The Irish folk tale Too Many Leprechauns: Or How That Pot o' Gold Got to the End of the Rainbow [Simon & Schuster, 2007] makes a fun St. Patrick's Day read-aloud book. Elementary teachers can also use its plot in an elementary reading lesson plan to teach students how to use text clues and use picture clues to make and check predictions as they read.
Introduce the Reading Strategy of Making Predictions
Explain to students that as good readers read, they are always thinking about what they have just read and asking themselves what will happen next. As they read on, they confirm whether their predictions were correct and then make new predictions about what will happen next.
How to Introduce the Book
Read the title, display the front and back covers, and have students describe the details they see in each picture. Invite students to share any prior knowledge they have about leprechauns, pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, and the work that leprechauns do.
Next, flip through the pages of the book so students can preview the pictures. Remind students that good readers try to use picture clues to predict what will happen next. Have students make predictions about what they think the book will be about. Tell students that they should check and adjust their predictions as the book is read.
Share the Book and Teach Making Predictions and Checking Predictions
Read the book to students, pausing from time to time to have them use their prior knowledge, information from the text, and picture clues to make predictions and/or check predictions. Predictions they might make include:
- what is amiss in the village when Finn returns home
- what Finn is up to when he first criticizes the shoes Dobb and Wattle have made
- why Finn continues to criticize the shoes and make all the leprechauns angry
- why Finn thinks that the leprechaun's love for their gold could be their undoing
- why Finn is counting on the leprechauns to bring all the shoes to the village square
- what Finn is doing when he is not meeting the leprechauns
- why the leprechaun gold might have disappeared, and where it might be
- why Finn looks up at the clearing sky when taking the leprechauns to show them their gold
For assessment, have students explain what clues and information they are using to make each prediction and how they can tell after they have read on whether their predictions are correct or not. Finish by discussing how making and checking predictions helped students follow the plot and understand the details of what they were reading.
Integrated Enrichment Activities
- For another reading activity, discuss how this folktale is an origin tale, or a story that explains why something in the world is the way it is. Have students compare it to other Irish origin tales such as The Hungry Leprechaun by Mary Calhoun [William Morrow and Company, 1962] or Fiona's Luck by Teresa Bateman [Charlesbridge, 2007].
- For an earth science activity, discuss rainbows and when and how they form. Point out clues in the pictures and text that indicate what the weather conditions are before and after the rainbow forms. Then, use a spray of water and sunshine to create a rainbow.
- For an economics activity, discuss how the leprechauns manufacture shoes for the fairies in exchange for gold, focusing on Dobb's statement that the more shoes he makes for the fairies, the more gold he gets.
- For an art activity, have students use craft supplies such as construction paper and/or clay to design and craft their own fairy shoes.
This elementary reading lesson plan can be used as part of a unit on folktales or as a standalone St. Patrick's Day reading lesson plan. Mastering the ability to make predictions as they read will help students become better readers who develop their critical reading and thinking skills and understand texts more completely.
Teachers and parents can use other Irish folktales to teach other reading comprehension skills or practice writing skills, or use shamrocks in elementary math activities.
Renee Carver - Renée Carver has an Elementary Education degree and over ten years of experience writing and editing children's educational products.
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