St Brigid’s Day Lesson Ideas
There’s a lot of themes this month and next to explore, St Brigid’s Day, while not a theme as such, is a nice topic to cover over the next couple of days given that it falls on Saturday. It was my favourite day when I was in primary school because we got the day off school for it! I never quite mastered how to make the crosses though! Here are some simple ideas and links if you are doing a lesson on St Brigid with the junior classes.
History/ religion/ Story and discussion: Share the story of St. Brigid, highlighting her acts of kindness and all the good she did in her life. Ask students how St. Brigid’s story might inspire them today. What qualities do they admire in her, such as her compassion or her generosity. If your class are old enough they could write a diary entry from her point of view or a comic strip. If you have senior infants they might do a picture, a comic strip and maybe some simple sentences with scaffolding in place.
Art:
Making crosses: Teach students how to make traditional St. Brigid’s Crosses out of reeds or straw (or simpler materials like paper or pipe cleaners.
Explore simple Celtic patterns and designs. the children some basic Celtic knot designs or spirals. Provide colouring sheets with Celtic patterns for them to colour in. The children could try to draw their own simple Celtic patterns, even if it’s just a few lines or loops
Create a “Kindness Tree” in the classroom. Cut out leaf shapes from coloured paper. Each time a child performs a kind act, they write it on a leaf and stick it on the tree. At the end of the week (or month), they can look at all the good deeds they’ve done. Link the activity back to St. Brigid by discussing how she showed kindness to others and how we can all do the same
Links:
https://dublin.epicchq.com/st-brigids-day-pack-2022
https://www.educationthroughcreation.com/downloads/p/st-brigids-day-pack-both-class-levels