St. Patrick's Day Worksheets, Stories, and Ideas
Finding Resources is Easier Than Finding Four Leaf Clovers
In American classrooms, St. Patrick's Day is more of a fun holiday than a serious day. Classrooms are decorated with shamrocks and pots of gold, and students usually wear green (and catching the friends who forget to wear green), eat shamrock-shaped cookies, and looking for four-leaf clovers on the playground. There are more meaningful options available to teachers.
Making St. Patrick's Day Meaningful in the Classroom
Educational bulletin boards, playing St. Patrick-themed games online, and making St. Patrick's Day crafts are all ways that teachers can help students be more aware of St. Patrick's Day. Students should also have a basic understanding of St. Patrick's Day and it's importance to citizens of the United Kingdom, and teachers can use the day to increase knowledge of how the Irish have impacted culture.
St. Patrick's Day Printable Worksheets
School Family should be bookmarked by teachers who want free activities that students will enjoy using.The St. Patrick's Day collection has expanded in 2009. Teachers can easily download pdfs (without charge or registration) and print off St. Patrick's Day themed activities that include:
- St. Patrick's Day Coloring Sheets
- St. Patrick's Day Connect-the-Dot worksheets
- St. Patrick's Day Language Arts worksheets (including an acrostic poem, a writing prompt, a word search fun sheet, a missing letter activity, and a word scramble page)
- St. Patrick's Day Math worksheets (including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division worksheets)
The site frequently has additions, so teachers should check back for new offerings. The worksheets are good learning tools for elementary students, and they are adaptable for middle school students.
Short Stories for St. Patrick's Day
Students of all ages will love the short fairy tales in the books by Sinead de Valera. Although they are difficult to find in bookstores, they are available on Amazon and can often be found as inexpensive used books. Because suppliers usually need to special-order the books, teachers should prepare early if they want new copies. The author's name has some alternate spellings; she sometimes appears as Sinade Devalera or simply S. De Valera.
Irish Fairy Tales [Macmillan Children's Books, 1973 ISBN: 0330256696] and The Magic Gifts: Classic Irish Fairy Tales [Merlin Publishing, 2000 ISBN: 0863278221] have stories that take about 10-20 minutes to read aloud. They are lovely stories full of Irish images (such as fairy rings and green hills), and they give a picture of traditional, simple country life. These stories offer teachers a beautiful doorway into Irish culture, and students find the tales to be memorable and fun.
St. Patrick's Day Has Meaning Beyond St. Patrick
Students should understand that there is more to St. Patrick's Day than recognizing the legend of snakes leaving Ireland. The Encyclopedia Britannica is an excellent, in-depth source of background information for teachers who want to be able to share with their students "Why St. Patrick's Day is Important". The article discusses how:
- military enlistments metamorphosised into parades
- Irish immigrants had internal group differences that were eased by St. Patrick's Day celebrations
- religious meaning helped decrease violence on St. Patrick's day
The article also compares the history of St. Patrick's day celebrations in America and in Ireland. Although the article would be too difficult for elementary and middle school students, advanced middle school, junior high, and high-school students would enjoy reading the article. Teachers of all grades can use the article for background information.
St. Patrick's Day will always have an American spin of festivities and fun, but the fun does not need to be frivolous. Teachers should students aware of the holiday and it's importance, as well as bringing in Irish culture and attaching the meanings of peace and unity to the holiday.
Kids Should Learn the Meaning of St. Patrick's Day
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