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St. Patrick's Day is a fun holiday for many school children. The bright colors, cute characters and symbols such as the pot of gold, the four-leaf clover and the rainbow, fit perfectly with a child's imagination. It is also a terrific time to change the ordinary math lesson into a fun-filled activity for Elementary school students.

Whole-Class Activities

The Pot of Gold

In this fun week-long activity, children gather coins to fill a pot of gold. The money raised can be donated to charity or used to purchase something for the classroom. Each day, the students give the money they have brought in to the classroom to the teacher. During the math portion of the day, the teacher guides the children in adding the coins together before putting them into the pot of gold. This teaches addition and money values, along with social responsibility and charity.

Rainbow Relay

Before the teacher begins the activity, they will need to string long pieces of colored yarn across the length of the classroom, one color for each group. This represents the rainbow. Then they will need to cut out a leprechaun for each group and hang them by a paperclip to the yarn. Finally, the class is broken up into several groups and each group is given a color of the rainbow that corresponds with the color of yarn. During the math class that week, the teacher should ask the students various math questions that correspond to their curriculum. If a group gets the question correct, the teacher moves that group's leprechaun a little closer to the opposite side of the classroom. The goal is to be the first group to reach the other side of the rainbow.

Small Group Activities

Flash-Card Coins

Students enjoy working together and playing the teacher. This activity lets them do both. Every pair of students should be given several small circles cut from yellow paper and a container to be used as a pot of gold. The children write one math problem on each coin. The teacher may want to instruct them to write addition, subtraction, or multiplication problems so that the math is relevant to their current level. After they are done writing the problems, one student gathers the cards together and shows them, one at a time, to their partner. If their partner answers the problem correctly, it is put into the pot of gold. If they do not get it correct, it goes back into the pile of cards.

Math Skits

Students do not often get to mix theater with math, but this idea allows them to do just that. In groups of

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