Valentine’s Day is a day full of love and giving! While it’s an exciting day for students, it’s important to keep them on task and engaged as well. Get your kids motivated to work on fun activities on Valentine’s Day using some of the ideas below. Kids will enjoy using Valentine’s Day-themed activities and printables in the classroom and at home. Keep reading to see how you can use them in your classroom!
Incorporate Fun Valentine’s Day Read-Alouds
Read-alouds are essential in the primary education classroom. They provide a way for students to escape the real world and dive into a fun story. Short read-alouds allow teachers to present new ideas and frameworks to students. Use a variety of Valentine’s Day books to excite your students as they work on their math, literacy, and writing skills at school. Here are some amazing Valentine’s Day titles you will love:
- The Yuckiest, Stinkiest Best Valentine Ever by Brenda A. Ferber – This is a silly graphic novel that you can display on the Smartboard or read in a small group. When a student makes a valentine for a friend, it keeps running away!
- If You’ll be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant – This book is full of rhymes and celebrates the people we love in our lives. Invite your students to share who they love after reading the text.
- Mr. Goat’s Valentine by Eve Bunting – Follow the story of a sweet goat as he gifts his love and his mom a sweet Valentine in February! It’s a great conversation started for young students on this day of love.
- Love by Matt de la Pena – This story is beautiful and is a fantastic way to talk about love in the classroom. Students will be intrigued by the lovely illustrations and the sweet story behind the words on the pages.
- Groundhug Day by Anne Marie Pace – When Moose plans a Valentine’s Day party, he worries that Groundhog won’t be able to attend with his upcoming holiday. Learn how these friends solve their problems and experience Valentine’s Day together.
Create a Community Based Bulletin Board Display
Bulletin boards are a wonderful way to foster the community in your classroom. By displaying student pictures and artwork, you are showing them that you care about their work and their presence in the room. Students love seeing their hard work on the walls, and it’s always an added bonus when they get to see their faces as well. Keep in mind that some students may live in homes where pictures and hard work aren’t displayed. Make your classroom displays count.
This Valentine’s Day Bulletin Board kit comes with everything you need to make an adorable display. Each child will make their own cute bumble bee and attach their face. If you don’t want their face on the bees, there is a generic option.
The kid also comes with all of the wording, decor, and bulletin board borders you need to make this display in your classroom or in the hallway. Just print everything you wish to use, cut it out, and hang it up! Students are going to love seeing this display during the month of February.
Display Valentine’s Day Powerpoint Slides to Keep Kids on Task
While creating your lessons and morning messages for the day, consider using Valentine’s Day-themed PowerPoint slides. Show students what their expectations are for the day and which materials they will need for each lesson. The slides are a great way to welcome the kids into the classroom and show them their tasks for the day.
Take your academic blocks to the next level using Valentine’s Day-themed PowerPoint slides with timers to keep kids on task every step of the day. The timers are perfect for math blocks, reading centers, clean-up times, and more.
Use Valentine’s Day Newsletters to Keep Parents Informed
I love sending home a themed newsletter each month! I find that parents are more likely to look at the newsletters in their child’s backpack when they are bright and colorful and look a little different than the last. These Valentine’s Day newsletters are the perfect way to communicate with families at home.
Use the newsletters to record upcoming events, important vocabulary words, reminders for the classroom, thank you messages, and so much more. Parents will be thankful they have all the information for the classroom in one place! These are great for preschool all the way up to 8th grade!
Get Creative with Valentine’s Day Writing Crafts
My favorite way to get students excited to write in the classroom is by attaching their writing piece to a fun craft or activity. Use Valentine’s Day writing crafts and prompts to make a show-stopping display for February.
This FREE writing activity invites students to write their own Valentine’s notes or trace the letters of a simple sentence. The hearts are easy to print on colored cardstock or to set out as a coloring activity on Valentine’s Day in the classroom.
Use February Themed Math Activities for Valentine’s Day
In several of my posts, I have discussed the importance of using math talk in the classroom. Math talk allows students to work through different math problems in different ways. Students are able to listen to how their peers solve the math equations and adjust their thinking as needed. Math talk opens doors to new ways of learning and is a great practice to add to your math block each day.
Here are several February Themed Activities for Valentine’s Day and the month of February. Each incorporates math talk and gives purpose to the activities students are doing in the classroom.
I hope you enjoy using these activities for Valentine’s Day in your classroom this year. For more fun ideas you will love, check out these posts:
- February-Themed Math Challenges to Encourage Math Talk in your Classroom
- How to Teach Opinion Writing and the Writing Process to Students
- A Super Cute Valentineโs Day Bulletin Board & Some Fun Valentineโs Day Crafts & Ideas
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