St. Patrick's Day

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St. Patrick's Day
By Paula Hartley

Hello,

I'm beginning to realize why sterotypes emerge.
I grew up in Ireland and I don't remember lucky charms, marshmellows, leprehauns, rainbows or black pots associated with St. Patrick's Day.
There are many stories
about St. Patrick and they are all related to Ireland and it's people,why not start there. A few ideas would be to have realistic pictures of Ireland and the people of Ireland as it is today. National Geographic is a good source and display them around the classroom. Make your own island and teach orientation skills. Take a trip to a farm to see sheep being sheared. Learn all about

farm life and the wool industry. Use St. Patrick's Day as the start of your outdoor garden work. It makes a nice benchmark for the beginning of the spring planting season. Talk about the Shamrock as Ireland's symbol. Use a cut out shamrock for color mixing to get green. In cooking make Irish
Soda Bread which is still made in most Irish homes today or Shepherd's Pie. Talk about Gaelic being the first language in the west of Ireland and teach a few everyday words.
Just a few ideas to dispel sterotypes about Ireland.

Regards, Paula