Kindness Shamrocks: Kind or Unkind Sort for SEL Curriculum

Inside: Use this kindness shamrocks activity to teach sel curriculum in a fun, hands-on way this March to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

I’m about 9% Irish, but during the month of March, the percentage increases and we go big to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. We make corned beef and Irish soda bread and look for leprechauns and four-leaf clovers.

We bring out the green pillows and the gold pieces our kids have collected from the leprechauns over the years and all our shamrocks.

We also love focusing on March and the luck o’the Irish with our I am Lucky Shamrock Shape Poem and our St. Patrick’s Day Kindness Notes and our March Family Volunteer Challenge.

All things that help focus on kindness while celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.

This Kindness Shamrocks Activity is a perfect blend of March and social emotional learning, perfect for St. Patrick’s Day learning.

Why Social Emotional Learning is Important

Social-Emotional Learning is a crucial part of any classroom’s lesson plans.

Related: Why We Should Teach SEL

It teaches our students problem solving skills, critical thinking skills and positive relationship skills. It builds up their Emotional Intelligence, helps bully-proof them, and research has shown that it improves their academic success.

But to make social emotional learning and character education effective, we have to make it consistent, set clear expectations from our students, intentionally teach them the skills they need to be kind, and make it fun.

To do that we can use Kindness Books like these, our 60 Kindness Conversation Starters, and fun, hands-on sel curriculum like our Kindness Shamrock Kind or Unkind Sort Activity.

What’s Included in the Kindness Shamrock Kind or Sort Activity:

24 shamrocks with kindness or unkindness clipart in color
24 shamrocks with kindness or unkindness clipart in black and white
Kind and Unkind sorting rainbows in color and black and white
Kindness worksheet to help kids show what they know and determine what is kind and what is not kind in color and black and white
2 writing sheets: 1 for early writers/prewriters and 1 for writers.

How to Use the Kindness Shamrocks Activity

1. Purchase and print and laminate the cards and the Kind or Not Kind Rainbows. If you print them in black and white, you can color in
the cards first. We used these skin color crayons!

2. Cut apart the cards.

3. Go over the pictures on the cards to ensure children understand what the picture depicts. You can use these as discussion starters before or after the activity.

4. The students will sort the cards by kind actions or unkind actions by placing the cards near the correct rainbow. They can work in small groups in centers, independently, or as a whole group with a pocket chart.

5. To follow up the activity, students can complete the worksheet to show their understanding and circle the things that are kind and cross of the things that are unkind.

6. To connect to writing and language arts studies, draw a picture/write how they will choose to be kind this season. Prewriters can dictate their answers and then draw a picture.