Kindergarten Planet: Leprechaun Shenanigans!

What a wild week it was last week! It was only a 4 day week with students because Friday was a grading day for teachers. I was so consumed with finishing up my testing, being able to get back to teaching after the previous week where it was all testing, and getting my report cards done, that I almost forgot about the leprechauns!!!! This is one of my favorite times in the school year! So, on Thursday morning, LITERALLY when the bell rang, I quickly threw together a mess and a note from the leprechauns. It worked! They were so surprised and shocked to find the mess and note, and it was a good conversation on and off all day.

I love the expression of the boy on the left!!!!

We read the note and then they got to cleaning right away!

For throwing this together at the last minute, it worked out pretty well!

I sent home a note in my homework packet about making leprechaun traps. It is optional, but a few kiddos brought some in. After the excitement on Thursday, several more sad they would be making traps over the weekend. It would be fun if more came in on Monday. Look at these cute traps!

The note on his says "Leprechauns Not Welcome!" and then he has a bunch of strapping tape at the bottom of the hat where the leprechaun will get stuck once he falls in.

The next two are pretty similar with shiny coins and a lever system where the cup will lower and catch the leprechaun when he tries to get the gold!

Each child explained to the class how their trap works. The students were so excited about this and then I had them turn and tell a friend what type of trap they would make if they were to bring one in on Monday.

Later in the day, we did a directed drawing of a leprechaun. I have done this for years with my students. The drawings are adorable!!!

They loved how their drawings turned out and they loved coloring the leprechaun! I gave them some guidelines as to how to color, but ultimately told them that it was their drawing and they could color it how they wanted.

This "Leprechaun Directed Drawing" is actually a freebie in my TpT store and you can find it here! Enjoy :)

I also have another favorite activity that we do in class. It is a fun positional word activity. A leprechaun is looking for gold and goes all over trying to find it. It is an interactive book and the students love it.

If this is something you are interested in, you can find it here!

Since I had a work day on Friday, I was able to accomplish this:

Phew! Report cards done! I printed them out first thing on Friday and went over them and made any edits/changes that I needed to. I then printed them again, got them stuffed, and they are ready to go home with the students. What a good feeling. :)

We have conferences this Wed evening and all day Thursday. This is only a three day week with students. Friday begins our spring break. (Yahoo!) It is a comp day since we work WED and THURS night. On Friday, my husband and I are headed to Denver, CO. My husband is presenting at the ACS (American Chemical Society) Conference and both of my brothers live there so it is a mix of business and pleasure. I am super excited!!!! But, these next 4 days will be busy and we still have a lot to do before our break comes.

The students will be surprised to come into the classroom to find the leprechauns have been back! The traps have glitter on them and we have another note and mess in our rooms. Our leprechauns, Sean and Molly, sure like to have fun in our room!