A Guide to the Celebration of the Wearin' o' the Green

St. Patrick’s Day originated in Ireland in honor of the missionary who brought Ireland Christianity. He also drove all of the snakes out of Ireland and taught the concept of the Holy Trinity using a shamrock, hence the connections these plants have with the holiday. Saint Patrick’s day is celebrated in Ireland the United States and Canada with parades, dances and dinners. The largest parade held on this special day is in New York City where everyone is Irish for a day. The following are the Curriculum Library’s best picks for St. Patrick's Day with which you can brighten your classroom with the color green, rainbows and pots of gold as you study Ireland, the “Emerald Isle,” and celebrate this great holiday.

Curriculum Reference

Curr/Ref SocStu C968 1997,v.1	Culturgrams Begin your celebrations by learning all about Ireland, from the food they eat to the way they great--this book is filled with wonderful information.		Curr/Ref Art B561 1995	The Best of the Mailbox Arts and Crafts Grades K-6 Stephen Levy and Ada Hamrick This book has some really fun ideas for St. Patrick crafts that will beautifully decorate your classroom.
Curr/Ref Art C891 1979	The Best of the Mailbox Arts and Crafts Grades K-6 Stephen Levy and Ada Hamrick Here are some more crafts for the St. Patrick holiday--use several art techniques to make Leprechauns and shamrocks.		Curr/Ref ActBks R476 1991s	Happy Holidays: St. Patrick’s Day Janis Rhodes 48 pages devoted to St. Patrick's day that are all reproducible activities. Your students are sure to keep busy while learning about St. Patrick’s day.
Curr/Ref ActBks B592 1995,v.1	Big Collection of Teacher Tips Lynn Bemer Coble This book has a page full of ideas for activities on St. Patrick’s day including pots of gold, and an activities called A Leprechaun visit.		Curr/Ref ActBks C321 1991s	Sensational Seasonal Activities Included in the March Calendar events is St. Patrick's day which includes various reproducibles with St. Patrick’s day as their theme.
Curr/Ref ActBks B561a 1993 v.2	The Best of The Mailbox Preschool/Kindergarten This book has fun and creative ideas for St. Patrick’s day, including a bulletin board, a spotlight center, and a page with several ideas on bringing the magic of leprechauns into the classroom.		Curr/Ref Art F483 1991	Gifts for Giving Vanessa Filkins Need a lucky necklace? Want to hang a leprechaun from the ceiling? Wondering how to make a wonderful shamrock candle? Need a leprechaun box? All of these ideas and more are illustrated in this book to add some fun to St. Patrick's day.
Curr/Ref Art M822 1993	Art for All Seasons Jo Ellen Moore This book has plenty of ideas to get your students into the spirit of St. Patrick's day--teach how to draw leprechauns, make shamrock potato prints as well as many more fun crafts.		Curr/Ref ActBks Z78 1980a	Spring Surprises Toni Bauman and June Zinkgraf This book is filled with wonderful ideas for teaching about St. Patrick's day. With a unit devoted to “The Emerald Isle” your students will know all there is to know about Ireland and this special holiday.

Reference

Reference CT3930 .F65 1992

The Folklore of World Holidays Margaret Read MacDonald This book has a page of great facts about St. Patrick's day that will allow students to be more connected with the origins of the holiday.

Reference GT4803 A2C64 1991

America Celebrates! Hennig Cohen and Tristram Potter Coffin This book has several pages on St. Patrick’s day, first introducing parades, and goes on to describe other ways Americans celebrate this holiday.

Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter
Lullabies, dreams and love ever after.
Poems and songs with pipes and drums
A thousand welcomes when anyone comes...
That's the Irish for you!
(Irish Blessing)

Periodicals

Challenge March/April 1997 “The Leprechaun and His Pot of Gold”p 30-4 Read about the legendary Leprechauns and develop writing skills using what is learned from reading the legend. Then imaginations can run wild while illustrating the story.		The New Good Apple Newspaper March 1994 “Celebrate with a St. Patrick’s Day Party” p 29-32 The party is all planned from food to decorations to games. There is even an invitation! Celebrate the holiday with these wonderful ideas.
Lollipops March/April 1997 “March Is Green Month” p 50-53 These pages are filled with craft ideas to celebrate St. Patrick's day. Make a shamrock collage, Ireland castles, jelly shamrocks and more.		Lollipops March/April 1998 “St. Patrick’s Day Book Nook” p 12-15 Begin St. Patrick’s Day with reading Irish stories as found in these pages. Then go on to various activities that include math, art as well as snacks.
Educational Oasis March/April 1997 “Destination Ireland” p 56-59 Geared towards older children, these pages will allow students to “travel” to Ireland to learn all about the “Emerald Isle” that started the Saint Patrick celebrations.		Teacher’s Helper Grades 2-3 February/March 1997 p 27-35 Five different reproducibles relating to St. Patrick's day that will drill students in math.

Internet Sites

http://www.irishtimes.com/St.Patricks/ This is a beautifully designed site that outlines various aspects of St. Patrick’s day. You can see the most recent parades in New York and Dublin, and even learn how to speak the Irish language!	http://www.saint-patrick.com/ This site will give you the history you need to know to teach about St. Patrick, some fun facts about well known Irish people in the United States and it even has some St. Patrick’s day cards, plus it has many links to other sites.
http://www.bconnex.net/~mbuchana/realms/ stpatric/spatindx.html This is a great site with lots of information to use. More information on St. Patrick, shamrocks, leprechauns and the blarney stone. There is also a list of games and coloring fun to use in the classroom.	http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~declaris /ballads/songs.html Here is a list of Irish songs to teach your students to get them into the St. Patrick’s spirit.

Curriculum Elementary Our Music books in the Elementary section are a wonderful source of Irish songs and ballads. The following is a list of songs and the books in which they are found.

Curr/El FineArts Music M984 1956	Music Around the World p115 The Kerry Cow p167 Cockles and Mussles p 214 St. Patrick	Curr/El FineArts Music S486 1969tx	Music in Our Heritage p160 Kitty Magee
Curr/El Music S587 1988 Gr.6:tx	World of Music p 138 MacNamara’s Band	Curr/El Music S587 1985 Gr.6:te	Silver Burdett Music p 310 Carol from an Irish Cabin

Pathfinders

Education Curriculum Library Home

BYU-Hawaii Library Home

Please contact our Webteam with comments or suggestions.

Last updated 01/25/01

FastCounter by bCentral