Celebrating St. Patrick's Day with Students

March 17th is fast upon us.  What better way to celebrate the day with math and literacy fun activities your students will love.

St. Patrick's Day Roll a Story

Students will be prompted to tell or write story with a St. Patrick's Day theme. This unit includes a story prompt sheet, graphic organizers, word lists (St. Patrick's & transition words), rubric and specialty writing paper with full and half lined pages.  All you need is a number cube (1-6).

St. Patrick's Day Quick Writes

If you want a one day writing blitz or a variety of activities for stations, offer some quick writes to your students.  This unit contains five writing ideas for your St. Patrick's Day writing stations or bulletin boards. These include Alliteration, Recipe Writing, Wanted Poster, Wish Booklet and Word Lists. St. Patrick's Day vocabulary and writing paper is included. 

St. Patrick's Day Writing Paper

This package includes St. Patrick's Day themed letter writing paper and lined paper for emergent and established writers. Art work created includes a variety of St. Patrick's Day symbols such as a leprechaun, pot of gold, leprechaun hat, three and four leaf clovers. Bonus gift tags included.

St. Patrick's Day Math Activities

Enjoy St. Patrick's Day with some fun math stations. Four stations are included in the pack. Activities include: Draw a Leprechaun Math Challenge, A Pot of Gold Race, Bump Games and Race to the End of the Rainbow. The Draw a Leprechaun Challenge includes 2 versions (addition and multiplication). Students are asked to generate sums or products and then draw a leprechaun part according to each sum or product generated. The first person to complete his or her leprechaun is declared the winner. Pot of Gold Race involves generating quotients with two players. One plays for decimals, one plays for whole numbers. The first person to get to the pot of gold is declared the winner. You will also find Bump Games using both addition and multiplication boards as well as a Race to the End of the Rainbow game that involves generating place value digits from 0 to 99. This is a great way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a math station day or a home-school connection. 

St. Patrick's Day Part Part Whole Cards

Part-part-whole cards are designed to assist students in computation of number sums. This unit of 25 part-part-whole cards will allow students to practice sums from 2 to 10. The unit includes 2 variations for the numbers 2 and 3 and 3 variations for the numbers 4 to 10. With numbers hidden with flaps, Students can then justify what the missing part is and lift the flap to verify their answers. Cards may be used during a number talks, during guided math groups or for individual assessments. 

Clover Clip Art

Decorate your resources with these clip art images that include a variety of clover images. This clip art pack includes 12 images, 6 color and 6 black and white. Each image is 300 dpi and in a png format. You'll find a clover, clover balloon, clover garland, clover wreath, 2 clover garlands.

Additional Clip Art Includes:

St. Patrick's Day Bears

Free Downloads:

St. Patrick's Day Bear Free Clip Art

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Tips to Starting Literature Circles

Why Use Literature Circles

     Literature Circles are an effective way to teach the elements of fiction and nonfiction literature.  Literature Circles are made up of a small group of students who gather periodically to discuss the same piece of literature. 
      Teachers set up the literature circle and students gather to think about, write about, discuss, and share their discoveries about a selected piece of literature.   Literature circles are selected based on students’ needs, reading levels and interests.  Reading selections are based on a variety of genres and content areas.
      Students are assigned roles prior to each gathering session.  For example, my role cards for fiction pieces include: “Connector,” “Investigator”, “Story Surveyor” and “Vocabulary Detective”.  Role cards for nonfiction pieces include:  “Conventions Hunter”, “Illustrator”, “Investigator” and “Vocabulary Detective”.
      Prior to each literature circle, students are always asked to make predictions about the text.  

Getting Started

    Choosing reading materials is always difficult when faced with classrooms that have a multitude of reading levels, interests and needs.  Begin with a survey early in the year.  Gage students’ interests in reading materials.  Determine the students’ reading levels by completing running records for each student.  Choose four students to be part of each literature circle.  Ensure students can work cooperatively with one another and are able to read at (or close enough to) the same level.

        Before beginning the literature circles, model one.  Students will see and understand how a literature circle functions.  Elicit support from volunteers to demonstrate.  Parent volunteers enjoy being part this process.  After a demonstration has taken place, encourage students to create a literature circle expectations checklist prior to starting (see sample).  Just as adults participate in book clubs, students can too!

        Keep a chart visible to display roles during each session.  A pocket chart comes in handy.  Display role cards, the story title, and participants’ names in the pocket chart.  Students will not have to ask what their role is for the day.  Students who are absent will not be available to work on their specific role for the day but may catch up at a later time. 

        Each student will need a copy of the text.  Check your literacy room at school, used bookstores, ask the librarian if multiple copies are available or borrow books from your local library. 

Below is a checklist of the contents I include with each literature circle:

Setting up a Literature Circle

Fiction Role Cards

Nonfiction Role Cards

Display Cards

“I Wonder” Sheet

Role Sheet Organizer

Success Criteria List

Role Card Activity Sheets

Peer Evaluation

Self-Evaluation

Fiction Literature Circle Rubric

Nonfiction Literature Circle Rubric

Literature Circles - Fiction & Nonfiction