Today's Classroom Activities :

St. Patrick’s Day Classroom Activities

Leapin' Leprechauns!
Poetry/Math Read the following St. Patrick's Day poem to the children. Read it a second time and have the students hold up the number of fingers that match the number of leprechauns in each line. Then have children take turns acting out the verse as the rest of the group recites the poem.

Ten Little Leprechauns

by Jacqueline Schiff

1 little leprechaun playing the fiddle
2 little leprechauns dancing in the middle.
3 little leprechauns fishing for trout,
4 little leprechauns running in and out.
5 little leprechauns hiding from you,
6 little leprechauns eating Irish stew.
7 little leprechauns mending pairs of shoes,
8 little leprechauns marching in twos.
9 little leprechauns winking Irish eyes,
10 little leprechauns singing their good byes.

Silly Shamrocks
Perception/Math Post several shamrocks of various colors around the room. Talk about St. Patrick's Day and it's symbol of the green shamrock. Then send the students to find the green shamrocks and the "silly" shamrocks that are not green. Have them identify the colors and numbers found. Also, post the color words on boxes or bags and have the children put the appropriate shamrocks in the proper bags.

A Nation of Immigrants
Social Studies Use St. Patrick's Day as an introduction to a study of immigration. Divide the class into groups and assign a different immigrant nationality to each group. Help the groups research the dates that people of certain nationalities first immigrated to the United States and reasons for immigration.

Lilian Moore - Read about this charming poet's treasury of poems and her love of St. Patrick's Day.

What Would St. Patrick Say?
Social Studies Tell your students the legend of St Patrick and then ask them to research what has happened since in Ireland. Have one group research Northern Ireland, one group the Republic of Ireland, one group the potato famine. Combine the information gathered into a large timeline. Can there be peace in Ireland? What are its strengths? Its weaknesses? What other countries in the world have not healed from civil strife?