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St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day Lessons and Irish Heritage Month Resources

Videos | Lesson Plans | Additional Resources

Introduction:

“Saint Patrick’s Day (Irish: Lá ‘le Pádraig or Lá Fhéile Pádraig), colloquially St. Paddy’s Day or simply Paddy’s Day, is an annual feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick (circa AD 385-461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and is generally celebrated on 17th of March. The day is a national holiday of Ireland … It is also a public holiday in Montserrat. In Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Argentina and New Zealand, it is widely celebrated, but is not an official holiday….” – Wikipedia

Lesson Plans:

Art:

• This is a lesson idea for St. Patrick’s Day called “Painting Without Paint” (P-K)
• This Karo Syrup painting idea can be used for St. Pat’s if you substitute “Shamrocks” (P-1)
• Here students write Irish blessings on green hearts that are combined to form shamrocks (K-6)
• This is a quick idea for making St. Patrick’s Day shamrock headbands (P1)

Language Arts:

• Here students examine the punctuation of a message left by a leprechaun (P)
• In this idea, notes are exchanged with mischievous night-visiting leprechauns (P-1)
• “Guess the Shamrock” is a spelling game idea (1)
• “If I Had a Pot Of Gold…” is a creative writing idea for St. Patrick’s Day (2)
• In this idea, students compare and contrast their St. Patrick’s Day traditions (2-4)

Math:

• In this Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey type game, students count and learn directional words while “Filling Our Pot of Gold” (P)
• Students graph clover shamrocks that they find in the schoolyard in this lesson (K-1)
• This is a “Green Survey” and graph (1)
• This graphing idea uses Lucky Charms cereal (2-3)
• Here’s another magically delicious graphing activity with Lucky Charms (3-5)
• In this math idea, lucky students find four-leaf clovers amid the 3-leaf shamrocks (MO)

Science:

• In this science idea, a carnation is magically turned green (K-4)
• Here is an idea for growing shamrocks (K-5)

Social Science:

• This lesson teaches the history of St. Patrick’s Day (2)
• Students can put themselves in the shoes Irish-American immigrants here by virtually exploring the Ellis Island immigration station (5)

Other:

• Here are ideas for green food for St. Patrick’s Day (P-1)
• This St. Patrick’s Day lesson is an amalgam of other lesson ideas found on this site (2-4)

General Cultural Heritage:

• An immigrant group’s “culture capsule” is created in this multidisciplinary lesson
• Teach about different countries and cultures with this must-have compilation of creative ideas (1-8)
• This is a set of lesson plans for an Oral History Unit(4-6):
  • This first lesson discusses how to do an interview
  • This one focuses on obtaining information through an interview
  • The last lesson addresses the interviewing of elders to learn about their life in the community
• This lesson is on cultural awareness and sharing traditions (4-6)
• This lesson plan is on immigration and tracing one’s lineage (4-5)
• This brief idea involves learning history from grandparents (4-5)
• Here’s an activity for developing a cultural calendar (4)
• This is a lesson plan about family and cultures (5)
• Here students research the culture, language, and traditions of their native land of origin (6)
• Students create a “Where am I from” family tree photo story from a template in this lesson
  (6-9)
• Clipart is used here to create a “Where is your family from” quilt square (7)
• An immigrant group’s “culture capsule” is created in this multidisciplinary lesson (7)

World Geography:

• This is a geography lesson on “finding your spot in the world” (2)
• This activity involves creating travel brochures (2-3)
• Here’s an idea for students to make flags for different countries (3)
• This is a multidisciplinary lesson on “Music Around the World” (4-5)
• Students note the differences in melody and rhythm between songs from various cultures and our own (4-5)
• “See The World” is another good idea for studying other countries (6-10)
• Students create a travel brochure to an imaginary or actual place in this lesson (6-8)
• This is a good art-focused lesson on painting, the elements of light, countries and their continents (7-8)
• “Come to my Country” brochures are created in this geography lesson (7)
• Sixth graders make a foreign country photo story here

E-Pals:

• This lesson is about E-Pal communication and the other cultures that may be encountered through it (2)
• “Keypals” is a well-developed electronic foreign penpal unit (2-4)
• Here is another great international penpal idea (4-12)
• If you have any St. Patrick’s Day lesson plans to share, please add them to our site!

Videos:

• Here are ten History.com videos on the history of St. Patrick’s Day, its traditions, and legends
• Biography.com celebrates St. Patrick and the Irish with pieces on Irish icons and Irish-American presidents, plus music, interactive maps and a quiz
• Here students make leprechaun traps which leads to some very creative writing
• The class can make felt leprechaun hats with this craft lesson
• This video aims to teach and promote Irish culture and heritage
• There are over 100 videos of Irish history collected here including tales of St. Patrick and a moving music video reading actual letters sent to sons who immigrated to America
• These videos take you on a tour of Ireland

Additional Resources:

• You can find St. Patrick’s Day worksheets at EdHelper.com
• More St. Patrick’s Day craft activities are detailed at Crayola.com
• Learn more about the history of St. Patrick’s Day, its food, traditions, parades, authors and other important people that celebrate the day at History.com
• These high school lesson plans from PBS.com search for Ancient Ireland
• Download Irish tunes, jigs and lyrics here
• Here is an Irish dance thinkquest
• These sites take the sham from the shamrock and the con from the leprechaun
• Here is a St. Patrick’s Day PowerPoint and a reader’s theater script with 25 parts!