St. Patrick’s Day is a fun and festive holiday celebrated by many people around the world. It’s a great chance for you to dive into important social-emotional learning topics with your students too! Explore feelings, friendship, empathy, and coping skills with your students using engaging resources and relatable children’s books. Check out these 4 counseling and SEL ideas for St. Patrick's Day to make teaching on this holiday a breeze!
4 Counseling and SEL Ideas for St. Patrick's Day
- Feelings
- Friendship
- Empathy
- Coping Skills
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Teaching Feelings
First up… feelings! Helping children identify and understand their emotions is crucial for their overall well-being. When they can express their feelings, they are better equipped to communicate their needs, ask for help, and better understand others.
Resource
Use this Color the Feelings: St. Patrick's Day Edition resource to teach even your youngest learners about emotions that everyone feels. They will learn about anger, sadness, worry, fear, and happiness AND how to cope with them as they have fun coloring.
This resource includes 10 different coloring page options and features several different St. Patrick’s Day characters to keep your little ones engaged as they work.
Book
Read Sam the Luckiest Clover by EVERY KID to help your students make deeper connections to common feelings they experience.
Summary
Sam is a clover, the luckiest one around. He and his friends experience a variety of emotions and learn about the reactions and consequences that are often associated with them. As Sam brags about how lucky he is, children learn about the importance of friendships, the power words have, and showing humility.
Friendship
Friendship is another very important SEL concept in elementary school. Strengthening friendships and fostering a sense of belonging is essential for all students.
Resource
This Build a Leprechaun Friend activity promotes positive friendship qualities. Students “build” a leprechaun friend with attributes that they would want to have in a friend.
This resource also provides an opportunity for students to practice communication and problem solving skills while considering how to be a friend and how to keep friends. It’s perfect to use in small or large group counseling sessions!
Book
Read Pete the Cat: The Great Leprechaun Chase by James Dean with your students to further reinforce positive friendship skills.
Summary
It's St. Patrick's Day, and it's also the grand opening of Pete the Cat's leprechaun-catching business. Pete gears up to trap a leprechaun for his friends so they can have good luck. But catching a leprechaun is never easy– especially if it’s Clover, who's full of tricks. In the end, Pete realizes that having friends who care is all the luck anyone needs!
This book is a wonderful story to read to students to talk about what makes a good friend.
Empathy
Empathy is also a vital social-emotional learning skill to teach to elementary students. Kids need empathy to build positive relationships and understand others’ perspectives.
Resource
Use this Walk in My Leprechaun Shoes activity to encourage students to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and consider how they feel. It’s a great resource to promote understanding, perspective-taking, and compassion.
This resource is a must-have for small groups of students who are struggling to make and keep friends or for large groups when introducing empathy as a new concept.
Book
Read Whiskers Finds His Luck by Shana Gorian to your students to help them connect further to this topic.
Summary
Whiskers is a cat out wandering on a nice spring day. As he’s out, he surprisingly finds a leprechaun! Whiskers and the leprechaun begin to get to know each other and begin to search for a special treasure. Whiskers learns what it really means to have luck!
Encourage students to consider how they would feel if they were in Whisker’s place in this beautifully written and illustrated book.
Coping Skills
Finally, teach your students about coping skills! Teaching them effective coping skills is so important for managing different emotions, stress, and anxiety in various situations.
Great coping skills to start with include:
- Mindfulness exercises
- Deep breathing
- Journaling
- Visiting the classroom calm corner
When students begin to learn how to regulate their feelings and reactions, they are better equipped to handle challenges and conflicts.
Resource
These FREE Rainbow Breathing cards are a great tool to use to help students practice deep breathing. Breathing exercises like the Rainbow breathing technique help with relaxation and reduce stress and anxiety.
These cards are available to print in 8 different versions to best suit your students’ needs:
- From your Teacher
- From your School Counselor
- From your School Social Worker
- From your School Psychologist
- From your Principal
- From your SLP
- From your Mom
- From your Dad
Book
Finish up your St. Patrick’s Day counseling unit by reading Gritty Ninja and the St. Patrick’s Day Race by Mary Nihn.
Summary
The Ninjas have a very special day ahead and to celebrate they are having a St. Patrick's Day race! The race is a grand tradition, It’s held over 400 yards. A win might just be in the cards this year! This book highlights the importance of having a good work ethic and using coping skills.
Incorporating these important counseling and SEL ideas for St. Patrick's Day promotes a supportive and inclusive school environment for all students. Don’t underestimate the power you have in developing strong social-emotional skills for your students that will last them a lifetime!
You might also be interested in reading:
5 EASY Spring Counseling and SEL Ideas for Elementary Students - Heart and Mind Teaching
7 EASY Tips to Encourage Positive Behavior in the Classroom
You might also be interested in these products:
Behavior Intervention Toolbox BUNDLE Classroom Interventions
Social Skills Small Group Counseling Curriculum
Lemons into Lemonade - Resilience Activity
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