Hey Valentine!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and I wanted to spread the love by sharing some fun activities I've done with my students to celebrate the day.  It's important to me that we continue on with the learning we've been doing before these holidays arise in the classroom, but still recognize that there's a little something special about the day.  On Valentine's Day I try to make the day a little sweeter (but just a little ... don't want those sugar highs) and remind them that learning is a treat!

Last year just before Valentine's Day I was getting really frustrated with the apostrophe errors I kept seeing occur in their daily writing.  So, I whipped up a little writing assignment where I asked them to include apostrophes in their writing - 10 for contractions and 10 to show possession.  I had them leave their writing out, and I quickly went around the classroom while they were gone for recess, placing a little red hot candy heart on top of each correct apostrophe they had.

We were also just starting our geometry unit in math, so I broke out the conversation hearts for a little practice with measuring angles.  Students chose a few different conversation hearts, and rewrote the phrase from the heart on their paper, using block letters.  From there, they measured as many angles as they could on each of the letters, marking the measurements right on the paper.  They then added up the measurements to find the total value for each phrase.  The students had a blast trying to figure out which phrase was "worth" the most.  

If you'd like to try either of these activities with your students, I've made and shared some printables for them.  Just click HERE or on the image below to grab the two printables.

I also have another little activity set I have shared for reading comprehension.  The two activities make a fabulous bulletin board display for Valentine's Day.  Students use technology to create a heart-shaped display with the answers to the reading comprehension questions provided.  There is also a fun art activity for students to complete (we found it to be perfect to work on while we were waiting for everyone to finish on the computers).  I LOVE the 3D effect the curved lines create.  Click  HERE or on the picture to the right to grab a copy for yourself.

And because we LOVE our Drama Circles, I had to make a little Valentine's Day Drama Circle to celebrate the day.  This one is full of ridiculously corny riddles and jokes for the students to act out ... so much fun!  You can click on the title above or the picture to the right to take a peek at it in my TpT store.  

Cheers to a day where learning is a treat!