Nothing shows your students you care quite like a well-thought-out set of activities that bring enjoyment to the mundane task of learning. Though not always possible, finding heartfelt ways to bring in holiday magic is a great way to treat your students.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, you may or may not be allowed to have a classroom party, but you can bring in hearty activities that help Celebrate Valentine’s Day in the classroom.
There are several fun ways to incorporate classroom Valentine’s Day activities that engage learners and don’t take away from the important skills you need to teach. From learning about the origins of the holiday to Valentine’s Day math activities, you can make celebrating Valentine’s Day with your students so easy. Here are 5 ideas!
Immerse your students in a day of learning all about Valentine’s Day! Not surprisingly, many of us don’t know the true origins of Valentine’s Day but that doesn’t have to be the reality for your students.
You can freshen up your reading routine with an informational text about the holiday and a picture book. Have your students identify four facts from their reading using a Valentine’s Day facts craft. This heart craft is a hands-on way for students to record what they’ve learned.
Practicing fractions can be a struggle. But with this Valentine’s Day Math activity, you can turn it into something so sweet! Students make fractions out of “chocolates” and place them in their heart-shaped box of chocolate fraction display.
Not only is it a heartfelt way to bring a familiar Valentine’s Day symbol into the classroom, but students will be practicing fractions in a way that feels fresh and fun. After making their fudgy fractions, students will write the fraction in word and numerical form on their recording sheet.
Math games present a great opportunity to add unique themes to the classroom. This Valentine’s Day math game is perfect for reviewing many different math skills.
With Spin It to Win It, students can spin to select two numbers on their heart number wheel. Based on the skills you’re practicing at the time, you can have students add, subtract, divide, or multiply the numbers! This can be used as individual practice or as a partner game.
You can download this free math game printable below. It is completely editable so you can tailor the numbers to what you need for your classroom.
Place value is just one of those year-round skills that require constant practice. This means the activities can become boring fast if there isn’t enough variety. Consider adding a Place Value Love-Bot to your place value teaching toolbox when Valentine’s Day rolls around.
With the Place Value Love-Bot activity, students will be learning and showing everything they know a ‘bot’ numbers! Students will create a robot out of the following 3 options for 2, 3, or 4-digit numbers:
Then, they will tell the place value of a number, the standard form, the expanded form, and the word form. The result is a creative way to get students interested in practicing place value with something kids can’t get enough of…robots!
There are just not many ways to make solving word problems fun. Word problems are tricky because they require lots of patience and attention to detail, so we have to be creative with the activities we choose for students to practice this skill.
Adding an incentive for solving problems right is a great choice! Solve to Create a Love Bug uses this strategy by giving students six word problem tasks and for each problem solved, they earn a piece of their Love-Bug math craft!
For example, the first Valentine’s Day math problem solved would earn them the face.
This is a high-interest activity that’s sure to keep students completely invested in the task at hand while adding some heart to solving word problems.
It’s time to bring Valentine’s Day to the Classroom! I’m making it easy on you with this FREE math game printable for Spin It to Win It. This math game is editable so you can add whatever numbers you need for your students to practice.
On the hunt for activities that will bring a little love to your classroom this Valentine’s Day? Check out these suggestions.
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
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