We use white lunch bags and let the kids decorate them with hearts cut from construction paper, crayons, stickers,ect. I usually do this the day before our party and sit them on a shelf so that the kids can go down the row and put in their cards.
"This is a very special gift
That you can never see
The reason that it's special
It's just for you from me
Whenever you are lonely
Or when you're feeling blue
You only have to hold this
gift and know I think of you
You never can unwrap it
Please leave the ribbon tied
Just hold this box close to your heart
It's filled with love inside
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
I'm not sure where I got the poem, so I'm sorry I can't give credit where it is due. In skimming through the posts, here, others have mentioned giving "no homework" coupons for Valentine's Day which reminded me of the ones I've used in the past. They've always been very well received ;) !!
I know some teachers do not have the children put student names on the cards. That way they can just walk up and down the desks giving out the cards. I prefer having them write each child's name on it. It takes longer to pass out, but it is more personal. I have the children create a Valentine box at home and bring it in to show during the party. I have seen teachers staples hearts on a board with each kids name. Staple only around the bottom and the cards get dropped inside. They have one kid at a time go up during class and put them in the hearts.
I don't really have any ideas, thanks for planting the seed! Acrostics are always a stand by. Maybe writing a Valentine to a family member/veteran/elderly that uses simile or metaphor. You are as sweet as_____. You make me as ___ as ____. Love is ____ as____. You could probably write a poetry frame using simile pretty easily.
How about those love is cartoons. Remember those? They could write and illustrate one.
I'll keep thinking!
Since 100th day is always so close to Valentine's Day (I teach a 1st/2nd grade class) I have many hearts die-cut and give each student a few to take home. Their task is to have family help complete the hearts in short phrases. Some of them come back with very touching replies - "playing cards with Grandpa" "petting my dog" "going to Aunt Jane's house", etc. Then we post them on the bulletin board forming a giant heart shape with the title in the center. They love to stop and read/reread it all the time! I have used this as a kick-off to get the students thinking about writing what they love about their family/friends/life, etc.
a couple days ago, someone posted about valentine party activities, and i posted that i had a fun game that partnered famous couples (fred and wilma, garfield and odie...) but some were obscure (mork and mindy, daddy warbucks and whomever, dick tracy and his gal...) and that it had to be modified/updated. i almost posted and asked for ideas, but (no offense) i decided it would just be faster and easier to sit down for a few minutes and think of some my 6th graders could do.
so i did and here it is--25 pairs--hope you can use it!
Have kids first make an ESTIMATE for each of the following:
How many are in the cup/box?
How many can you stack on your index finger before they fall off?
stack on desk . . .
How many, laid end to end, are in a foot?
graph by color, # of words, sayings, vowels & consonants, parts of speech
write fractions of each color and have them simplify those fractions- if kids have an odd # of hearts, I give them one more so they have to do more simplifying.
i like to do games/activities where the students will earn prizes at the end--this keeps them interested and motivated!
take those colored m&m's and have students suck through a straw to separate them into pink, white, red (don't give too many though, they'll hyperventilate!)
heart relay--teams of students: each one gets a paper heart and a straw--they have to suck the heart and carry it to the end of room and drop in bowl--if it drops, they must stop and suck it back up
how many words can you get out of HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY?
i'm sure there are valentine crossword puzzles/word searches online. (i like to do very few active games and many seatwork games--often even educational--just to keep the party from being a screaming match--keeps up my sanity lev...
Valentine "Conversation Candy" Stories
Posted by: POB #131021
Jalon,
I spend the day doing academics around valentine activities. One favorite that 5th graders love is Creative Writing. I use a bowl of both large and small candy conversation hearts to create a story or even a letter to a friend. The students start writing and use their choice of hearts to glue down here and there throughout the story. The final stories are so funny.
Example:
Dear Sally,
I have to tell you about my "DREAM BOAT". (dream boat would be the heart glued down on the paper) He is so "COOL". But, I don't "LUV" him. Oh, yuck...etc.
I think you get the idea. Many of the students like to share their stories to their classmates. The lids really enjoy doing this activity.
"How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Measure the Ways" Then use hearts to decorate the different kind of measurements. Make a white thermometer and use red hearts as the mercury. For area or perimeter use red hearts in a square or rectangle shape and count the hearts across and down for measurement. Not sure what to do with a clock for time to the minute. I guess you could put hearts on the clock in place of numbers. Just a thought.
For the last few years I've made a simple scrapbook by stapling together 5 or 6 sheets of construction paper and a red or pink cover. The kids decorate the cover, and glue their valentines inside. I show them how to glue them with a hinge made of a little rectangle of scrap paper, so they can lift it to see who sent it.
I know it's a little while away but thought I'd take the jump.
Let's compile our favortie Valentine's Day activities.
Anyone interested?
I'll start.
I do Valentine Centers (math and language arts) for most of the day. I'm attaching my signs.
My Favorite activity: We make I love you magnets with their handprints. I have them trace and cut out their hands on fun foam. Then, glue down the fingers so that their "hand" is signing I LOVE U. Then to cover up the stray glue (or staple), we glue a heart that says I LOVE YOU!.
Shark
Licoln/Valentines day
Posted by: teacha47 #131327
I was always trying to be creative in having the kids make a valentines card holder over the years. Until I read Abe Lincoln's Hat a step into reading book from Scholastic. In this story it tells how Abe used his hat to file important papers. While reading it I though why not take that idea and make our own tall black hats and use them for our card holders. Each year the kids become more creative with adding hearts and stickers to make their hat unique. For some this is not easy so I have discovered a way for them to make just a flat hat and glue it onto a paper sack/lunch bag size and they can just store their cards in the bag. I feel like I am doing double duty as I am talking about Lincoln and getting things ready for Valentines Day.
Years ago I latched onto this idea from my cooperating teacher when I student-taught.
She secretly sent a letter home to parents in January. Inside it she sent a die-cut heart. She asked parents to fill the heart with words describing their child. (You could tweak it to be a favorite memory.) She also asked them to send in a baby/toddler picture of their child. She mounted the photos with the descriptions and people could try to guess who each student was.
I always include a current school picture under a flap with their name so that people can confirm their guesses.
It turns out so cute and it's up for conferences, so it gets a big audience!
I can't belive it's already time to start thinking about Valentine's Day...
wouldn't you love to know
Posted by: mom2boys #131353
We did a hallway board one year with picture of the teachers as young children mounted on hearts. The caption was "Wouldn't you love to know who these sweethearts are?" At the end of the month, we put the name up under each picture. Even the teacher enjoyed that one.
When my kids walk through the door, I have dozens of hearts cut from the Ellison die. I have red, white and pink paper hearts. I throw them on the floor in the walkway as the kids come in. They love it. Just before lunch, I have each child pick up hearts (up to 10). They get together with a friend and create a number sentence on blue paper with the two sets of hearts. I turn these pages into a class book.
We read Margaret Wise Brown's The Important Book, which a sweet, touching story that follows the same pattern on each page as it describes something small in daily life. For example, "The important thing about snow is it ______. It ________________, It __________,It _______________, but the important thing about snow is it __________." You repeat the beginning important quality in the ending line.
I then assign each student a secret friend from our classroom to write about after modeling with a favorite teacher from our school, and we go through the writing process to write our own Important Book. We brainstorm adjectives, rough draft, edit, and publish. We then share them with the class. Each child is so excited to share what he/she has written and see what someone wr...
Can everyone share Valentine's Day ideas?
Posted by: MrsCrystal #131466
I'm used to upper-grade, and I know primary makes a bigger deal out of Valentine's Day, so I'd better come up with something cute! However, we have a no junk food policy at my school, which means no candy, cupcakes, soda, etc. even for class parties.
I need to come up with relatively healthy food to serve at our party (maybe somehow theme-oriented), and some (hopefully standards-based) activities for that day.
I have one idea to share in exchange for yours: last year in 5th, I sent home a list of students' names in their weekly homework packet before V-day. Their assignment was to write one kind comment about each person on the list. Once I collected all of them, I typed up the list for each student and they received a whole sheet full of compliments from their clas...
I just received my Family Fun Magazine and there were very cute and nutritious recipes for parties. One in particular was cutting watermelon into heart shapes using a cookie cutter. Place a toothpick diagonally throught the heart and attach cantalope cubes on both ends of the toothpick. Very cute! I think I will be doing this for my class this year!
My school celebrates "Healthy Heart Month" in Feb. Each day there is an activity planned. I incorperate this theme into the classroom by having a "Healthy Breakfast" for Valentine's Day. My families are very generous and helpful. I ask for bagels, fruit, yogurt, etc. (My class doesn't have any allergies this year:)) The kids get to eat a healthy breakfast and then pass out their Valentine's. They have a lot of fun:) I really liked the post about cutting the watermelon into heart shapes with a cookie cutter. I will be doing this as well. I will even bring it to my son's day care as well:)
After reading The Book of Hugs and singing a song I have on tape called Four Hugs a Day, we measure our hugs. I have the kids cut out 2 hearts from a 4x4" piece of paper. While they are working on that I have one child at a time spread their arms straight out and I tear off a piece of adding machine tape as long as their arms are spread. They glue one heart on each end and in the middle of the tape they write: This is the size of my hug: _____inches, and fill in the measurement. We then fold them up and put them in an envelope for their parents. When they get home they ask their parents if they want a hug, when they say, sure, they give them their hug. Great gr 2 humor :-)
I go to my local grocery store and buy banana bags....sometimes they will just give them to me. I don't know if that is their official name, but it is the white bags with the handle on top. They work well for Valentine bags. The kids decorate them and then they use them to take everything home the day of the party.
I use a white grocery bag for the valentine delivery, which is easy and fun to decorate with stamps and stickers, or pink/purple/white/red hearts and white doilies. Also, I staple a few pages of brown or black together with pink or red covers, and make a scrapbook for their Valentines after they open them. I show them how to attach with a piece of tape so they can flip it if there is a signature on the back.
I send home a note asking the students to make their own Valentine containers at home. Attached to the note I staple three pieces of construction paper: red, pink, purple to use as they wish. I make suggestions for the containers such as oatmeal boxes, cereal boxes, kleenex boxes, shoe boxes... It is amazing every year to see the different kinds of creative containers they made! They add other embellishments at home. I also send home a class list on the note.
Okay, I admit it - I make mine.
Posted by: heart4kids #132237
I make a huge gawdy heart-shape from a decoration that I have. I paste a decorative white paper in the middle that says, "Years from now I will remember you as more than a student of mine. I see something special in you that I'll share in this Valentine." I don't know if these are the exact words because my tub is at school. It is typed in a poem format with space at the bottom for me to write.
In the 15 or so years I have done this, there has only been one or two children that I've had to pause to sum up something positive to say. I always make extras in case I flub up and carefully check my list so no one is left out. On years that I have fewer students, I even make a double batch of the Valentines and save them (without the comments of course!) for the next year.
<...
I usually cut some hearts out of cardstock. Then on each one I write a really short message with the child's name and my name with white crayon. I pass them out before we do all the other exchanges and I don't tell them what it is. I give out watercolors that they share and tell them to decorate their hearts. Well when they start painting my secret message appears! Its so easy and inexpensive and the kids LOVE it. They appreciate it so much more than when I just used to give them regular cards from the store. They really love it :) A little time consuming, but really not bad. Give it a try! Just make sure they don't paint too much or they'll crinkle up, and give them enough time to dry.
I had my third graders make their own boxes last year and they loved it! It was an at-home assignment and I gave them lots of ideas so they wouldn't be stumped or overwhelmed. They could use any kind of box they wanted as long as it fit on their desk. I think I may have given a size limit. The boxes were great! Very creative and festive.
I went to Michael's, a craft store in the area, and bought white bags with handles. They also had the bags in red and pink. I sent the bags home with scrapes of construction paper and a note stating that students could use other materials from home. They ended up using things like feathers, glitter, beads, etc. The bags were adorable and because they were done at home, did not take up valuable learning time.
