Grade Level: Kindergarten
Subject(s):
Duration: 30-45 minutes
Description: This lesson can be used with a St. Patrick's Day theme or unit. In this lesson, students create a caterpillar out of shamrocks, listen to a story about St. Patrick's Day, and play a game called, "Leprechaun, Leprechaun, Where’s your shamrock?"
Goals: For the students to understand what St. Patrick's Day is about and for the children to show what they have learned about the holiday.
Objectives:
Introduction:
Ahead of time, prepare small shamrocks on students' desks/tables which will be used to make caterpillars. Lead a discussion about what the students think the objects on their desks are, what they look like, and what it reminds them of. Explain to the students what they are going to make
,and show them a model of your own. [Author's Note:
The shamrocks are about 3-4 inches in size, and I used 5 shamrocks for each student. I then used black pipe cleaners about an inch long for the antennas and drew the face on with a marker.] Once students have completed the caterpillars, let them dry. Later, display the students' work on a classroom bulletin board or have them hang from the ceiling.
Have the children wash their hands. Then have students sit in a circle on the floor and introduce the book, It’s St. Patrick’s Day by Rebecca Gomez. Before asking the students about the book, ask them questions about St. Patrick’s Day and about the seasons and months. (Sample questions: Does anybody know which month St. Patrick's Day is in? Does anybody know what season St. Patrick's Day is in? Can anyone tell me what another season is that we have?) Then ask the class to think about the title and the cover of the book and predict what might happen in the story. Read the story to the class. [Author's Note: It is a book about a whole bunch of characters who are going to a parade for St. Patrick's Day. It is a very simple book, mainly showing how excited the characters are that it is St. Patrick's Day.]
Concluding Activity:
After reading the book, the class will discuss their predictions and how true they were to the actual outcome of the book. Then tell the children to sit back down at their seats; give each student a cookie and a drink. While they are having their snack, explain the game they will be playing next. The game is called, "Leprechaun, Leprechaun, Where’s your shamrock?" Explain that one child will start the game by acting as the leprechaun. The leprechaun sits with his eyes closed, and a paper shamrock
is located behind him. A child is chosen to tiptoe up and take the shamrock and return to his seat. Then all the children hide their hands in their pockets or behind their backs and recite, "Leprechaun, Leprechaun, Where’s your shamrock? Someone has it in their pocket!" The leprechaun then gets three guesses as to who has the shamrock. The person with the shamrock is the next leprechaun.
Extension Ideas:
To take this project one step further, once students have finished their caterpillars, the teacher can choose a few students to act out the way that a caterpillar crawls on the ground. Another extension idea for this project would be for students to each receive a small handful of Lucky Charms cereal and categorize them into the same shapes and count how many pieces are in each row. This would help
students with their math skills.
Assessment: Teacher observation and class discussions are the main forms of assessment. Observe how well students followed the directions to the leprechaun game.
Useful Internet Resource:
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ProTeacher - Seasonal Ideas - March
Includes links to other St. Patrick's Day ideas.
http://www.proteacher.com/160003.shtml
Special Comments: If I were only to have one computer in my classroom for this lesson, I would integrate technology by having the child type the name of who had the leprechaun. That way the students would know who had the leprechaun in the hand or pocket already and would not give it to the same person twice. If I had a cluster of about six computers in my classroom, I would integrate them into this lesson by having the children go to the computers by tables and have them name their caterpillar and write one sentence describing their caterpillar, whether it be how it looks, what it feels, what it is thinking, etc. I would then have the children look at all of the responses that the other children in their group had written to see how they feel about their caterpillar. If I had a computer for every child in the classroom in a lab, I would integrate the computers by having each child write a sentence about what they like about St. Patrick’s Day and one thing that they learned from listening to the book, It's St. Patrick's Day by Rebecca Gomez. I would then look at the children's ideas while they were writing to see what they have learned and what had interested them.