With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, students are probably all abuzz about wearing green, avoiding being pinched, and finding a lucky four-leaf clover! Shamrocks will adorn school classrooms, hallways, and clothing. So why are these leafy finds so lucky?
Students can find the above visual prompt in the Write About This gallery by searching the term clover. Have students select the picture and choose an appropriate Write About This prompt to start their planning.
1- Where might you be if you were walking through this? What does it remind you of?
2- Deer and rabbits might like to munch on this. Write a description of how it tastes to them and what they are thinking while they eat it.
3- Four-leaf clovers are supposed to be lucky. If you had one, what luck would it bring to you?
Have students share their responses and discuss any similarities and differences they hear from each other’s responses. Students can now work to generate their own main investigative question for further research. For example, students may want to compare and contrast different known lucky charms. Wonderopolis has great supplementary resources. This includes resources on lucky pennies and even the connection of shamrocks to St. Patrick. Once students have decided on their investigative question, have them complete a KWL chart. They can then generate their research questions/topics from the “What I Want To Know” column in an I-Chart. This is a great way for students to organize the evidence they gather during their research! They can take notes in the Write About This app and add their own audio interpretations to their notes as well.
Finally, have students review their original writing response from the Write About This prompt and write a report on their chosen investigative question in the Write About This app. They may want to build upon what they originally wrote and/or tie it in to the investigate response. Students can use their reports and research information (all in the Write About This app!) and participate in a class debate on “Are lucky charms real?”. The debate can be in a Socratic Seminar style for older students or an open forum for younger students.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Lani deGuia is a teacher, instructional technologist, and social media manager. She has over 13 years of educational experience in traditional and online classroom settings for both K-12 and adult learners. She currently works in digital content and strategy for businesses and personally blogs at Rose Tinted Traveler.