I’m always on the lookout for new books to use with my students related to holidays and I recently found one for St. Patrick’s Day which is “The 12 Days of St. Patrick’s Day.”  I have used the other “The 12 Days of….” holiday books by Jenna Lettice and when I saw this one for St. Patrick’s Day I had to get it.  As usual I created some visuals to pair with the book along with visual questions.  I find using visuals as I read books with my students helps keep them engaged, build up vocabulary knowledge, and helps with their comprehension of the story.

The book counts down the 12 days until St. Patrick’s Day and each day targets a different item you find.  It start on the first day of St. Patrick’s Day and keeps repeating the previous day’s item(s).  “On the first day of St. Patrick’s I was lucky to find: A shamrock in a field of green.”  The student can find the visual of the Shamrock and then place it in the book.  Some of these vocabulary words might be new to our students. 

You can change the prompting depending on your student’s skill level.  You can reduce the visual field of pictures.  Give your student a visual field of 2-3 pictures to select from to match with the item for that day.  For example, on the third day of St. Patrick’s Day did you find “pies or hats”  After the student finds the hat they can attach it into the book.  Other students might be able to answer questions as you read the book.  As you look at the hats you can ask, “what color are the hats?”, “how many hats do you see?” or “where do you wear a hat?”

Another option is you can create a set of the visuals for each student in the group and give each student an “I found it…” board.  I’m only seeing small groups of 2 -3 students so I can hand each student a set of their own visuals to use.  Since I laminate the pictures and boards I can clean them before using them with another group of students.  As I read the book, I will have the students find the correct visual to match the picture in the book and attach it to their individual board.  For example, “On the eighth Day of St. Patrick’s, I was lucky to find: eight milkshakes melting.”  Have the students look at the visuals and find the milkshake picture and attach it on their board.  The students can work on expanding their language and saying “I found a milkshake” or “green milkshake” as they show you the picture and then place it on their board.  As you move to the next page the student can take off the milkshake picture and move it to the all done pile.   

Some of my students will be able to remember the previous day’s item and help me read/say the items as we add each new day.  Lots of great adjectives, verbs, and holiday vocabulary terms to model for your students.  Some concepts may be new for your student like “pipers”. 

After you finish the book you can have your students answer the questions.  I would read the first question and all three answer choices.  If the student knows the answer he/she could color/circle the picture.  Then I would go onto the second question.  You can refer back to the visuals to help your student answer the questions. 

If you are interested in using these visuals and questions with your students click the link – The 12 Days of St Patrick’s Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!