, but criminals.”

Jones’ students have studied ship diagrams and world geography and

learned words like “mutiny” and “buccaneer.”

The project will continue today with “Scurvy Day,” during which

students will pretend to have swollen gums and feel faint, then go on

a hunt for oranges, Jones said.

“They are all looking forward to having scurvy,” Jones joked.

Denis Slezko, 8, said he thinks “Treasure Island” is exciting

because you don’t know what will happen next.

“It has a lot of ships and cool tools. Sometimes the pirates fight

because lots of people want the ‘T,’ but not everyone can have it,”

Denis said.