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ST.PATRICK’S DAYSaint Patrick’s Snakes and LaddersIntroduction

Saint Patrick’s Day is traditionally a day of dancing and feasting in honour of St Patrick.

Saint Patrick of Ireland is one of the world’s most popular saints. Along with Saint Nicholas and Saint Valentine, the secular world shares a love of these saints.

Among other things, Saint Patrick is known for driving the snakes out of Ireland. It is true that there are now no snakes in Ireland, but there probably never have been.Since snakes represent evil in literature, the idea of Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland is symbolically saying he drove the old, evil, pagan ways out of Ireland.

This activity gives students the opportunity of learning about Saint Patrick’s Day, while playing Snakes and Ladders (an easy board game to play) and have a lot of fun!

Objectives

• To learn about Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. • To learn how Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated. • To have fun playing Saint Patrick’s Snakes and Ladders.

Vocabulary and lexis

• Saint Patrick’s vocabulary: clover, shamrock, snake, pot of gold, rainbow, Leprechaun, green. • Game vocabulary: dice, counters, roll the dice, land on a square, board game, throw a number, slide down. • When/Where is Saint Patrick celebrated? It’s celebrated in/on …

Key competences

• Competence in knowledge of and interaction with the physical world • Cultural and artistic competence • Autonomy and personal initiative • Competence in linguistic communication • Competence in social skills and citizenship

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Assessment criteria

Evaluate students’ knowledge about Saint Patrick: can they remember the basic information about St Patrick and St Patrick’s Day?

Evaluate their social skills: can they respect the rules of the game and play fairly?

Timing

1 session (1 hour).

Activity development

You will need: • A copy of the game board for each group of students (colour and laminate the board so you can use it again and again) • A die for each group • A different coloured counter for each student in the group

Instructions: 1. Share the following websites with your students in order to teach them about Saint Patrick’s Day:

• St Patrick’s Day activities for children: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/stpatricks-day • St Patrick’s Day games: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/patrick/games.html • St Patrick’s Day song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA-YGKN7k_o • An informative video about St Patrick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UociNQHztiY#t=15

2. Divide the class into groups so all children can play Saint Patrick’s Snakes and Ladders.

3. Give students the instructions to play the game:

a) The aim of the game is to be the first player to reach the end by moving across the board from square 1 to square 70, following the order of the numbers.

b) The first player to roll a 6 can enter the board. The remaining players must also roll a 6 to enter the board.

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c) Once on the board, each student has to roll the die again to show the number of squares he/she may move. Then he/she has to place his/her counter on the appropriate square.

d) When a player lands at the tip of a snake’s head, he/she has to read the information on the square, slide his/her counter down to the square at the snake’s tail and continue playing from there.

e) When a player lands on a square that is at the base of a ladder, he/she has to read the information on the square, move his/her counter to the square at the top of the ladder and continue playing from there.

f) The first player to land on square 70 is the winner.

4. Encourage students to play Saint Patrick’s Snakes and Ladders again and again.

Extension activity

As an extension activity, give students a picture of St Patrick’s Day to colour and use the pictures to decorate the classroom.

You can find pictures to colour on the following websites:http://pastiche.squidoo.com/stpatricksdaycoloringhttp://www.coloring.ws/patrick.htmhttp://www.thecolor.com/category/coloring/st%20patricks%20day.aspx

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ST. PATRICK’S DAY

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Worksheet 1PR IMARY 1 - 3

GOING BILINGUAL!St. Patrick’s Day