Why do we celebrate St. Patrick's Day? Informative Essay Activity

It’s almost March, and in the U.S. that means businesses and schools are decorated with cardboard shamrocks, cartoon leprechauns, and obscene amounts of green glitter—all in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

Many Americans participate in this verdant holiday, but do they ever ask themselves why? Why do we don green (instead of blue) and pinch each other on March 17th? Why do we attend parades and cheer on floats bedecked with pots of gold? Who was Saint Patrick, and why is his holiday such a big deal here?

Where there are questions, there is ripe opportunity for an essay! Thus, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I offer up the following informative essay activity to help students think a little more deeply about why we plaster our classrooms with shamrocks every March.

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St. Patrick's Day Informative Essay Activity

Materials Needed:

“New York Today: Defining St. Patrick’s Day” – The New York Times
“St. Patrick’s Day” – Britannica
“History of St. Patrick’s Day” – History.com
“First St. Patrick’s Day parade” – History.com
Informative Essay Graphic Organizer (Google Doc or PDF versions)
Pens, pencils, highlighters (if printing out the articles and graphic organizer)

Essential Question:

Why do we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S.?

Procedures:

Introduce the essential question, and then conduct an informal discussion in which students brainstorm reasons why we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Have students read each article and highlight/annotate for evidence that answers the essential question. (If you are not printing the articles, I suggest having students copy and paste evidence in a Google Doc.)
Once students have read and annotated the articles for evidence, they can review what they’ve found and identify up to three reasons we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S.
After students have identified their reasons, they can plug them into the informative essay graphic organizer (Google Doc or PDF versions). Encourage them to find two pieces of evidence for each of their reasons.
Next, students will complete the introduction portion of the graphic organizer. (They can review hook strategies, bridges, and thesis statements here.)
Finally, have students complete the conclusion portion of the graphic organizer. (They can review touch back, look to the future, go to the heart, and end with a zinger strategies here.)
Now students are ready to write!
Once students have finished writing, invite them to share what they learned with the class.

Example Thesis:

Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day because of the influence of St. Patrick, the celebrations of early explorers and soldiers, and the Irish diaspora’s use of St. Patrick’s Day parades to bolster their political power in the 19th century.

The example thesis outlines an informative essay that will use the following reasons to explain why Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day:

Body Paragraph 1: Who St. Patrick was and why he’s important
Body Paragraph 2: The early Irish explorers and soldiers who brought the St. Patrick’s feast to the U.S.
Body Paragraph 3: How Irish immigrants used the St. Patrick’s Day parade to boost their political power in the 19th century

example Body Paragraph:

For informative body paragraphs, I prefer the PEEL method: Point, Evidence, Explain/Elaborate, and Link. Here’s an example body paragraph for the thesis above using the PEEL method:

Notice how the last sentence links to the next body paragraph, which is about how Irish immigrants used the St. Patrick’s Day parade in the 19th century to bolster their political power.

Do you observe St. Patrick’s Day in your classroom? What are some of your favorite St. Patty’s Day activities? Let me know in the comments, or email me at maskedmotif@super-ela.com.