Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This week, the children celebrate St. Patrick's Day!  In honor of that holiday, we of course needed to do something extra special!

I began each class by asking them what they know about St. Patrick's Day.  The majority of children say a little bit about shamrocks, leprechauns, and wearing green, but only one or two know even a little bit about the holiday or traditions that come along with it!

I then tell the class we are going to learn about how St. Patrick's Day came to be, and show them a video made by the History Channel called "Bet You Didn't Know: St. Patrick's Day."

The kids really enjoy this video, and have a great time learning at the same time! Immediately after the video, I ask them questions about what they watched:

(1.) So was St. Patrick really Irish?  Where was he originally from?

(2.) How did he end up in Ireland?

(3.) How old was he when he was taken to Ireland?

(4.) How long was he in Ireland under captivity?

(5.) Did he go back to Ireland?  What did he go back to be?

(6.) Why do we wear green on St. Patrick's day?

(7.) Are Shamrocks real?

(8.) Where in the world did our St. Patrick's tradition of a big parade start?

I make sure to repeat these questions again, both in the middle of the class and then at the end before their teacher comes to get them to reinforce what they learned and to ensure memorization of facts!

The BIG project is getting my kids to dance to Irish music! We had two songs we danced to: "The Irish Washerwoman" by the Celtic Legends and "Tell Me Ma" by Sham Rock.  This is a big undertaking, especially for K-2 because the children don't have full control of their bodies and they have very short attention spans!

My Process

All the children make a large circle in the middle of the room, holding hands. I then have the children count to four and take four steps in place.  We do this two or three times until everyone is on beat and understands the concept! I then tell them we are simply going to take four steps forward into the circle instead of stepping in place, being sure to show them what not to do (like running forward in front of people, pulling people over, etc.).  We take four steps forward together, while counting.  After that, we do the same thing but go backwards.  I then challenge them to do this two times without stopping (walk in for four counts, walk out for four counts, and repeat one more time).

At this point, the children get very excited! It's important that I repeat they are to take small steps towards the middle and keep a close eye on the children as it is easy to get hyper and get out of control.

Next, I go and count them off as either a "1" or a "2" (grades 3-5).  Generally, K-2 can't remember what numbers they are and have a difficult time maintaining success in the rest of the dance, so I move the kids around and put them in alternating boy/girl order.  I then explain that we are going to do the exact same thing we did before, but we will take turns.  I explain that the "1" or "girl" group will walk in for four steps and our for four steps while clapping, and the "2" or "boy" group walks in place while counting and clapping.  After the first group has successfully accomplished this, we reverse groups so that the next group has a chance to walk into the middle of the circle.  We practice just the alternating groups a few times until everyone has a good understanding of what is happening, and then I add the first part of holding hands and walking in and out of the circle twice.

The last part of the dance consists of the children holding hands and walking clockwise in their circle for 3 sets of four counts, and then walking in place for another four counts.  For the younger children (K-2), I usually have them count to 12 and stop walking around the circle at that point to walk in place.

When we have learned all the parts of the dance, I have them count, clap, and perform the dance anywhere from 3-5 times all in a row without music.  The important thing for me is to see what students are able to maintain a steady beat and show it with their bodies and with their words!

After they have consistently performed the dance well, I then add the music!  And they LOVE it! We end up showing their teachers when they come to pick them up, as well as show off by me asking them the questions from the beginning of the class.  The teachers are very impressed by the children's knowledge of St. Patrick's Day, and are happy to see their kids to happy!  A win-win situation for all and a very happy St. Patrick's week!