Throughout the month of March we have been learning about St. Patrick’s Day. We have been reading books, learning fun facts about Ireland, and listening to Irish music. In one of the books that we read, we learned that on this day in Ireland, they turned the river green using green vegetables! Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and to celebrate we had a special guest in, Isla. C’s mom Sarah! Sarah is from Ireland and came to celebrate the Irish culture with us. Sarah brought in different activities for the children to explore, and get creative with. Sarah started off by introducing herself and reading a St. Patrick’s Day book to the children. We than went on a hunt to search for shamrocks that were hidden around the room. “Look we found them on the climber” shouted the children. Next, we started to explore the activities that Sarah had brought in for us. The children got a chance to explore all three tables, there was a playdough table, a table of gluing coloured squares onto the rainbow, and a table where the children got to glue shamrock’s, stickers and glitter onto coloured paper. Sarah explained to us that rainbows are importantly in the Irish culture because it symbolizes good luck and hope. We also learned that Shamrocks are an important part of Irish culture because they bring good luck and good fortune, especially if you find a shamrock with four leaves. We talked about that today in Ireland there will be parades in honour of St. Patrick, at these parades everyone is wearing green, and parading around listening and dancing to Irish music. In the afternoon we got a chance to make a special drink for afternoon snack, Shamrock milkshakes! The children helped by adding in the ice cream, milk, mint extract and the green food colouring. before we turned the blender on the children were able to predict what was going to happen. We than turned the blender on and watched it as it all mixed together, sitting together to enjoy our shamrock milkshakes for afternoon snack. Today we were able to experience a little bit of insight into Irish culture, and be apart of this special day for Isla and everyone who is Irish. We were able to use our fine motor skills to pick up the shamrocks, the glitter, and the gold coins. We were also able to communicate with Sarah and get to know her better! We appreciate Sarah coming in and giving us a chance to learn about the Irish culture.
