St. Patrick's Day Math Project-Based Learning Activities

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a project-based learning activity for grades 2-5 that is sure to shamrock your classroom. This fun and engaging resource introduces students to Irish folklore and Leprechauns and gives them extra practice of essential math skills. The real-world-based problems also are perfect for test prep. But these differentiated activities are so much fun, your students won’t even realize they are learning! 

Lucky McKibben is a two-foot-tall leprechaun, who spends most of his time making and fixing shoes. According to Irish legend, leprechauns are shoemakers for all the fairy creatures. Lucky has decided to open a brand new shoe store. And, as luck would have it, he’s recruited your students to help. Students will need to use a variety of math skills, including: elapsed time, adding, subtracting, money, area, data and graphing, problem-solving, and more to help him get the store up and running.

And the best part, is you don’t need any luck to pull off this fun St. Patrick’s Day activity. This no-prep activity is simple to use. All you have to do is print and teach. No searching for four leaf clovers or pots of gold required. 

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To get this resource in a money-saving bundle, click the link below:

Holiday Project Based Learning Bundle

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What’s Inside:

• Easy to differentiate options for lower (2nd-3rd) and upper (4th-5th) grades
• 8 different Leprechaun-themed math activities with 10 total pages of activities for each level
• Color and black and white versions
• Answer keys
• Detailed teacher directions

Skills covered:

Lower Version Grades 2 & 3:

• Time & Elapsed time
• Money
• Adding & Subtracting
• Graphing
• Interpreting data
• Problem Solving

Upper Version Grades 4 & 5:

• Time & Elapsed time
• Area
• Money
• Decimals
• Adding & Subtracting
• Fractions
• Multiplication
• Graphing
• Interpreting data
• Problem Solving

❤️❤️ Why You Will LOVE This Resource ❤️❤️

• Real world based application of math skills
• Celebrates the holidays but keeps the focus on learning
• Makes an excellent review/test prep activity

How to use this resource:

There are a variety of ways to use this resource in the classroom:

• Use as a whole group activity. It’s perfect for a Friday afternoon when you are in between units, or as a break from your regular material. 
• Use to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the classroom.
• Use one or two activities per day during the week of St. Patrick’s Day.
• Place activities in student math centers.
• Assign to students to complete individually. 
• Allow students to work together or in a small group.
• When using the colored version, print just a few copies and laminate or slide into page protectors. Students can use an expo marker to complete the activities and you’ll have the activity for years.
• Use during guided-math groups to provide extra support to students.
• Include it in your sub plans.
• Make test prep fun with a holiday activity. 

Differentiation:

• This PBL activity is easy to differentiate. We’ve included two complete versions of the activity for you. Simply select the activities that best meet the needs of your learners. 
• Use either the lower grade version or the upper-grade version, or pick and choose activities from each. The activities are the same, but the upper version has more complicated calculations and more difficult math concepts.
• Use different versions of the activities with individual students.
• Complete more difficult activities as a whole group or in guided math groups. 

Time to Complete:

This activity should take about 60 minutes, depending on the skill level of your students and whether or not they are working in groups.  Feel free to modify the activities to accommodate your schedule.

FAQs

Q: Do students complete this activity individually or in groups?

A: That’s up to you! PBL activities are great for collaboration, however, you can choose to allow students to work on this individually as well.

Q: How can I use the colored version in class without wasting ink?

A; The colored version is great if your students are working in pairs or small groups. Print and laminate the colored pages and have students use expo markers to record their answers. When they are done, they can erase their marks and you can reuse the pages over and over again.

Q: Is this a hands-on activity? 

A: Students will use the information provided on the resource pages to solve real-world based problems and tasks.  We've also provided pages for students to show their solutions.  The preview has some great pictures to give you a good idea of what the resource includes.

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