This unit ran July 6 – August 6, 2026 at Collins Middle School, Salem MA. Archived as taught. Not maintained. All 20 days
Day 7 · Week 2 · Field Trip 2

Life at Sea: Kayak Day

Two weeks you've read about sailors. Today your arms do the reading.
0

What today is

Read this before we roll · trip day · no Chromebooks

We ride to the water. LEAP has the wheels, the outfitter has the boats. Your job: paddle like it's 1717 and notice what your body tells you.

Ride out gear stays simple. Kit list below.
Land brief ten minutes. Four ships, one choice.
Safety talk the outfitter's show. Vests on.
On the water paddle, reckon, read the current.
Lunch, then home the writing comes after, on dry land.

No screens today. That's not a punishment. That's the point. A sailor's whole world was water, weather, and his own two arms.

1

Pack your kit

Tonight, or before the bus · solo
  1. Clothes that can get wet. Follow the outfitter's list. You will get splashed. Count on it.
  2. Water bottle, full. Paddlers drink.
  3. Lunch. Paddling makes you hungry.
  4. NO electronics on the water. Phones and Chromebooks stay behind. Water kills them, and no sailor in 1717 had one anyway.
  5. Your Day 7 sheet stays on land, in your folder. Paper and water are enemies. You write after.

If this list and the outfitter's list ever disagree, the outfitter's list wins.

2

The land brief: four ships, one choice

About 10 minutes · on land, before vests · just listen

It is 1717. You're broke, and the sea is where the work is. Four doors are open to a sailor. What's behind each one?

MERCHANT SHIP haul cargo for an owner's profit. Rotten food, short pay. The worst runs were the slave voyages: about 1 in 5 of the crew died on those.
ROYAL NAVY the king's warships. Pay was set in 1653 and never raised. Press gangs grabbed men off the street and forced them aboard.
FISHING BOAT cold, wet, hard, poor. But most nights you sleep at home.
PIRATE CREW you vote on the big calls. The loot splits into written shares. And if the law catches you, you hang.

Three doors push. One pulls. That is the engine of our whole question: why would a person choose piracy in 1717?

Rank the four in your head, best life to worst. Hold your answer. The water gets a vote today.

The full push and pull map →

Want to be dangerous on Monday? Read that tab tonight. Monday is The Vote.

3

The water mission: dead reckoning

On the water · no tools · that's the point

Sailors had no GPS. None. They knew three things: speed, direction, time. From those three they worked out where they were. That is dead reckoning. Men bet their lives on it.

On the water today, try it:

  1. Pick a landmark. A buoy, a dock, a tree on the far shore.
  2. Guess your distance. Say it out loud. Out loud takes nerve.
  3. Check yourself. Paddle it and count your strokes. How close were you?

Then read the current. Stop paddling for ten seconds. Which way does the water want you to go? Sailors could feel this in the dark. Now you feel it too.

THE RECKONING: once we're out there, your captain points at one landmark. Every sailor calls one distance. Closest call wins 5 league points, second closest takes 2. One call each. No takebacks.
4

The law of the water

Non-negotiable · launch to landing

Plenty of 1717 sailors never learned to swim. The sea was their workplace, and it could kill them. You get two things they never had: a life-vest and a professional guide. Take both seriously.

  1. On the water, the outfitter's word is law. Not advice. Law. They know this water. You don't.
  2. Life-vest on, clipped, the whole time. Never off. Not for a second.
  3. Buddy pairs. You see your buddy at all times. When a check is called, find your buddy fast.
  4. Not sure about something? Ask. Real sailors ask. Guessing is for landmarks, nothing else.
5

After the water: the choice

Tonight · paper · your folder sheet

Back on dry land, your sheet comes out. Three things go on it:

Page 1: THE CHOICE this week's big write. The prompt is below.
Page 2: CAPTAIN'S LOG tonight's entry, from your adopted ship.
Back cover: MY COURSE your tracker. Formats get cut to two tonight.
WRITE IT: "Imagine you're a 1717 sailor choosing between a merchant ship, the Royal Navy, or a pirate crew. After today on the water, what would you pick, and why?" Give it a real paragraph. Use what your arms learned.
LOG IT: Write tonight's entry as YOUR ship's captain feeling the same water. Wind, current, tired crew: your captain knows all three, because now you do. Date it like a sailor: "16 July 2026."
✦
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Dock Circle

2 minutes · at the dock, before the vans · standing ring

Life jackets off, one ring on the dock. One sentence each: what did the water teach you about 1717? Your sore arms count as an answer. "Pass" counts too.

★

Chart Your Course

3 minutes · solo · tonight

Back cover, MY COURSE. Tonight's cut: your format list goes to TWO.

You felt what water does to a plan today. So ask yourself: which two ways of telling your story still feel strong when you picture actually building them? Keep those two. Cross out the rest.

Your Project HQ →

Pitch Day is Thursday, July 30. Monday your people list takes its cut too. Small choices, every day. That's how a course gets charted.

dead reckoningcurrentcrewshare

dead reckoning = working out where you are from speed, direction, and time · current = water on the move, pushing everything that floats in it · crew = everyone who works the ship and shares the risk · share = one crew member's written cut of what a voyage takes