Leprechauns, Potato Measurement and More!

     I LOVE St. Patrick's Day for so many reasons...too many to list.   Let's just say that I have worked with some friends who were over in the States working, from Ireland. They laugh at how we have created this day full of leprechauns, pots of gold, and more.  In Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is more of a religious day than anything and definitely not celebrated the same as it is here.  BUT...that doesn't mean that we can't have fun!   
     One of my favorites is talking about Leprechauns.  I love having the kids write about leprechauns and occasionally we have leprechauns that "visit" the room and leave notes and usually a mess!  This year we made these leprechauns and wrote about either what we would do if we were leprechauns or what we would do if we met a leprechaun!  I have had the pattern for the leprechaun for years.  I think it originally came from a Mailbox magazine. 

     This is about the time of year that we teach geometry.  A few years ago, I created a large shamrock that can fit different geometric shapes.  The students fill the shape with the pattern blocks and then use the pattern block template to trace each of the shapes in the spaces.  They color it and we hang them up in our windows for the month of March!

     Another teacher gave me a potato measuring activity a few years ago.  The students bring in a potato from home and they use it during a center.  They measure it in inches, centimeters, and then estimate and weigh the potato.  The sheet the teacher gave me was looking pretty rough and had been copied so many ti mes that it was not good quality anymore.  This year I revamped it.  You can get a copy of it by clicking HERE.   It is pretty basic but it gets the job done!

One of the teachers created this.  All she did was create a paper with an inch strip and a centimeter strip on one paper.  They are in a page protector.  I tape the page protectors on the table and the students just lay the potato on top to do the measurement.  This has seemed to work really well and give accurate measurements.