Kindergarteners at Ring Elementary School celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a leprechaun hunt throughout the school building. P-J photo by Katrina Fuller

“Are you ready for a leprechaun hunt?” their teacher asked, looking out over the students who were mostly clad in green.

“YES!” the kindergarteners bellowed in return, eager to get the search under way.

St. Patrick’s Day is a time-honored tradition at C.C. Ring Elementary School in Jamestown, thanks to the effort of teachers and staff. Kindergarten teachers Carrie Davenport and Jen Goshgarian said their students love the leprechaun hunt and other festivities held throughout the day.

“We have been working on leprechauns and magic and all things related to March for the past month,” Goshgarian said.

“We started off with a family project in which we asked parents to help make leprechaun traps at home. Through that, it was a STEM project, which focuses on science, technology, engineering and math.”

Davenport said the teachers were able to tie fun and the Common Core Learning Standards together for the family project. She said that gave parents a helpful look into how the Common Core works and what can be done with it.

Also, the students worked on weather by learning about rainbows, she said.

“We bring in some art, we talk about color-blending, we create rainbows, we write about rainbows,” Davenport said. “Our culminating activity is we see if we can catch a leprechaun. While they were at specials, the leprechauns ‘visited’ our rooms and we have pictures of them in our rooms thanks to a technology app that we have. Then, we go on a scavenger hunt where they can find what the leprechaun left us.”

Students gathered in a the large hallway, eager to get the hunt under way. The clues left by the leprechaun led students from the library to the cafeteria, down to the computer lab and finally, directed the students to the main office where Connie Foster, building principal, read the last clue. She sent the students back to their classrooms to find their treasure.

“I wonder what the treasure is,” Foster asked, as the students scurried to find out.