St. Patrick’s Day: An Elementary Social Studies Lesson

St. Patrick’s Day is a fun way to spend a day in elementary classrooms but too many resources I’ve seen don’t dive into the history of the symbols of the day. Yes, shamrocks are popular but why? Yes, you wear green on this day but why? This TpT resource highlights the historical information behind some of St. Patrick’s Days most popular symbols.

First, this resource was built for 2nd – 4th grade but it is marked as Not Grade Specific because I like to make my resources work for as many grades as possible. If you teach high-achieving first graders then you could absolutely use this resource. If you teach English-language learners or special education classes this resource still works for you.

The illustrations and clip art are simple and the readings are short and concise. There are three summary pages throughout the reading to ensure students are picking up on the information they need to know. Questions vary from short answer to differentiating between fact and myth to circling the correct answer. Use the summaries or exclude them and make the readings part of your planned activities or centers for the day – the resource will still work.

My favorite part of this resource is that you have a choice of format: print-only or Google Classroom™. If you are teaching in the classroom or are homeschooling then of course you only need the print-only version. You get the color workbook or the coloring book for a little creativity and dexterity practice. (This resource may not be uploaded to any website for any reason.)

If you are teaching virtually and are building up your Google Classroom™ collection this resource is an awesome prep-free lesson that gives you options for teaching method: whole-group via Google Meet™ or independent workbooks.