March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. Here are five easy March writing activities and reading ideas, plus book recommendations and read aloud videos, to tame the lion and get you through until Spring!
Learn the History of St. Patrick’s Day
Have you heard the saying, “Everybody’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day!”? Give your students a quick minilesson on St. Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland, and why it is celebrated on March 17. Then, learn how over one hundred American cities celebrate St. Patrick’s Day before defining and describing a leprechaun!
March Writing Activities
Make a St. Patrick’s Day Pot o’ Gold
This simple St. Patrick’s Day writing craft makes an easy March bulletin board or door display. Students write about what they would do if they had a pot of gold, or how they caught a leprechaun and then let him go! The easy cut templates make it ideal for students in first grade-third grade.
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St. Patrick’s Day Craft
$3.50
Free St. Patty’s Day Arrays
By March, we begin laying the foundation for learning multiplication by teaching students about arrays. I’m always looking for ways to tie in holidays without losing focus on the concepts being taught and these arrays math activities do the trick!
These free St. Patrick’s Day math worksheets are a fun way to practice making arrays. Students can use cubes, beans or any type of counter to make arrays reinforcing both multiplication and the understanding of rows and columns.
If you’ll be teaching arrays and multiplication soon, here are more Free Arrays Activities.
Write Friendly Letters
Teaching kids how to write friendly letters is an essential life skill even in the age of email and texting. Writing letters provides social and emotional benefits, too. Get tips on teaching kids to write letters and learn the social and emotional benefits your students will gain as they learn.
These are letters that my students wrote to Tomie dePaola during our author study. Read more about our author study and the Strega Nona activities we did.
Every Friday I have students write a letter home to their family. A family member replies on the back of the letter and we save them all to bind into a Friday letters book at the end of the year.
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Celebrate Literacy Week
One of my favorite March writing activities is to have students write about famous people. After choosing biographies to read students write a biography spot. These simple “biography spots” are a fun way for students to write a short summary about the biographies they have read or a few facts about the person’s life. I used a document camera to project the cat character and trace it on bulletin board paper. Grab these Free Biography Spot Templates to make your own Literacy Week bulletin board!
Download the Free Biography Spots templates
Another favorite March writing activity for literacy week are these cat crafts made with student photos! Students wrote about something they know a lot about and their writing was priceless!
Download the free templates here
March Read Aloud Ideas
From St. Patrick’s Day to March Madness, there are so many fun read alouds that will help keep your class engaged all month long! Plus, many of them lead to great social emotional lessons, writing responses, and fun hands-on STEM activities!
1. How to Catch a Leprechaun
by Adam Wallace
The How to Catch books are a must for any holiday in the classroom. They are so much fun to read and the colorful illustrations will surely engage your students.
After reading this one, I love to pair it with a writing prompt (How would YOU catch a leprechaun) and then let students build their very own leprechaun trap!
2. The Gingerbread Man and the Leprechaun
by Laura Murray
I absolutely love using the Gingerbread Man during my December reading and writing units, so you can imagine my excitement when I found one to use in March!
This one is written like a comic book with rhyming lines! Your students will be begging to read this one on their own once it’s on your library shelves!
There are many writing activities you could pair with this (comic book, a new ending, a rhyming poem, etc), plus, the read aloud is perfect for teaching about context clues and inferencing!
3. That’s What Leprechauns Do
by Eve Bunting
This is such a fun March read aloud that is great for introducing fables and stories from other cultures.
My students love seeing the mischievous behavior of the 3 leprechauns and it provides the perfect background to having your students write their own Leprechaun adventure!
4. Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato
by Tomie dePaola
This Irish folklore is a must to add to your March read aloud collection. It’s an easy and silly read aloud that will immerse your class into all things leprechaun lore.
Bonus! There’s a super fun read aloud on Youtube if you do not have this book in your library!
5. Jamie O’Rourke and the Pooka
by Tomie dePaola
If your class loved Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato, you’re in luck…there’s a sequel! This second book in the collection revisits Jamie O’Rourke, the laziest man in all of Ireland.
And now, we find out he’s also the messiest. I can guarantee your class will be laughing throughout this read aloud.
6. Salt in His Shoes
by Deloris Jordan and Roslyn M. Jordan
Once the excitement of St. Patty’s Day is over, it’s time to move on to all things March Madness. Your sport-lovers in the class will love the following basketball books!
Salt in His Shoes is not only great for sports, BUT it also shows students the importance of hard work, teamwork, and determination.
7. Swish!
by Suzanne Slade
This is a fun one that a lot of students will be able to relate to from watching the Harlem Globetrotters in real life (if they haven’t seen them, be sure to find a fun video).
It discusses the history of the team in a very engaging way. It’s a great segue to discuss perseverance, dedication, and resiliency.
8. Above the Rim
by Jen Bryant
Not only is this a great story to add to your March collection, it’s one of my favorite picture book biographies!
It follows the life of Hall-of-famer, Elgin Baylor while discussing his challenges, set backs, and ultimately how he changed the game of basketball.
It’s inspiring, motivating, and a great read aloud!
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