Valentine Freebie

Valentine's Day is almost here!  Although we don't have a big party in our classroom, we usually exchange Valentines with classmates.  It gives us a chance to practice our cursive writing.  (We learn that in January).  I usually have students decorate a bag for morning work.  Then we set the bags up on the students' desks.  I have another activity going on the carpet, away from the desks.  Sometimes I am reading to the kids books like Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch.  Other times, we might watch a video on something content related.  My goal is to keep most of the class engaged in meaningful activities on the carpet while a few students at a time deliver Valentines.  I feel like we have less chaos and loss of instructional time with this approach.

I do try to incorporate Valentine fun things into our instruction, even though we don't have a "party."  One way I do this is with bump games in math.  One of my small group rotations is games.  Bump games are a great way for students to work on math fact fluency.

Here's a little freebie I made for my classroom.  I thought I would share with others.

Valentine Freebie

Happy Valentine's Day!