Lovey Dovey Valentine's Day

Hello, hello! We're back with some fun ideas for this month. We decided to share some LOVE for Valentine's Day this month for I {heart} January!

Here are a few things I've done for Valentine's Day over the years. First up, of course we must focus on the academics as we lead up to Valentine's Day. It can't ALL be candy and games, right?

We do a little How-To writing on How to Make a Valentine and put it together in this fun flip book.

We also do some reading, of course. Here are some of the cute books that I love to read aloud around Valentine's Day.

We do a variety of activities with these books, but sometimes we just read for fun. Imagine that in the common core days. That's right - I'm a rebel. Haha!!!

This is a little writing and craft that goes with The Day it Rained Hearts. I love tapping into the kids imagination and asking what they would do if things from books happened to them. It's that great way of modeling for our kids that reading is all about getting lost in a book and becoming part of the story. So we put them into the story as often as we can. For this quick writing I have the kids think of "the most amazing thing" that could happen after it rains hearts. They always come up with some fun ideas!

Around Valentine's Day, it's fun for kids to talk and share about all the different things they LOVE. I mean, really, any time of year 1st graders want to talk about themselves. Am I right? So here is a cute heart shaped book that we make and they love sharing with their friends. The pages have People I love, Things I love, People who love me, and How I show my love.

The next thing we love to do is make valentines and cards for the people we LOVE. Here is a cute card we have made for parents and other loved ones.

On Valentine's Day we love to play games at our classroom party. I compiled a quick little list of some of the simple games we've played. Maybe you will be able to use a couple of these at your next party.

Here is a little Valentine Bingo freebie if you'd like to use it. The kids create their own bingo boards. Click the picture to grab it.

Side note: Years ago when I started creating these bingo boards I would have my students generate the words we would use. One of my favorite little boys wanted to use the words: Lovey Dovey. The whole class erupted in giggles! I will never forget it!! So in honor of him I titled this post Lovey Dovey and of course included it in the bingo board. :)

I can't forget to mention that throughout the week/weeks before Valentine's Day we also do a variety of themed literacy and math centers and activities.

All of what I mentioned above and much more is included in my NEWLY UPDATED Valentine's Day pack. If you already have it, you will want to re-download it - I added over 50 pages!!! If you don't already have, it's on sale for the weekend so go grab it.