Learn Pig Latin! (inspired by the US Play Coalition and Ivy + Bean)

I recently attended the Play Conference presented by the US Play Coalition (free to join) through Clemson University. Many of the sessions discussed how important play is in life, and how play promotes creativity and productivity. Of course I walked away with a ton of ideas of how to get my faculty to play more, but I also want to model how to get students to play more (in an educational way, of course!).

Have you ever read Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall? If you haven't, you are missing out! I am currently reading book 3, Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record with a small group of 3rd graders. We meet twice a week during their lunchtime to discuss our reading. Various parts of the this book inspired me to find some ideas and integrate some fun into our book discussions, and to bring some more fun into our staff meetings.

Bean's teacher gives her The Amazing Book of World Records, and you can imagine what happens next. For a future faculty meeting, I am going to have teachers attempt to break some records. For example, we will have the Hop Til You Drop contest, where we will get a winning time for the person who can hop on one foot the longest.

In book 2, Ivy reveals the secret of a ghost in the bathroom, and the two best friends have to keep it a secret. How do friends keep secrets? They have a secret code, of course! This made me look up the rules to Pig Latin. I always tried to master Pig Latin, but I could never really understand it. I got the rules from activities listed at chroniclebooks.com/ivyandbean.

How to Speak Pig Latin

(inspired by the book Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall)

1. For words that begin with consonant sounds, move the initial consonant or consonant blend to the end of the word and add “ay.”

Bean:	Move the “B” to the end	Add “ay”	“ean-bay”
three:	Move the “thr” to the end	Add “ay”	“ee-thray”
ghost:	Move the “gh” to the end	Add “ay”	“ost-ghay”

1. For words that begin with vowel sounds (including silent consonants), simply add the syllable “ay” to the end of the word.

Ivy:	Add “ay” to the end	“ivy-ay”
each:	Add “ay” to the end	“each-ay”
For the word “a”	Add “y”	You would say “ay”

1. If you have a compound word, follow rules 1 and 2 for each part.

cell phone:	“ell-cay-one-phay”
schoolwork:	“ool-schay-ork-way”

Here are some that we came up with:
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Talk about having fun!  Try this at the dinner table!

Check out the Ivy + Bean books!
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