Are you planning to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in your classroom? Some teachers may encourage their students to wear green to school or bring in special treats or trinkets for the class. While these ideas are fun, you can take your St. Patrick’s Day activities further by turning them into a relevant classroom lesson. 

• Discover the history of the St. Patrick’s Day in social studies
• Explore the magic of St. Patrick’s Day in ELA
• Look for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in science

[Discover the history of St. Patrick’s Day in social studies](id-ss)

Use social studies resources to plan St. Patrick’s Day activities that build background knowledge and connect new information to students’ firsthand experiences:

Teach about St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and traditions

Whether they have Irish roots or not, people worldwide celebrate Irish traditions and culture every year on March 17. Help students explore what they know about the origins and traditions of the holiday:

• Learn about the life and legacy of the religious figure St. Patrick and how he became the patron saint of Ireland.
• Explore the symbols most commonly associated with St. Patrick’s Day, such as shamrocks, snakes, and leprechauns.
• Discover how St. Patrick’s Day transformed from a religious holiday in Ireland to a worldwide cultural (often secular) celebration.

Want to share this lesson with K-2 students? Try the elementary history version with additional resources and lesson pacing for a younger audience!

Travel back in time to the first St. Patrick’s Day

Teach students about the events that inspired people to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland and worldwide. Then, have students choose an activity to apply what they learned about Irish history, holidays, and the experiences of ethnic immigrants:

• Ask students to plan a trip to Ireland during the week of St. Patrick’s Day. Encourage them to research places to visit, meals to try, and experiences they don’t want to miss.
• Invite students to create their own holiday. Have them write the holiday’s origin story and include information about celebrations, traditions, and foods associated with it.
• Encourage students to share what they learned about the immigrant experience of the Irish in America. Create a timeline of Irish immigration in the United States and highlight key moments explored in the articles in the text set.

Visit Ireland (virtually)

Invite students on a trip across the Atlantic to explore Ireland's past and present history and customs. Use resources to look at key points in Ireland’s history and explore topics like:

• The history of Celtic culture and how it still influences art and design in Ireland and across the globe.
• The Great Famine in Ireland, its devastating effects on the country's people, and how it influenced some people’s choices to leave their homeland to look for a better life.
• The first Krispy Kreme shop opened in Ireland, and how it was so popular the company had to close the 24-hour drive-tru after just one week in business.

Introduce students to saints of the Roman Catholic Church

Because it started as a religious holiday, students could benefit from additional context on the Catholic religion to better understand the traditions and rituals associated with St. Patrick’s Day. 

• Discover the process it takes for someone to achieve sainthood by reviewing Mother Teresa’s journey to the position in the 2010s.
• Read about Pope Francis and what role the Pope plays in canonizing saints like St. Patrick.
• Meet Archbishop Wilton Gregory, the United States’ first Black cardinal.

[Explore the magic of St. Patrick’s Day in ELA](id-ela)

Use St. Patrick’s Day ELA resources to help students experience the magic of this holiday through fiction and nonfiction texts:

Share a fictional Irish Story

Help immerse students in the themes of St. Patrick’s Day with a story about one man’s attempt to capture a leprechaun and find his pot of gold. 

• Before they read “The Pot of Gold” by Angela McAllister, ask students to predict what they think will happen to the main character, Donal, at the end of the story. 
• Then, have them annotate the text to highlight the conclusion and determine if their prediction was right or wrong, and why.
• Finally, extend the lesson with writing practice by asking students to write their own short story about a different St. Patrick’s Day tradition. They may use a storyboard graphic organizer to help them plot their tale.

Meet magical creatures

Introduce students to characters commonly found in British Isles folklore, like leprechauns and fairies, with a paired text analysis activity:

• Share a fictional article about fairies and their characteristics.
• Read a nonfiction article about the 20th anniversary of the “Harry Potter” series and how magical fiction is still popular today.
• Have students complete a paired text analysis worksheet while focusing on the guiding question, “How are both texts related?”

Uncover the symbolism of holiday colors 

Have your students ever wondered why we associate holidays with different colors? People who celebrate St. Patrick’s Day wear green and sometimes even get pinched if they don’t! Dive into the symbolism of holiday colors using resources like:

• A video explaining the concept of symbolism.
• An article that explores the colors associated with traditional holidays like St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Halloween.
• A lesson extension activity that asks students to write an analysis of meaningful colors in their own lives, like the school colors. Try it with Newsela Writing!

[Look for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in science](id-sci)

Magic may not exist in the real world, but science does! Teach students about science concepts associated with St. Patrick’s Day:

Chase the rainbow with a STEAM activity

Rainbows are just one of the many symbols of St. Patrick’s Day. Students can learn more about rainbows and create one of their own:

• Read about the science and symbolism of rainbows.
• Discover the “recipe” for seeing a rainbow in the sky.
• Teach students the concept of capillary action by creating a rainbow with water, food coloring, and paper towels.

Could you transform something worthless into gold?

Where does gold come from, and what makes it valuable? Students can puzzle through this mystery and determine if they could create their own gold by examining articles on topics like:

• Discovering what a molecule is and how it forms.
• Exploring an infographic that explains the principle of conservation of mass.
• Reading about how two German Nobel laureates hid their gold Nobel Prize medals from Nazis during World War II by dissolving them in a chemical mixture.

Learn more about the elements

Gold is one of 118 elements on the periodic table. Students can learn more about it and other elements by exploring articles on topics like:

• The design of the periodic table.
• The process it takes to approve new elements to the periodic table.
• A biography of inventor and scientist Dmitri Mendeleev, who developed the periodic table.

Have students collect (gold) tokens with the Independent Reading Challenge

Encourage reading for fun inside and outside the classroom with the Newsela Independent Reading Challenge! This monthly, gamified event encourages students to practice literacy skills by reading about topics that interest them. 

Rather than a leprechaun’s gold coins, students can earn badges and tokens for completing the associated quiz and Power Words activities on articles included in the challenge. 

Not a Newsela Customer yet? You can access the Independent Reading Challenge and other differentiated content and activities by signing up for Newsela Lite and starting your free 45-day trial of our premium subject products!