St. Patrick's Day Resources for Life Skill Classrooms

If you are looking for language arts life skill worksheets to use this month as you teach about all things shamrocks and leprechauns related, check out these differentiated resources you'd need to teach this March. Check out all the St. Patrick's Day resources that have been tried and tested by special education teachers all over the country! 

Here's some of the Breezy Special Ed St. Patrick's Day resources special education teachers to use in their classrooms:

St. Patrick's Day Journals

Do you have students who have difficulty coming up with their own thoughts? 

With three different levels included, these 7 journal prompts themed around St. Patrick's Day are perfect for all of your non-writers, emerging writers, and writers!

Level 1 students "Non-writers"

Students using this level can color in the picture, trace the title (if they are able to), and cut and paste symbols (with or without aide support) to complete the sentence with their thoughts. 

Students should color picture based on example (selecting the right color and making a mark on the paper is completely acceptable. Focus on independence rather than perfection.) and trace the title of the story to the best of their ability. Students will read each sentence with their staff member and/or use their device or voice to speak each sentence. Student will choose from two picture options cut from the bottom of the page (can be errorless depending on pictures staff wants to give as options) to then paste to complete the sentence.

Level 2 students "Tracers"

Students working on level 2 journals can color in the picture, draw their own picture, trace the title and sentence starters and finish the thought by circling and/or writing one of the 3 choices (from the classroom sample) on their paper.  

The picture is in black and white for students to color and then a box for them to draw their own pictures. It does not have to be perfect and you can even direct students to do just one or the other. Or even have them write first and they can color/draw with the remaining time they have left. Sentences starters are in a tracing font and includes word choices on the journal so that students can circle and/or copy the one word to complete each sentence.

Level 3 students "Writers"

This is the highest level and calls for more independence! Students using level 3 will have a blank journal where they draw and color the picture on their own, copy the sentence starters from the classroom sample, and also complete the sentence with the choice on the classroom sample. Or cover up the choices and have them complete the thoughts on their own! Or let them truly take the lead and write whatever they would like to write!

St. Patrick's Day Reading Comprehension

These five reading passages are all about St. Patrick's Day including: March, shamrock cookies, parade, Irish food and leprechauns. 

Each story includes a one page story with symbol support to help non-readers access the curriculum. When I used symbols in the classroom, I noticed my students were much less intimidated by the text and started making more connections about how words had meaning. 

When reading the story as a class, I would often ask students to engage with the text, such as underlining or circling various words/symbols or asking comprehension questions that they could answer by pointing to one of the symbols in the story.

Then students can complete a cut and paste fill in the blank activity to work on comprehension. There is a right and a wrong option for students to choose from for each line. You can differentiate this activity further by giving students the 2 options for each line or all of the options at once.

Students complete a symbol supported quiz by selecting one of two visual options for each question. The last question is always an opinion question asking if the student liked the topic they learned about.

If you have students who are beginning readers, you may like this version without symbols instead. And the stories are identical so you can use both versions at the same time with both your readers and non-readers!

St. Patrick's Day Differentiated Cards

Writing St Patrick's Day cards might not be something you usually do, however, writing cards is such a fun and educational life skill! I love to add this activity to every holiday and situation to give students more opportunities to practice the skill of writing cards as well as important academic skills of writing and expressing opinions.

This set includes 5 different Saint Patrick's Day card designs with various levels of support to give students the levels of support they need to help them express their thoughts.

Supports are included for all students

Level 1: symbol support cut and paste (2 sizes available)

Level 2: tracing (dotted lines or solid gray for tracing with fill in the blanks for students to add symbols or words from the choices)

Level 3: copying or independent writing (includes 3 different sentence starter prompts for students to use and formats with or without lines to help students write neatly)

St. Patrick's Day Would You Rather? Questions

These St Patrick's Day-themed would you rather questions are great for teaching students how to have a sense of humor, imagination, and fun! All questions have two visual options for answers to help all students answer and are focused on a St Patrick's Day theme.

This set includes a combination of silly and opinion questions all themed around St. Patrick's Day. These are great for special education and inclusion classrooms as the visuals help all students succeed. 

Examples on how to differentiate this activity for your class: For non-verbal students, utilize visuals and gestures for them to indicate their answers. Non-writing students can express themselves through drawing or using cut-and-paste methods in their journal responses. Beginning writers can practice by copying a word of their choice in their journal. Advanced writers can delve deeper by explaining the reasoning behind their chosen answers in their journal entries.

These questions are versatile and can be used for morning work, social skills practice, or speech and language arts activities.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY SHIRTS FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS

Are you a special education teacher who uses symbol support all day long with your students? In addition to the PECS, AAC devices, and symbol supported stories in your classroom, now you can add some symbols to your everyday teaching apparel as well! Check out these 2 adorable shirts perfect for March!

Are you one lucky special education teacher? This One Lucky Teacher shirt is for you! Complete with symbol cards that say "lucky" "teacher"

This St, Patrick's Day shirt comes with an array of 7 St. Patrick's Day Themed symbols, such as leprechaun, gold coins, shamrock, rainbow, pot of gold and more! It's the perfect shirt to wear in March!