Why do Pirates Wear Eye Patches?

We started our Pirate learning by creating a KWL chart.  We recorded what we already KNOW about Pirates and then made a list of what we wanted to learn about. At the end our our unit we'll fill in what we have learned!! We also created Pirate names

for ourselves!

Why do Pirate's wear eye patches?  We started with making our guesses and then did some online research.  Turns out we found a short video clip of a pirate explaining why he wears an eye patch.  We learned that Pirates sailing the seas had to move between decks quickly.  By wearing an eye patch it allowed one eye to be adjusted to the dark at all times so when a pirate had to go below deck they moved the eye patch to the other eye and they could see easily in the dark! 

We decided to TEST it out to see if we agreed with the pirate. WE needed a dark room and our own eye patches.  It turns out the pirate was correct that our eyes with the eye patches were more easily adjusted to the dark when we moved them to the other eye in the dark!  Learning with our pirate mateys is proving to be extra fun!