Valentine Writing

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Home : 2005 : January : 24

Valentine Writing
By JulieS

First I review and discuss other words to use instead of said. We then practice using a few of the hearts. For example: "Love U," whispered Peter. "UR mine!" yelled Sara.
I give each of the students eight candy
hearts. (I take out the hearts that seem inappropriate) Then I pair them with a friend. (16 hearts can be used only once each) They use the hearts to write a conversation. They can either write the phrase the way it is on the heart or write it using the correct spellings. However, the sentences or phrases have to have to have all the correct punctuation.This is a great way to practice

using commas, exclamation marks, question marks, and quotation marks. It also gives them a chance to use other words besides said ( "said" cannot be used in this activity).
My students love this activity. They also love reading them aloud. I ask them to read them the way they wrote them. Whispering or yelling, crying, etc. They laugh so hard sometimes I have to volunteer to help them read what they wrote.

The other great thing about this activity is that I hear them reading them to each other over and over throughout the day. I also notice that after this activity their dialog writing improves a great deal.