We made it to March! Are you ready for all things rainbows, sunshine and lucky little clovers? Me, too! This post is in honor of St. Patrick's Day. The activities below are designed with preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade students in mind. From crafts to SEL activities to puzzles... this post will have you feeling extra lucky and ready to teach!

Here we go!

1. Classroom Management

Let's be honest... March is a "teaser" month. We can see spring break coming but we aren't quite there yet. The little learners in our classrooms have LOTS of wiggles and we are starting to struggle to stay on task. This is where Positive Behavior Charts come in. Set up is easy. Just print the chart and incentive pieces. Set a goal and celebration. Add the pieces as students work toward the goal. Low teacher effort. High impact on positive behavior. 

 2. Literacy Centers & Activities

I like to sprinkle in some special activities each season to keep centers fresh and engaging. These centers often review skills students have already mastered. This emergent reader is perfect for fine motor skills and reading sight words and color words.

Mystery Puzzles are in the second center. I can easily differentiate by choosing the puzzle that best fits the needs of my students; letter match, beginning sound match, sight word match. Match the pieces to reveal the mystery picture. 

3. St. Patrick's Day Math Activities

This Color the Sum activity is a slightly different twist on your typical Add the Room activity. Post the addition cards around the room. Students search for the cards and color the sum. Record the number sentence based on where they see the gold coins. Easily differentiate for sums with 5, 10, 15, or 20.

Who said math had to be boring?! This Math Craft brings that familiar lucky cereal into the classroom. Differentiation is the name of the game again. Match numbers, sums or differences depending on the needs of your students. 

This dice game is perfect for building fact fluency. Roll the dice and add. Use cereal or bingo chips as manipulatives to support emerging students. Even better? It is FREE! Just click the picture to grab your freebie!

4. Rainbow Name Craft

This activity works for any age. Edit student names in powerpoint or use the heart letters to form names and sight words. These make a lovely bulletin board that are sure to brighten up your hallways after a gloomy winter. 

5. Social Emotional Learning

This month's theme of "luck" lends itself to self-reflection and appreciation for those around us. This "Lucky to be Me" SEL activity set has been used in hundreds of classrooms. This is a great activity to boost morale and confidence among students.

There are so many ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in primary classrooms. I hope these ideas inspire some new activities and traditions with your students. Wishing you lots of luck in the month ahead, although your students are already so lucky to have you!

Need help keeping students on task? Read this post about the activity I used with my own kids to boost engagement!