The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day

Book Spotlight: The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day

Welcome to the STEMHAX Book Spotlight. Today, we explore The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day. This is a fun book to share with K-3 students for St. Patrick’s Day. This book can be used to make a connection to engineering and art. The story is written on the rhyme and stanza style of Clement Clark Moore’s famous poem The Night Before Christmas, which was first published in 1823. You can read more about the history of the poem on Parade.com.

Overview

The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day is one of many books in the series written by Natasha Wing, and was first published in 2009. Two young children want to catch a leprechaun so they set up traps. In the morning, mom prepares a green egg breakfast and dad plays the bagpipes, when they hear a noise and believe they have caught a leprechaun. Will he give them his gold or will he play a trick on the children? Read the story (or watch it below) to find out.

The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day – Read Aloud

Exploring The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day with Young Learners

First, start with a book cover inspection. Show children the cover of the book, and ask, “what do you think this book is about?” Follow this with some open ended questions to get their minds warmed up.

• What season is the story taking place?
• What are some of the clues?
• Why did the illustrator draw the design on the flag?
• Can you predict some of the main characters in the story?
• What do you know about St. Patrick’s Day?
• What do you know about leprechauns?

After reading the book for the first time, ask more open-ended questions. Remember there are no wrong answers. Some questions might include:

• What patterns are in the story?
• Why did Tim and Maureen decorate the house?
• What did the kids use to attract the leprechaun? Why?
• Why did they want to catch the leprechaun?
• How did the kids feel when “there arose such a clatter?”
• Why was the bedroom a mess?
• Why were the rocks marked with an X in the backyard?
• What do you think the kids will do different next year?
• What steps did the kids use to catch the leprechaun?

Vocabulary

We have a generic book companion packet that works perfectly with this book, or any with a St. Patrick’s Day theme. It can be found in my TPT Store.

• bagpipes – a musical instrument with a wind bag and pipes.
• cobbler – a person who mends shoes.
• decked out – fancy.
• Irish – people from Ireland.
• Leprechaun – a small tricky creature from Irish folklore.
• nested – settled comfortably.
• shamrock – a plant, or type of clover.
• trinket – a small item of little value.
• wee – tiny.
• wriggling – twisting and turning movements.

Fun Fact

Did you know that leprechauns are cranky little fairies? According to the article 7 Surprising Facts About St. Patrick’s Day, they were most likely cranky because their job was to mend the shoes of other fairies.

About the Author

Natasha Wing is a pretty amazing and accomplished children’s author. She has written over 30 books in her The Night Before series. She has also written other trade books, including non-fiction books. You can read more about her over at NatashWing.com!

About the Illustrator

Amy Wummer has illustrated over 50 children’s books. She is the illustrator for Natasha Wing’s The Night Before series. Her art is very appealing to young children. She has won numerous awards. You can read more about her on PenguinRandomHouse.com.

FREE Sample Pages

We have an affordable packet available in our TPT store. CLICK===>HERE for a FREE download of a few of the pages.

Fun Learning Ideas for St. Patrick’s Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

We have a generic St. Patrick’s Day companion available in our TPT Store. Many of the activities are FREE in other blog posts. We were inspired by this book to create this companion packet. Our hope is that you find this content a time saver in your lesson planning.

Thank You

We appreciate you taking the time to learn about this great read aloud The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day. Please consider following our YouTube Channel for more read aloud books relating to academic interest subjects.

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