Tomie dePaola St. Patrick's Day Trio

Tomie dePaola is known for sharing tales from both his Irish heritage and his Italian heritage. I admire his love for his roots and have enjoyed many of his books over the years. (I'm a Strega Nona fangirl!)

In class, I've been reading St. Patrick's Day books during snack time since the beginning of the month. We've had the opportunity to read not one, not two, but THREE of his St. Patrick's Day books.

First, we read Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato. Jamie O'Rourke is known far and wide as the laziest man in Ireland. His long-suffering wife, Eileen, does everything that is necessary for them to survive. When Eileen's back goes out, Jamie is faced with the reality of having to provide for them. Let's just say he doesn't handle it in the conventional way :)

Later, we read Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka. Jamie is back and still the laziest man in Ireland. Eileen goes on a trip and leaves Jamie to contend with the daily chores, and he responds by deciding to stay in bed the entire time she is gone. As we all know, the best laid plans... and his pals show up to whoop it up in Eileen's absence. When Jamie wakes the next morning, the whole house is clean and he decides to try his luck again and discovers a pooka has been doing his chores. Hmmmm, how will Jamie respond to this good news?

These girls 😍 Both of these books are illustrated in dePaola's trademark style, using a St. Paddy's palette.

To top off our week, we read Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland, dePaola's retelling of the life of St. Patrick. We learned about his life from the time he was captured to be a slave until his death. Be prepared to explain religious vocabulary - most of my students didn't have a frame of reference for missionary, bishop, patron saint, etc...

We had a great follow-up discussion the next morning during our Morning Meeting about how brave he was and what it means to be brave. I showed them this video and asked them to look at what people were writing on the signs. We talked about how bravery is not just about risking your life for something you believe in, but we are brave whenever we do something we know is right even though it frightens us or makes us uncomfortable.

I'll bet your local library has these on the shelves!

If you're looking for a fun, easy prep St. Paddy's math activity, head on over to my TPT store! I've got Lucky Charms math packs for bother upper and lower elementary classes.

Looking for more St. Patrick's Day book suggestions? Click here.
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