Valentine's Day

We have a valentine box contest. Our students are challenged to create a box (or other container) at home that fits in 1 of 3 categories: funniest, most traditional, & most creative or unusual. They really love this. On the morning of the party, they bring in their boxes. I give them a post it with a # and they place their box in the hall under the sign with the appropriate category. Later we vote for our favorites in each category. The winners get a small prize and usually I give candy to all who entered.
My rule about valentines is that if you bring a valentine for anyone, you must bring one for everyone. I provide them with a class list to make sure they can address them to all. I teach 4th grade.

Stick with the old saying...."If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" If you can't keep their minds off the Valentine's festivities, then make it the focus of your whole day. In my 2nd grade classroom our Valentine boxes mysteriously disappear about an hour into the school day (I quickly stash them in the janitor's closet while they're out for recess) Then we spend the entire day working to find them. Our secretary sends down a mysterious "ransome" letter which contains a series of clues. To earn a clue the students must all perform a task (Math = Valentine word problems; Lang. Arts = Valentine stories, etc.). As they complete their work to my satisfaction, the clues are revealed, saving the biggie for last. Then we hunt down the Valentines just in time for the party. It's a hit every year. Maybe it will work for you??? Good luck!

I'm always looking for new BB ideas as I don't like doing the same things each year. This year I had my class make cute pigs ("HOGS") with different shape hearts....2 pink hearts turned upside down and glued one on top of the other form the head and body, two smaller pink hearts form the ears, two little red hearts get glued down to form rosy cheeks, a pink snout, and a set of eyes. It's kinda hard to explain...if you want I could probably manage to take a picture sometime next week. I also made, on my own, small Hershey's kisses. I found a candy kiss pattern, copied it, and traced several on poster board. Then after cutting them out, I covered them with crinkled aluminum foil and attached a small piece of white paper coming out the top. I titled my BB "Hogs and Kisses". It turned out cute and the kids really seemed to like it. Let me know if you'd like a picture of this idea.

Deb

Here's another closer pic of the "hog" :) Deb

I am always promoting children to be kind and respectful to others. For this activity, I write each student's name on the top of a piece of paper-one for each student. Below that, I number it according to how many students are in my classroom. (For example, last year, I numbered it 1-28.)

*Each of my students have their own numbers, according to where their name is located in my grade book.

To start this activity, I randomly pass out one page to each student. Then, next to their own number, they have to write ONE or TWO words-nice words-that describe the student who is named on the top of it. Then, they pass the pages to the next person. Child #1 will always write his response on line number 1, child #20 will always write her response on line 20, etc.

One important detail is that the children cannot write the same words that have already been written by another child. So, if child #3 writes "sweet"......then nobody else can write that same word on that paper!

In the beginning, it is easy to write one or two words, but after several rotations, it gets to be more challenging. At that point, I encourage my children to use a Thesaurus to get more synonyms for the words they want to use.

By the time the lists have been rotated throughout the classroom, there is a master list of descriptive words for each student.

Then, I collect them and read their word choices. A few times, the words were not really positive, but I knew who wrote them by their number. In those cases, I went back to them and told them they had to make a better choice.

Once all the lists were complete, I cut out large white hearts, backed by large red hearts. Then, I wrote each child's name in the center of the heart. I paperclipped each list to the hearts and passed them back around again. Then, the children wrote their words from the list on the white heart.

After that, I made a huge heart with the title "Friends See Things Heart to Heart" and I posted all the students' hearts around it. It was amazing to see how much they liked reading them! When I decided to change the bulletin board, I gave each student their heart to keep.

Just recently, I ran into a student that I taught in 3rd grade. He is now attending college and he told me he still has his heart! :)

JKB

I have several I do...
"Assorted Sweeties"... Kids cut out different colored hearts, then write a candy conversation saying on them. Like...Be mine, Sweetie, so cool, love you, etc.

"Prisoners of love!"... Take picture of each child wearing a striped prisoner's hat, holding up a chart with their name on it, like a line up picture. (Paint sent. strip with black and white stripes for the prison hat)

"Handing over our Hearts"... Make a heart using painted hands. cut around the handprint hearts, you could also let the kids apply glitter, etc.

I have taken this "compliment" idea one step further. About a month before Valentine's Day, I begin having the students write "warm fuzzy" letters to each other. I give them Valentine writing paper and put 2 students names on the board. Everyone writes to those 2 students, telling unique gifts they have and what makes them a good friend or classmate. I collect these everyday. I also send a note home to parents, asking them to write a Valentine letter to their child on the Valentine writing paper I have included. I ask that they return it to me. I also write a letter to each child on the day his/her name is on the board. Then I make a cover, "Valentine Thoughts from the Heart" and I bind each student's booklet together. I pass it out on Valentine's Day and it is a huge hit. Parents and students from previous years tell me they save it and reread it again and again.

This idea may not work for this year, but it's worth a thought for another year.

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...

Last year, my Grade 1s were infatuated with Clifford. So...for Valentine's, we made Clifford Valentine card holders.

Here's what you need/child:
1 1/2 'thicker' paper plates
thick red paint
red, black and white construction paper

Here's what you do:
Have children paint the paper plates red on the first day - the full size painted on the 'front side' and the 1/2 plate painted on the 'backside'.
Assemble the second day with a stapler - the full-size plate at the back with the 1/2 at the front.
Have children examine how the author draws Clifford's features - incorporate a drawing lesson. Kids are amazed at their success. You can have tracers for Clifford's big eyes,pupils and ears but sometimes the Picasso-looking Clifford's were the most heart-warming.
Have children glue on the red ears, whites of Clifford's eyes and pupils.
I placed these outside our classroom on a bulletin board. As children brought Valentines, they delivered into classmates' Clifford faces!

I second the idea about if they bring valentines for one they bring them for all. I have even gone as far as to count them before letting them distribute their cards. There's a book called "Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink" (I think that's the title) about a child who gives a rather nasty valentine to a couple of kids in his class and the repercussions of that move. I'll look it up for sure if you think your group could use it. It brings home how people feel about being excluded or given not very nice valentines.

We make the week of valentine's a time to write letters to each other. Since I teach first grade we set up a cute little post office and teach how to write a simple letter, address an envelope and send it through the "mail" to your friend. Even older kids could enjoy that.

I keep to the same centers all year and just change the context each month. For Valentines I will change the
Word wall- Valentine/Feburary word

ABC order- love words

Memory game- valentine cards/ 2 packages

Writing a letter/ writing a letter to a Valentine

Writing a story/ make up a valentines story

Bingo/all valentine words and red bingo chips

Word search/ all valentine words

Riddles/ all valentine riddles

Letter magnets/spelling words about Valentines

Poetry- all Valentine poems

Scrambled words- all Valentine words

Listening center- Valentine books and tapes

Write around the room- finding words that have to
do with valentines or valentines day by the alphabet

Definitions- 5 Valentine words

"Fish" card game- valentine words

So I am really just using new words in my centers to accomadate a Valenttine theme.Hope this helps!!!

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.