Unit Study on St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day can make a really fun unit study. You have the religious part of it for some serious study and you also have the fun and silly side of the holiday for entertainment value. Add in a study on the color green, a study of snakes (St. Patrick reportedly drove the snakes from Ireland), and/or a geography unit on Ireland and you can have a unit that lasts the whole month of March. What fun!

GENERAL RESOURCES:

Check your local library's card catalog for the following subjects: Ireland, Celts, St. Patrick, Catholicism, Potato Famine, Immigration of the Irish, etc.

Easter & St. Patrick's Day Thematic Unit
by Keith Vasconcelles (Illustrator), Cythia Holzschuher, Sue Fullam (Illustrator)

WEB RESOURCES:

Billy Bear's St. Patrick's Day
Kids' Domain St. Patrick's Day
Bryback Manor
ChildFun.com's St. Patrick's Day Theme
A to Z's St. Patrick's Day
Kidsturn Central
Cathy's Picnic
Rainbow Fun
Heather's Holidaze
Family Corner
St. Paddy's Day
St. Patrick's Day site

PREPARED LESSONS:

Check out About Homeschooling for a mini unit on St. Patrick's Day

http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow7/mar99/

ACTIVITIES:

1. For little ones you could read the book Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss and then have green eggs for breakfast. Its simple. Fix your normal recipe for scrambled eggs, and then before you cook them, stir in a goodly dose of green food coloring (liquid, not paste). Watch their faces when you surprise them at breakfast!!

2. Read up on the truth and fiction behind the legend of St. Patrick. There are also other Irish legends at this site as well:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/5365/St-PatD.html

3. At this site there are plenty of games for an Irish party. Some of them are very cute, they've taken standard party games and jazzed them up for St. Paddy's day.
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/patrick/party.html

4. Here's an site with some on-line games and some printable crafts that you could include:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/patrick/

5. Language Arts -- Printable word puzzles

6. Vocabulary: On-line Green Trivia Quiz

7. Handwriting: Have the child write an Irish blessing in their neatest handwriting --
http://www.momwiz.com/porch/irish.htm

8. Study about Ireland:
http://www.interknowledge.com/northern-ireland/ukidwn03.htm

9. Home Ec: Fix a traditional Irish foods

10. Who were the celtic people? Here is a link for celtic food --

http://www.clubi.ie/celticcuisine/recip.htm

11. This is a transcription of the Confession of St. Patrick

12. Non-fiction Reading: Read a biography of St. Patrick the man --
http://irishchristian.com/stpatrick/
http://www.nando.net/toys/stpaddy/stpaddy.html

13. Music: listen to some Irish music. How is it different from the music you like to listen to?
http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~declaris/ballads/songs.html

14. St. Patrick was supposed to have driven the snakes from Ireland. Read this short story about Sammy McSnake

15. Biology: Study about snakes.

16. Geography: Study a map of Ireland. What products are produced in Ireland? What is their major export? Study Irish history. Etc.

17. Politics/Civics: Why is Ireland divided into to distinct areas? Northern Ireland and Ireland?

18. History: What were the Potato Famine's? When did they occur? Even though they happened in Ireland, how did they effect the United States?

19. Color recognition: Do some activities surrounding the color green. Cut out magazine pictures and make a green collage. Name or gather as many things in nature that are green as you can find. Have a green meal by only eating green food ... or food colored green. How does the color green make you feel? Etc. You may wish to follow some of the activities in Have A Green Day!

VIDEO, FICTION, AND NON-FICTION:

St. Patrick's Day in the Morning by Eve Bunting, Jan Brett (Illustrator)

Six Old-Time St. Patrick's Day Postcards by Carol Belanger Grafton (Editor)

St. Patrick's Day by Gail Gibbons

A Leprechaun's St. Patrick's Day by Sarah Kirwan Blazek, James Rice (Illustrator)

Shamrocks, Harps, and Shillelaghs: The Story of the St. Patrick's Day Symbols by Edna Barth, Ursula Arndt (Illustrator)

Let's Celebrate St. Patrick's Day : A Book of Drawing Fun by Pamela

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