Use Irish Folk Tales to Teach Making Connections
St. Patrick's Day Compare and Contrast Reading Lesson Plan
Feb 21, 2009
Both Harp O' Gold by Teresa Bateman [Holiday House, 2001] and The Leprechaun's Gold by Pamela Duncan Edwards [HarperCollins, 2006] tell tales that involve harpists, leprechauns, leprechaun gold, magic harps, and the themes of winning fame and fortune through music. The similar plot elements make these two trade picture books well-suited for an elementary reading lesson plan in which students practice the reading comprehension skills of comparing and contrasting and making text-to-text connections.
How to Share Harp O' Gold
Read the title and display the front and back covers of the book. Have students identify details that give clues as to what the plot will be about, such as the man, the leprechaun, and the harp that each character is holding. Ask students to compare and contrast the two harps, or identify ways they are alike and different.
Then, read the book aloud, asking students to pay attention to how Tom's situation changes over the course of the story. As students listen to the story, pause from time to time make sure students can answer questions about the plot such as what Tom wants at the beginning of the story, how the leprechaun tries to solve Tom's problem, how well the solution works, and what Tom does to make himself happy at the end.
Once the book is over, have students practice making comparisons and contrasts by asking them to compare and contrast parts of the story such as the following:
- Tom's old wood harp (and the music it makes) and the leprechaun's gold harp (and the music it makes)
- the people who enjoy hearing music from the old harp and the people who enjoy hearing music from the golden harp
- what Tom believes will make him happy and what actually makes him happy
How to Share The Leprechaun's Gold
Read the title and display the book's cover. Have students describe what they see and predict how the man and the leprechaun will get along in this story. Then ask students to compare and contrast how the leprechaun looks on the front cover with how he looks on the back cover.
Then, read the book aloud, asking students to pay attention to how Old Pat's situation changes over the course of the story. As students listen to the story, pause from time to time make sure students can answer questions about the plot such as how Old Pat and Young Tom feel about making music at the beginning of the story, why they are traveling together, what Young Tom does to Old Pat's harp and why, how and why Old Pat helps the leprechaun, how the leprechaun rewards Old Pat, and who wins the harping contest at the end and why.
Once the book is over, have students practice making comparisons and contrasts by asking them to compare and contrast parts of the story such as the following:
- Old Pat and Young Tom's attitudes at the beginning of the story about when and why to play music for people
- how Old Pat and Young Tom each react to the idea of helping the leprechaun
- how well Old Pat and Young Tom each play in the contest
- how Young Tom's attitude at the end of the story compares with his attitude throughout the rest of the story
- how Old Pat's final situation compares with his situation at the beginning of the story
How to Practice Making Text-to-Text Connections and Comparing and Contrasting
Note that sometimes readers can make connections between two stories and compare and contrast them. Ask students to make text-to-text connections between these two stories such as:
- both Tom the minstrel and Old Pat get a new harp
- each harp is a leprechaun gold harp
- audiences react to the music made by the main character of each story
For assessment, have students write a paragraph making text-to-text connections and comparing and contrasting these two Irish folk tales. Ask students to discuss a question such as in what ways can leprechauns be helpful to humans, for what kinds of audiences do musicians enjoy playing best, and whether fame is always bad.
This elementary reading lesson plan can be used as a St. Patrick's Day reading lesson plan or at any time to give students practice with comparing and contrasting and with making connections between texts. Being able to identify similarities and differences between two texts will improve students' understanding of the stories they read and their ability to interpret plots and themes.
Teachers and parents can use other Irish folktales to teach other reading comprehension skills or practice writing skills, or use shamrocks in elementary math activities.
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