Age Range: 9-14 (approximately, and fun for all)
This is a brand new multi-media website from the USS Constitution Museum that allows students to virtually set sail aboard "Old Ironsides" on a seafaring adventure set during the War of 1812. Discover the life of a young sailor as you:
- Scrub the deck, haul on lines, steer the ship, and work the guns.
- Tell tall tales and play a game of dice during your leisure time.
- Find out how a wooden-hulled ship earned the name "Old Ironsides."
- Discover how "Old Ironsides" remained undefeated from its launch in 1797.
- See how sailors ate a diet of hardtack and grog, and climbed masts 200 feet in the air.
If you play the game well, you'll rise through the ranks and eventually captain your own gun crew! When you get to the site, you can click on "Sail To Victory" and start playing the game right away. As you play, you'll explore every nook of the ship from the dark hold to the top of the tallest mast. Learn about the daily lives of the hundreds of sailors who lived and worked in the cramped ship space. Listen as they tell you about their lives in their own words.
There is lots of content here and it takes a while to play the entire game. If you register at the site (free), you can leave the game at any time and return where you left off.
Be sure to click on "Family Activities" at the top of the home page (in very tiny print), to download printable activities (pdf) to further the learning at home.
They include:
*Speaking in Colors - Learn the language of the sea and create your own coded messages!
*Word Search - Hunt down those tricky nautical terms and learn what they mean!
*Ship's Biscuit Recipe - Do you think you could eat like a sailor for a day? Put yourself to the test and bake your own ship’s biscuit.
*Constructing Constitution - Construct your very own USS Constitution.
*Ready? Aim. Fire! - Find out how sailors fired a cannon on board Constitution.
The site has vivid illustrations along with playful text and narration that draws on more than 10 years of intensive research by the USS Constitution Museum. As proclaimed at the website, "This is the most accurate and thrilling depiction of life at sea ever presented. Now raise the anchors and sail into the War of 1812!"
This site earns a ClickSchooling Award (CSAW) for excellence in combining technology and educational content.
Enjoy!
Diane Flynn Keith
for ClickSchooling
