St. Patrick's Day

Age Range: Grade 3 through grade 5 (Elementary)

Overview and Purpose: In this activity, students are turned into leprechauns who are closely guarding their gold. They are so afraid of losing it that they create a map to make sure that they will never forget where it is.

Objective: The student will be able to create a leprechaun map that shows where their pot of gold is hidden.

Resources:

Drawing paper

Crayons/markers/colored pencils

Activities:

Explain to your students that they're going to pretend to be leprechauns. They need to make a map of where their gold is hidden so they don't forget. Explain that their map doesn't have to be of a real place. They are free to use their imaginations to create whatever kind of land they want to. They need to include details on their map such as buildings or trees (or shamrocks). Remind them to include a legend with their map. When they are finished, have them share their maps with the class.

Wrap Up:

If students need help understanding how to include topographical features on their maps, have them do some research using sites such as Google Earth

Age Range: Grade 9 through grade 12 (High School)

Overview and Purpose: In this assignment, students get to plan a week-long vacation to Ireland. Groups of students are given different budget amounts and need to plan their vacation within those limits. They then can create a Power Point presentation advertising their trip.

Objective: The student will be able to plan a week-long visit to Ireland while staying within a budget.

Resources:

Internet access for each student

Travel brochures for Ireland

Tour books for Ireland

Pieces of paper with different budget amounts written on them

Activities:

Divide students into groups of three and explain that they're going to plan a weeklong trip to Ireland. Have each group draw a piece of paper that has a different budget amount written on it and explain that they will have to stay within this budget. (Include amounts that range from extremely frugal to money being no object.) Instruct the students to plan their lodging, transportation, meals, and entertainment. Have the students create a Power Point presentation advertising their trip. Have them present it to the class.

Wrap Up:

Remind students that while they may not over budget their vacation, they may not under budget either. If they have a larger amount to spend, they should include grander accommodations and more expensive meals and entertainment. They should not have any money left over when they finish planning their trip.

In this activity, students create a scavenger hunt using rhymes. They are divided into groups and asked to write directions and verse to show where the Leprechaun has hidden his gold. The students then follow the directions to find a sweet treat.

Have students work together in pairs or small groups to create a rhyme that tells others where a Leprechaun has hidden his pot of gold. Have them choose a spot somewhere in the school and write a rhyme to lead the class there. Their rhyme should be written as a riddle and make it difficult for the students to find the gold. It should not be one sentence that tells the students exactly where to look.

When all the groups have finished, take the students on a hunt to find all the gold. Each time the students successfully figure out a verse and find the gold pass out some chocolate coins.

Wrap Up:

You may want to place a minimum or maximum number of riddles the students can use in their verses. If the class is stuck, ask the group to give them hints that will help them along.

This can be a good opportunity to practice paragraph or essay writing and to brief your students on how different religions and cultures celebrate certain holidays. You can have your students conduct research online or in your school's library on the history of St. Patrick's Day. Questions that students may answer can include:

• Who was Saint Patrick?

• How did this holiday come about?

• What are some common legends about the holiday and Saint Patrick? Are any of the legends true?

• Why do people wear green on St. Patrick's Day?

• Why and how is this holiday celebrated outside of Ireland?

Once your students finish their assignment in the form of either a paper or presentation, have them compile a bibliography of their sources. You can teach them about different styles for in-text citations and references

For St. Patrick's Day, one way you can celebrate the Irish is by exposing students to the Irish language (Gaeilge). As a math activity, show students how to count from 1 to 10 in Irish.

1. a hoan

2. a dó

3. a trí

4. a ceathair

5. a cúig

6. a sé

7. a seacht

8. a hocht

9. naoi

10. a deich

You may want to prepare by finding a video that teaches the proper pronunciations. Have students look for similarities between the numbers in Irish and the numbers in English. English has two primary ways of counting: cardinal numbers (one, two, three…) and ordinal numbers (first, second, third…). A unique aspect of the Irish language is they have a third way of counting! They have cardinal numbers for objects and cardinal numbers for people. Encourage students to think of other words in the English language that have specific numerical meanings, such as couple, twin, trio, or decade.

There's a lot of room for creativity with this St. Patrick's Day school activity. One option is to create or purchase small paper four-leaf clovers and hide them around your classroom. Write out and distribute a list of clues that students need to solve in order to find all of the four-leaf clovers (consider using rhyming words or funny hints). Integrate curriculum materials into the activity by requiring students to answer a question (such as a math problem or a test of their knowledge of history) to progress to the next clue. A cluster of clovers should each be hidden in various locations. Number the clovers to align with the number of the clues on your list. Divide students into groups, and have them use the list to gather one four-leaf clover from each location. The first group to finish is the winner and can even get a special prize!

If you're teaching remotely, you can also hold a virtual scavenger hunt where students need to conduct online research to answer St. Patrick's Day questions. Again, they can move on to the next clue once they answer the previous question correctly. The first student to complete the scavenger hunt gets a prize!

To get started, you can do some research with your kids! Look up different ideas for kids’ leprechaun traps. See what interests your kids, what elements are appealing, and what they don’t like about certain traps.

This is a great idea for starting the STEM design and planning process and getting the creative juices flowing. The design process is a huge part of STEM activities. At the bottom of this page, you will find more easy to build leprechaun trap ideas.

Consider special leprechaun trap items

• Homemade ladder

• Small black pot

• Leprechaun bait of some sort like gold coins, skittles, or Lucky Charms

• Rainbows or Shamrock cutouts

• Confetti

• Freshly grown clover