One day at a time: St. Patty's Day Fun

Monday was supposed to be a Spring Break day but we went to school because it was turned into a make-up day for snow. So we decided to have a little fun :) I made this sample leprechaun last week and all of the kids got to make them yesterday. I just want to go on record and say that I did not have a template to trace for this :) We got the idea from another teacher-blogger who was kind enough to share her ideas but I made this one on my own :) My favorite part is the curly beard made of orange construction paper. The kids did really well making these! It took a while and we all had glue and glitter all over us by the end, but it was worth it!
We also made sentence strip hats that said "Happy St. Patrick's Day!" in green marker, glued a paper shamrock to it, and wore green and white leis. I have some pictures of this that I'll post farther down :)

Some of the ones the kids made. The shamrocks are the wishes they wrote about.

The best part of our "celebration" was the scavenger hunt! We took 2 of the 9 1st grade classes (yes, there are 9 1st grade classes!) on a scavenger hunt through the building. We pre-made clues that would lead the classes to 7 different places throughout the building. The kids had to read the clue left by the leprechaun and figure out where he went next. We visited the computer lab, office, and several other teachers throughout the building. The kids walked in line by their partner and it was not as chaotic as you might think it would've been. The kids were great! And they got to wear sparkly green glasses when it was their turn to read the clue. (This was done in groups of 4 or 5 so everybody got a chance to do it.)

Reading the last clue!

The grand finale of the event was the final clue. It led them outside where one of the faculty members had dressed up like a leprechaun and was carrying a "pot of gold." We read a book earlier where the kids learned that if you catch a leprechaun, then you get his pot of gold. So of course, that's what they went after. They knew pretty quickly who it was but some of them still played along with us. Others started yelling about who it was. But that's ok :) It was still a fun adventure! The pot of gold was a Halloween plastic "cauldron" that had Hershey's Gold Nuggets in it and it was super cute! The outside stuff all happened in the rain by the way. It was drizzling a good bit but started to get heavier. We headed inside and realized we were locked out. Oops! It made the story even better though- standing outside in the rain with 40 kids who just "caught a leprechaun" but can't have any of his "gold" until we get inside and the door is locked. It was pretty funny :) Someone eventually let us in and we didn't get too soaked! Then it was picture time for the teachers. We couldn't let the opportunity escape. After all, how many times will you get someone to dress up like a leprechaun, crawl out of a window in the office to avoid being mobbed in the hallway, and go hide behind a portable in the rain with a pot of "gold" and a walking stick???
It was an awesome experience and such a fun day! Being a part of this just shows me how much the people here love their jobs and the kids. It reminds you that we really do do this for the kids and you shouldn't forget it! Stuff like this requires a lot of pre-planning and prep, but that's what being a teacher is, right? I can't wait to do stuff like this with my class next year :) Who knows, maybe we can even go on a hunt for the Easter bunny....