Leprechaun Classroom Visit - Activities for St. Patrick's Day

Hi Friends! March is exciting because it's not only when we host our Disability Awareness Day Event, but we also have a FUN visit from the Leprechaun!! AND I've put everything together into ONE KIT to make it easy for anyone else wanting to join the fun.

Your students will love receiving a letter from Blarney, the Leprechaun and making the magic dust he left behind to reveal pieces of GOLD!

Always a crowd pleaser and one of my favorites as well! The reactions are PRICELESS as students mix and squish to reveal their pieces of GOLD that magically appear! Which are actually pistachios inside of the pistachio pudding! This pudding typically sells out fast this time of year, so get yours asap and **be aware of any nut allergies you may have in your classroom FIRST!

Even if you can't do this activity due to nut allergies, your students will still have fun with these other activities included!

🍀Step-by-step details for how to plan the PERFECT Leprechaun visit to your classroom, a Leprechaun Trap Family Project, and a fun "You've Been Pinched" activity to do with your colleagues!

🍀Make Leprechaun Slime, do some Leprechaun Trivia and MORE!

🍀PLUS, writing activities and a fun Leprechaun Hat Craft!

🍀Also includes this fun gift tag to use with chocolate coins and two other gift tag options!

You can get this Complete Leprechaun Kit HERE and if you're interested in learning more about our Disability Awareness Day, you can read about it HERE.  

HOST YOUR OWN DISABILITY AWARENESS DAY EVENT

I get so excited every year about my Disability Awareness Day!! It brings so much awareness onto our school campus, is so life-changing for so so many, and it's so much fun for everyone! I recently posted about the event last month and many of you have reached out to me about how you would love to host your own Disability Awareness Day, but don't know where to start. So, today I'm sharing with you everything you need to know to host your own event.  

I have six stations. I number each station and place a large task card at each station with step-by-step directions for each task they will complete at that station. This also makes it super easy for your volunteers helping out to follow. I use clear, plastic photo frames from Dollar Tree for this, but you can also choose to tape the numbers and task cards on the table too. 

Here's a peek at each station.

Students begin this station by having a piece of sandpaper taped inside the back of their shirt and they must tolerate it as long as they possibly can.

 Students practice communicating using only picture symbols and other communication devices.

The static activity requires them to communicate with their peers and try to focus on an activity while background noise plays in their ears. You can achieve this by placing it on a radio station that is just static.

In this station, students get to feel what it might feel like to have an Intellectual Disability by completing a German test, the f's test, and trying to express themselves without using any words. The mother working this station said to me upon arrival, "Oh, I don't know German." And I said, "HaHa, that's the point." 

In this station, students try reading a jumbled passage that simulates what a child with a reading disability, such as Dyslexia, may see when they try to read. 

 Students also complete the "Brain Scatter" activity which challenges them to read the color, not the word. 

It's more challenging than you think!

This is always a favorite!

Students get to practice signing phrases, learn how to sign their name, and try to listen and have conversations with cotton balls in their ears.

 At this station, students learn what it might feel like to have a vision impairment by trying to copy a blurred passage from the board...

 They learn about Braille and get to make a Braille name tag.

 And they choose a slip of paper with a drawing task on it and try their luck at "Blind Drawing."

In this station, students see what it might feel like to have a physical impairment. 

 They try to go up and down steps and sit down with a yardstick taped to their leg.

 Another activity requires them to open and close containers using only one hand, and place socks or gloves on their hand and try to pick up pennies.

This is optional, and something new I did this year. Each participant received a cupcake at the end of the event. One of my mothers and volunteers made this sign since we held the event on WDSD this year.

Her and I also made awareness ribbons for all of the participants too, but again this is optional.

Following the event, I gave my volunteers a little gift. It's a note cube, a $10 Kohl's gift card, and an Autism Awareness heart pin. Again, optional, but I want my volunteers to know how much I appreciate them!

I have to brag a little here! This year our event even made front page headlines. Woohoo! 

And 2 of the classes even wrote thank you letters to us. 

I get so many questions about this event from people wanting to host their own. Since you may have many of the same questions, I've posted them here.

Q: What grades is this event for?
A: I host the event for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I feel that is a good age for them to begin to understand students with disabilities.

Q: How many students attend?
A: 156 students attended this year from six different classes. That included two 3rd grade classes, two 4th grade classes, and two 5th grade classes. 

Q: Do all students attend at once?
A: No, I break the event up into two sessions. There is a morning session and an afternoon session. 

Q: How long is each session? 
A: Each session is 2 hours and 15 minutes long. 

Q: How long is each station?
A: Each station is 20 minutes long, which equals 2 hours. The other 15 minutes is for my opening and closing statement.

Q: How do you manage the stations?
A: When students arrive, I count them off, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6....1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6....and over again until all students have been counted off. They go to the station that corresponds with the number they were given. Every 20 minutes, I blow a whistle and students rotate clockwise. I explain all of this to them in my opening statement.  

Q: Where do you host the event?
A: I host the event in our gymnasium. 

Q: Our students eat lunch in the gymnasium. How did you work around this?
A: All students have lunch outside on this day.

Q: How did I get volunteers for each station?
A: I send home a parent letter a couple of weeks prior. I only had two parents volunteer, so my husband and best friend also worked a station, and my two paras worked the other two stations. I also expect the teachers from the participating classes to help out too.

Q: Where are my students during the event?
A: My students are assigned to a station to assist with. 

Q: What are the blue and yellow folders each student has?
A: At the very first station, each student is given a sheet of 12x18 construction paper to fold in half and write their name on. They take this from station to station to store any activities they complete at each station.

Q: Where can I get the table signs and activities at that you used?
A: All of the signs, tasks, parent letters, and printables are available in my Disability Awareness Day Kit here.

Q: What other materials do I need to gather for the event?
A: If you have my kit, the only other materials you'll need to gather are yard sticks, masking tape, pennies, containers with lids, socks, blindfolds, radio/listening center, sandpaper, tape, cotton balls, scratch paper and pencils. 

The kit also includes a pretest and a post test that teachers can give to their students. 

I hope you'll consider hosting a Disability Awareness Day at your school to spread awareness, promote acceptance, and decrease bullying. The outcome is just amazing and touches so many!  

I hope you'll find the information I've shared helpful when hosting your own event! Don't hesitate to write me with any questions you may still have that weren't covered here.

February Math and Literacy Printables and Center Activities

Hello February! I had intentions to get this out sooner, but better late than never right?! I'm excited to share all of these February activities with you.  

February is Black History Month and what I love most about the Black History Mini Unit is that it features modern day heroes that our students can easily relate to. 

There's also an adapted book included for your lower level learners. 

Spark high interest and engagement with "Feed the Robot Beginning Sounds," and all of the beginning sound picture cards are February themed! Students choose a card, trace the beginning sound, and then feed it to the robot to discard it. A huge crowd pleaser!

Valentine Heart Cover! A fun and engaging activity  for practicing Doubles and Double + One.

 

February Writing Journals for Special Education! This is a year-long growing bundle and currently includes Oct. - Feb. These sets can be purchased individually, but Pssst...if you grab the bundle before March is added, you'll get the next SEVEN sets for FREE! Woohoo! You see, each time a new set is added, the price is increased $3.50.

Morning Work for Special Education! These daily sprints include 8 essential daily skills for students to practice and move at a pace that's perfect for special needs students. Also, available for every month of the year!

Chocolate SMASH! These smash activities are always a hit. Students can't wait to smash a chocolate on the smash mat with their "chocolate" Playdoh. This activity covers counting 1 - 20. 

Contraction SMASH! Another fun smash activity if you're working on contractions this month. Students choose a card and then find and smash the contraction on the smash mat. Then, they write the contraction. So fun!

Flip a Sentence for February! Trust me, even your reluctant writers will want in on this fun!

Valentine 10-frame addition! Students love anything with mini erasers. This activity includes 47 task cards for every possible addition fact with sums to 10. An answer key is also included making it easy for you to check their work later. 

Monster Addition to 20! This set includes 40 task cards and also includes an answer key. 

Feed the Monster! A fun activity for matching upper and lowercase letters. Students can match upper to lower, lower to upper, or upper to upper and vice versa. 

Valentine CVC Word Mapping! A fun new activity for February to correlates with the "Science of Reading." This set includes 84 CVC picture cards and is perfect for small groups, interventions, and literacy centers. 

February Math is one of our favorite units and is JAM PACKED with Sooooo many skills that cover the entire month of February!

Fun printables for the month of February! These are perfect for rainy day fun or early finishers and are also part of a growing bundle this is hugely discounted right now. 

Melting Kisses Science Experiment differentiated for 3 levels! Your students will have fun seeing how long it takes a kiss to melt in their mouth and comparing their times with their classmates. 

All of these fun Valentine gift tags can be found here.

And yes....there's freebies coming too!

Grab this counting freebie here.

Making tens freebie here. 

How cute is this Valentine Holder? :) Get the robot template here and attach to a paper gift bag!

Need a last minute activity for Groundhog Day? You can download this freebie here. 

Join in on the 28 day Kindness Day Challenge with us! February is a great month for a kindness challenge and it's free! It's editable so you can add your own acts of kindness and includes certificates to give students once they complete the challenge!

Share your Kindness Challenges with me on Instagram and tag me @thebenderbunch. 

Share this post with your teaching friends that can use some of these resources too! :)