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.
Happy Valentine's Day!
