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St. Patrick’s day is just around the corner and those tricky leprechauns will soon be making an appearance. As teachers, we want to make this day full of whimsy and excitement for our students, but also sneak in some learning at the same time. From writing St. Pat’s postcards to “green” transportation for leprechauns, your students are going to love this St. Patrick’s Day project based learning activity.
Engage your students this St. Patrick’s Day with this fun project based learning activity. Students will love designing a leprechaun village so much, they won’t even realize how many academic skills they are using.
While every page in the packet offers fun and exciting options for a complete project-based learning lesson, you may opt to pick and choose sheets from the packet that works best for you and your classroom. These packets can be completed individually or to help develop those essential communication skills, students could work in groups.
The entry event is your students introduction into the project based learning activity. It’s how you get students excited for the activity and ready to jump in.
The entry event can be as basic or elaborate as you want. For this St. Patrick’s Day project you can start by brainstorming words related to St. Patrick’s Day or you could have students list out everything they know about leprechauns.
If you are ready to bring out your inner actor or actress and really ham it up for your class, you may want to appear in character to describe the project to your students. Students will love seeing you dressed as the mayor of a leprechaun village, or a construction worker complete with a hard hat and safety vest. Taking on a roll aligned with the project helps to build excitement and buy-in from your students as they progress through the unit.
When you are ready ask your students to help solve a problem. In this case, it could be as simple as “Help me design a new village for my leprechaun friends because ours was destroyed by a cat.” Not only is it silly, but it also helps to build empathy and understanding for the “why” of the project.
If acting just isn’t your thing, sending a secret letter or creating a leprechaun character to hang in your classroom with a letter to the class asking for help is a great alternative.
Once the project has been introduced it is time for your students to jump in with both feet. Everything you need to complete this St. Patrick’s Day project is included in the packet.
I would suggest printing out the desired sheets and assembling them into a booklet for each student or group. The PBL unit guide can be used as a “road map” for the steps the students will take on their journey.
Using the Leprechaun Village and Plan the Village pages, students will brainstorm possible areas for their villages and write notes for each. This helps students to plan purposefully while making real-world connections. Encourage students to have a reason for each decision they make. They don’t have to document these in writing, but they should be able to provide an answer if you ask.
Using the “sticky notes” on the Plan the Village page will help students add details or ideas for each aspect of their village. Every village needs inviting and exciting details to bring it to life, so using the Planning the Extras page will help students narrow down those 5 key details that MUST be included.
Who wouldn’t want to visit a leprechaun village? But what would a visit be without some good ‘ol tourist attractions. Your students will love deciding on these with the Must-See Spots brainstorming activity. This will help students expand their learning by thinking about who would visit their village and why.
Once students have done this, they can start designing post cards for one or more of the tourist attractions. After all, what’s a tourist stop without a chance to grab a post-card so you can share your fun with friends and family.
Including other students at the school is a fun way to expand the PBL activity. And . . . this project just screams, “Come and see!” Students can create and deliver their postcards to their younger grade buddies or pals and ask them to come and visit their villages later in the day or week. Your students will be thrilled to be tour guides leading younger students around the room to view their villages.
Whether it’s written or visual communication, visitors will need to know why they should visit the village and how to get around once they are there. There are a variety of activities in this project that will have students focusing on just that!
Leprechauns are known for their love of gold and are eager to hide it from pesky humans. Why not have students create their own coins or currency for the village. The Leprechaun Loot activity is the perfect starting place for this. Students will love designing their own leprechaun coins.
Once created, students can practice spending their new money as they complete the Shamrock Shack Bakery activity. A great connecting to math, students will love “shopping” and buying all the bakery goodies. {Don’t tell your students, but they will really be working on money skills and word problems!}
Bringing your PBL unit to an end is a breeze with the resources in this packet. Students will focus on problem-solving, spatial awareness, planning, writing, government, civics, and informational writing in these final, culminating projects. You can choose from three exciting final projects. Have students complete one or all three. It really depends on you and what you have time for! If you are going to complete multiple projects, it is really easy to spread them out throughout the project.
Using grid paper or blank paper, students will create their very own map of their leprechaun village. I love seeing the final images of the villages created by my students. It helps to bring the village to life and is a great visual resource for students when talking about their projects with visitors.
This project can be completed at the end, or after students complete the planing activities.
If you want to attract visitors to your village then you will need some advertising. What better way to build excitement than with a travel brochure? Students love designing this brochure which includes photos, things to be sure to see, and a business and attractions section.
This project has a great writing connection and is a great way to meet some of those language arts standards.
Law and order are key in a village full of tricky leprechauns. Students always surprise me with their creative and thoughtful laws to govern their communities. A great real-world connection to our own cities and schools. Students are quick to point out laws and school rules they believe are important to keeping us all safe and happy.
Each of these final projects comes with a handy rubric to be used by the teacher and the students. We all know how important self-assessment is especially in project-based learning lessons. Giving students an opportunity to evaluate their own work not only builds confidence but also an opportunity to communicate about their successes and areas where they may need improvement.
You can find this Build a Leprechaun Village project based learning activity in the Appletastic Learning store. Your students will love it and I know you will love the learning opportunities they have with reading, writing, math and social studies.
With options for a printable or digital project, your students will love learning this March!
Looking for more information on Project Based Learning? You can find everything you need to know in these posts:
You can also find more ready to use Project Based Learning activities in the store. If you love these learning activities, then you will love the Project Based Learning Bundle! Weave these engaging and academic projects into your lessons all year long!
Pin this to your favorite classroom Pinterest board and save these fun and engaging project based learning ideas. Your students will thank you!
Hi, I’m Shelly! Thank you for being here. I love helping third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers with fun and engaging activities that require no to little prep! Let me help you by taking some of the stress and work off your plate.
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