1-2-3 Come Play Some St. Patrick's Day Games With Me

Are you looking for a few, quick, easy and fun activities for St. Patrick's Day that cover some standards?

Word finds are an interesting way to build vocabulary at the same time reinforcing letters and spelling. 

Even though there are a lot of word search generators out there, they mostly have uppercase letters. 

Further difficulties arise,  because the puzzles share letters, show the words going backwards, as well as diagonally and vertically, so I make up my own to keep them relatively easy (showing the words in forward-horizontal fashion using lowercase letters) .

This way my kiddos don't get frustrated. If you want to do these easy ones with older elementary students, simply give them 1-minute to find as many as they can. 

"Speed" games, help prepare children for timed tests in a non-stressful way.   Besides using them as a game, they are a nice plug-in for your Daily 5 word work activities too.  Click on the link to view/download the 2 St. Patrick's Day word searches.

Another way to work on words, is by giving students a seasonal themed-word and challenging them to create other words, using only the letters that appear in that word. 

With that in mind, I created How Many Words Can You Find in Leprechaun, and another one for the word shamrock. 

Surprisingly, I made 97 words from the letters in shamrock, and found 161 words using the letters in leprechaun. 

The packet includes recording sheets, as well as my answer keys.  Click on the link to view/download the How Many Can You Find St. Patrick's Day activity. 

If you want to work on math skills, all of the  number puzzles make a nice independent center activity that helps reinforce sequencing, counting forwards & backwards, as well as skip counting by 10s to 100. 

I designed 16 specifically for St. Patricks Day, which includes some in color, as well as 5 in black and white, so that students can color their own. Click on the link to view/download the St. Paddy's Day Puzzle Packet.

Finally, I like to continue my monthly themes in all of my subjects, so I designed St. Patrick's Day-themed 10 frames.

You can use them for addition and subtraction as well as games, as I've included number words for matching, plus shamrock, leprechaun and hat tiles, to run off and use as manipulatives. 

There are also math symbol cards, so children can make up equations, including greater than and less than.  Click on the link to view/download the Shamrock 10 Frames packet. 

Well that's it for today.  I hope you found something useful.  The sun is shining and I feel like doing an Irish jig.  We've certainly had our fill of yucky cold weather here in Michigan. 

I think Mother Nature forgot to "spring forward". Wishing you a magical day filled with lots of sunshine.

"I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you're prepared for it." -Denzel Washington

1-2-3 Come Do A Few More St. Patty's Day Activities With Me

I had a few special requests this week, and thought I'd combine them all in today's blog article.  I hope you enjoy them.

Kyanne, from Wisconsin, wanted a simple St. Patrick's Day word search for her young five students.  Even though there are a lot of word search generators out there, they mostly have uppercase letters. 

Further difficulties arrise,  because they share letters, show the words going backwards, as well as diagonally and vertically, so I usually make up my own.  I like to include a shape to add interest as well.

Word searches are a great way to practice spelling and build vocabulary, so that's why I think they should be in lowercase letters.  I also like them relatively easy (showing the words in forward-horizontal fashion) so that my kiddos don't get frustrated. 

If you want to do these easy ones with older elementary students, simply give them 1-minute to find as many as they can.  Speed games, help prepare children for timed tests in a non-stressful way.   Besides using them as a game, they are a nice plug-in for your Daily 5 word work activities too.  Click on the link to view/download the 2 St. Patrick's Day word searches.

Another way to work on words, is by giving students a themed-word and challenging them to create other words, using only the letters that appear in that word.  With that in mind, I created How Many Words Can You Find in Leprechaun, and another one for the word shamrock. 

Surprisingly, I made 97 words from the letters in shamrock, and found 161 words using the letters in leprechaun.  The packet includes recording sheets, as well as my answer keys.  Click on the link to view/download the How Many Can You Find St. Patrick's Day activity. 

Betty, from Texas, wrote that she's collected most of the number puzzles for center activites, for her PK students.  She wondered if I had any puzzles for St. Patrick's Day.  I didn't, but do now. 

I made 16, which includes some in color, as well as 5 in black and white, so that students can color their own. 

The puzzles help students practice counting to 10, counting backwards from 10 to 1, as well as skip counting by 10's to 100.  Click on the link to view/download the St. Patty's Day Puzzle Packet.

Gloria, from Wisconsin, collects my alphabet cards, and wanted some with shamrocks and kites, two big theme weeks for her kinders. 

I had already made shamrock alphabet ones, and am now working on the ABC kite cards, to add to our growing collection. 

All of the alphabet packets, include a tip list of what to do with the cards, including games like Kaboom, plus a separate set of upper as well as lowercase letters, so that you can play Memory Match and "I Have; Who Has?"  games.   Click on the link to view/download the shamrock alphabet cards.  The kite cards will be done and posted by Monday.

Finally, Sara from Maine, likes to change her 10 frame math center each month.  She was looking for some with shamrocks.  I spent quite a bit of time making 10 frame templates, so it's pretty easy for me to plug in appropriate clip art to make them for any theme you do. 

If you have a special request, simply shoot me an e-mail, and I'll see what I can do.  diane@teachwithme.com  Click on the link to view/download the Shamrock 10 Frames packet.  

Just a reminder, that all of the 10 frame packets, have matching 1-2-3 Count With Me 10 Frame-Based easy readers to match. Click on the link to view/download the 123 Count Shamrocks With Me.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away.

"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow beloings to the people who prepare for it today." -Unknown