What are you doing for St. Patrick's Day?

One of the most exciting things to do on St. Patrick's Day for third graders is to have a leprechaun visit  the classroom.  By this age several students realize this is fantasy, but many do not.  However, even for those that do, they still enjoy the thrill of pretending.

It seems that some leprechauns wreak havoc on the classroom, while others leave a few scattered gold-covered, chocolate coins.  I prefer the latter because I really don't want to clean up the room any more than I already do.

To add to our independent reading this month, I made QR Codes for March read alouds for several books about St. Patrick's Day.

At our school we have B.Y.O.D. (Bring Your Own Device) day every Wednesday, and sometimes on Fridays as well.  We are fortunate to have a few iPads in our classroom as well.  I rotate the classroom iPads and students who don't have one, know they will get a turn next time.  All you need is a QR Code scanner which can be downloaded for free from the app store.

I like these QR codes because they do not show advertisements to my students at the beginning of the read alouds.  My students like them because they have the image of the book on them, and they can easily know which book they are choosing, not to mention the wonderful stories themselves.

These cards also provide AR levels, guided reading levels, and lexile levels when available.

Easter comes in March this year, so I added Easter books in this March set of QR Codes.  I've included several of my favorite books.  Here is a list of the books included.

• St. Patrick’s Day
• The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day
• The History of St. Patrick’s Day
• That’s What Leprechauns Do
• Jack and the Leprechaun
• Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato
• The Luckiest St. Patrick’s Day Ever
• There Was and Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover
• The Leprechaun’s Gold
• Fin M’Coul, The Giant of Knockmany Hill
• The Easter Egg
• Pete the Cat Big Easter Adventure
• The Night Before Easter
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit
• Marley and the Great Easter Egg Hunt
• The Easter Bunny’s Assistant
• Bunny Cakes
• Happy Easter, Curious George
• Happy Easter, Little Critter
• Happy Easter, Mouse!
• The Runaway Bunny

There are times I want my students to respond to a book they've read independently.  Here is a FREE copy of one of the response sheets I use in my classroom.  You can cut it in half and have students paste the sheet into their regular Reader's Notebook.  Another ides is to make a Response Journal and put in several blank copies of this page or others like it.  Then have your students fill out one response per day, or as you desire.

I hope you and your students enjoy St. Patty's Day this March 17th!