Celebrating Writing on St. Patrick's Day

There's nothing better than St Patrick's Day to implement new vocabulary and fun, educational writing activities! Get students interested in creating unique Irish stories by using story starters and word banks. Vocabulary word banks help emerging writers with categorizing, linking ideas, sequential ordering, vocabulary, and word choices. Students can use words banks, such as those written on shamrocks called St. Patrick's Day Story Starters, to practice and relate vocabulary words to specific cultures and traditions:

(Right click on image to download free handouts)

Begin your St. Patrick's Day educational, fun class time with FREE facts sheets and activities. First, learn about the history of the Irish holiday:

If you have students who need practice with motor skills and matching, try Wacky Wayne's St. Patrick's Day handouts. These activities help students to find similarities and differences, as well:

For younger readers, use phonetic sounds written on shamrocks to practice building words and putting consonants together with Shamrock Blended Consonant Phonetics Game:

Build sight words and combine action verbs with exercise by reading "Lucky the Leprechaun Looks for Gold", a Get Fit Action Story. You can get the complete book FREE by reading my Teacher's Studio post from last week. Here's a short preview of it:

For upper elementary students who are ready to think about character traits, try My Pot o'Gold Character Traits. Introduce character traits to students then tie the concepts to real life with this pot o' gold activity. Students choose one character trait to define each of their classmates. Then, they write the character traits on gold coins, cut and paste onto peers' pot o' gold. This writing activity reinforces emotional intelligence skills by using positive character traits of classmates. 

As your St. Patrick's Day winds to an end, hand out a word search for some Irish vocabulary fun!

Holidays are the perfect time to celebrate writing! So, use St. Patrick's Day to learn about Irish culture, learn new Irish vocabulary, and write stories that incorporate Irish tradition.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!