  
Valentine's
Day is the perfect time to incorporate teaching units/skills on Community
Helpers {i.e.. the mailman}, Friendship, the colors Pink and/or Red, the
Letter C (candy, cards} or the Letter V for Valentines. If you let
your students make and write their own Valentine cards, you have the makings
for a wonderful literacy center. Below are some more great ideas
that you might consider using as well. So let your students
have some fun, and they might not even realize they're learning as well!
:)
Books:
The Valentine
Bears ~ Eve Bunting
Mouse's
First Valentine ~ Lauren Thompson
Legend
of the Valentine ~ Katherine Grace Bond
Love Bugs:
A Pop-Up Book ~ David Carter
Bob's Valentine
Surprise ~ Kim Ostrow
Be My Valentine
~ Alison Inches
Somebody
Loves You, Mr. Hatch ~ Eileen Spinelli
Counting
Kisses ~ Karen Katz
Roses Are
Pink, Your Feet Really Stink ~ Diane De Groat
The Day
It Rained Hearts ~ Felicia Bond
Junie B.
Jones And The Mushy Valentine ~ Barbara Park
The Runaway
Valentine ~ Tina Casey
Love Is
~ Wendy Anderson
All For
Love ~ Tasha Tudor
Saint Valentine
~ Robert Sabuda
Franklin's
Valentines ~ Paulette Bourgeois
Love and
Kisses, Kitty : A Lift-The-Flap Valentine ~ Max Haynes
Biscuit's
Valentine's Day ~ Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Valentine's
Day ~ Gail Gibbons
Arthur's
Valentine Countdown ~ Marc Tolon Brown
Little
Mouse's Big Valentine ~ Thacher Hurd
Corduroy's
Valentine Activity Book ~ Don Freeman
Froggy's
First Kiss ~ Jonathan London
Valentine's
Day ~ Anne Rockwell
Olive You!
: And Other Valentine Knock-Knock Jokes You'll A-Door ~ Katy Hall
Valentine
Mice! ~ Bethany Roberts
Valentine
Cats! ~ Bethany Roberts
A Charlie
Brown Valentine ~ Charles M. Shulz
Valentine's
Day ~ Michelle Knudsen
The Story
of Valentine's Day ~ Nancy Skarmeas
Clifford
I Love You ~ Norman Bridwell
One Zillion
Valentines ~ Frank Modell
Village
Full of Valentines ~ James Stevenson
"Bee My
Valentine" ~ Miriam Cohen
The Night
Before Valentine's Day ~ Natasha Wing
Arthur's
Great Big Valentine ~ Lillian Hoban
Pucker
Up, Buttercup! ~ Simon Davies
Raggedy
Ann's Candy Heart Wisdom : Words of Love and Friendship ~ Johnny Gruelle
Sergeant
Sniff's Secret Valentine Mystery : A Sergeant Sniff Scratch-And-Sniff Mystery ~ Valerie Garfield
Four Valentines
in a Rainstorm ~ Felicia Bond
Valentine
~ Carol Carrick
Big Bob
and the Magic Valentine's Day Potato (Hello Reader. Level 3) ~ Jill Pinkwater
This is
just a sample of the Valentine books that you can find at
Amazon.com.
They listed over 300 books to choose from!

The Valentine
Bears ~ Eve Bunting: Jan Brett is the illustrator for this book and
if you've been studying bears and/or hibernation, it's a must. The
Valentine Bears wake up from their winter naps to surprise each other with
Valentine treats!

February Handprints
Calendar: Paint both hands with red or pink paint (or use a large
stamp pad ... these can be found in the Lakeshore School Supply catalog).
Have student put all fingers together, with hands overlapping to form a
heart. Add the poem below:
A piece
of me I give to you.
I painted
the heart to say, " I love you!"
The heart
is you, the hands are me,
To show
we are friends the best there can be.
I hope
you will save it and look back some day,
At the
heart I made for you on this special day.

Interactive
Bulletin Board Idea: Cut out assorted colored hearts and program
with sayings from Conversation Hearts candy. When finished, provide
each student with a conversation candy heart and let them find the matching
heart on the bulletin board.
Some of
the sayings are:
Be Mine
So Cool
Sweetie
Pie
Hugs and
Kisses
My Friend
Give Me
a Hug
Cutie
Pretty
Girl
Dog Lips
I Love
You
So Smart
Honey Bunch
Good Friend
Kiss Me
*Note*
Because there are several different kinds of Conversation Hearts, you'd
need to buy your candy then program your hearts to match.

Another Conversation
Hearts Bulletin Board or Door Display: Collect enough individual
sized boxes of Conversation Hearts for each student. Remove the candy
and mount each student's picture in the heart shaped "window" on the box.
Mount these on the bulletin board or door with the heading ... "Better
Than a Box of Candy!" Fill in with colored hearts programmed with
Heart sayings.
This idea
I found down the hall last year.
This door
belongs to another one our talented K teachers.

"Kindergarten
A Bloom" Bulletin Board or Door Display: This idea also came from down
the hall at another K teacher's door. :) The heart shaped "frames" were cut from
an Ellison die-cut and the students' pictures were
mounted inside.

Poems are always
great things to use in a classroom. There are poems written for almost
anything and Valentine's Day is certainly no exception. As a matter
of fact, how could we have Valentine's Day at all without poems?!
I know the first poem that I ever learned was
Roses
are red
Violets
are blue
Sugar is
sweet,
And so
are you!
~ Author
Unknown
Short poems
such as this are wonderful to use in the Early Childhood classroom.
Even "non-readers" can become "readers" using such poems as these.
Making the connection that words or print "says something" is one
of the first stages of learning to read. How I use poems and Poetry
Journals can be found on the
Literacy Connections
page. My students love the use of poems and songs in our
classroom. Even my "non-readers" feel successful reading and singing
the songs. (They're always given a printed copy of the songs as well,
for their own use.)
I also use
LOTS of poems in my pocketcharts. Check out my
Easter
page. How I use them is explained using the "Easter Bunny Happy"
spinoff poem that I wrote.
More poems
...
Do you love
me or do you not,
You told
me once,
But I forgot
...
I LOVE
YOU!
~ Author
Unknown
Will you
"bee" my valentine,
And bumble
away with me?
I'd love
to be your valentine,
Because
you're my honey bee!
Bzzzzzzzzz!
~ Author
Unknown
Rose are
red,
Violets
are blue,
I made
some valentines ,
I cut and
glued!
One for
father,
One for
mother,
One for
grandma, too.
One for
sister,
One for
brother,
And here
is one for you!
~ Author
Unknown
Chocolate
Hearts
Chocolate
hearts are on the wall,
Chocolate
hearts are on the ball,
Chocolate
hearts are at the mall,
It must
be Valentine's Day.
I gave my
love a chocolate heart.
He ate
it right away.
He gave
ma a chocolate heart.
It must
be Valentine's Day.
I gave my
heart a valentine card,
And it
said, "I love you!"
My love
gave me a valentine card,
And it
said, "Love you, too!"
Chocolate
hearts are on my fish.
Chocolate
hearts are on my dish.
Chocolate
hearts are in my wish.
It must
be Valentine's Day!
~ Author
Unknown
*Note* The
poem above is an excellent example of sometimes using only excerpts from
longer poems when needed. If your students aren't ready for such
a long poem, you could choose only one verse and use it, denoting that
it was an excerpt from the poem "Chocolate Hearts".
Also, the
first and last verses of this poem would lend themselves wonderfully to
teaching several skills such as phonemic awareness, the "al/all", "ch",
and "sh" sounds. This poem also contains many sight words for the
first and second grade readers.

Probably one
of my first and fondest memories of school was in 3rd grade when we each
covered a shoebox with white paper, cut a slit in the top, and decorated
it with red and pink colored hearts {cut by hand ... there was no Ellison
machine back then! :) }, as well as a couple of heart shaped doilies.
Then that night at home, I would painstakingly go through each valentine
that came in my box of purchased valentines and decide which person in
my class would get what valentine. The valentine would be addressed
To: and From: on the back , stuffed in the envelope, and it would be addressed
To: . The next day, each student delivered each of their valentines
to the "mailbox" of the recipients. Then of course, at the Valentine's
Party we all opened our valentines and read them. It was always neat
to see who gave you what valentine and how many you got from certain people.
:) (I'll never forget that in 5th grade I got 5 valentines from the
cute guy who sat behind me!!!)
All these
great memories and the fun that we had AT SCHOOL .. and just look
at all the reading and writing that went on!! I've probably NEVER
misspelled "to" and "from" since! And what an opportunity to introduce
the concept of "to and "from". And that can lead straight into writing
letters and addressing envelopes, which can lead into Community Helpers
and/or the mail system. Valentine's Day is a plethora of opportunities
just waiting to be used!
Ok, ok,
all this was said as an introduction to Valentine Mailboxes! What
fun!!!
Valentine
Mailboxes can be made from about any container that will stand upright
and hold about 20 - 30 valentine cards. (And the teachers and assistants
should each have one as well.) As I described before, they can be
made from shoeboxes covered with bulletin board paper, decorated white
lunch bags, or even covered cereal boxes or spray painted coffee cans.
If you have the time to collect them, and your students are expecting a
great "haul', then you could even use painted laundry detergent boxes with
the handles. For smaller classes, then a decorated Kleenex
box with the pre-cut opening might work well. These smaller boxes
would only be big enough to be used specifically as a mailbox, but the
larger boxes could even become transports for treats and other Valentine
goodies. Just remember to remind your students to leave a prominent place
on the box for their name!

Berry Sweet Valentine: I saw this valentine idea in
Pack-O-Fun. I don't know how they made theirs,
because I didn't read it. I just looked at their
photo and made my own. I needed a quick Valentine
for Dakota (my granddaughter), because I wasn't paying
$4 for an ugly Valentine this year. And this
Valentine idea fit perfectly because at the end of the
month she's have a Strawberry Shortcake birthday party,
plus I had all the stuff at hand to make this card and
it was relatively quick and easy. It would also be
easy enough to make a template for your class to cut out
the two hearts and strawberry top and make their own
valentines. You could even have the hearts
preprinted if you wish.
I
cut two red hearts with the Ellison machine and then
made the green husk for the top. I used a black
pen to make tiny upside down hearts for the seeds on
the front of the strawberry, then stapled the husk to
the two hearts. I poked half a green pipecleaner
through the middle of the husk and wrapped it around a
pencil to spiral it. I used a Sharpie marker for
the message.

Valentine Party
in a bag: Send home a paper lunch bag with each student for them
to decorate and fill with the following items: 1 juice box, 1 candy
treat, 1 individually wrapped sweet treat (such as a Little Debbie snack
or any other type purchased snack cake), one bag of pretzels or chips,
and one valentine card addressed to "My Secret Valentine". (Have
these due back at school at least one day in advance so you can make adjustments
for those who don't return theirs to ensure that everyone will receive
a bag.)
Staple the
tops closed, have students place their chairs in a circle, place their
bag underneath the chair, and put on some fun music. As the music
plays, the children change seats. After doing this a couple of times,
have the students open their bags and ... let the party begin!
The same
bag idea with a twist .. instead of using music, read the poem, "Pink!
Pink!" below. Every time you say "pink', the children hand
their bags to the person on their right.
PINK!
PINK!
Our favorite
color
Is pink
- pink - pink.
And we
always write letters
With pink-pink
ink.
We like
our lemonade
To drink-drink-drink,
But especially
when
It's a
pink-pink drink.
We always
use dishes
That are
pink-pink-pink.
And wash
them all clean
In a pink-pink
sink.
If we had
some pink paint,
We think-think-think,
We would
paint the whole world
In pink-pink-pink!
~ Author
Unknown

Heart People:
We made these in elementary school as well! Provide each student
with a large heart shape to cut out, as well as one medium heart, and four
small hearts. The large heart is the body, the medium heart the head,
and the small hearts are the hands and feet. Glue the head onto the
back of the large heart with the point side down. Add facial features
with markers or crayons, and/or wiggly eyes. A bow pattern can be
provided as well. It can be used as a hair bow for the girls and
a bow-tie for the boys. Accordion fold four strips of paper and glue
on for arms and legs. Glue the small hearts to the end of each.

Valentine's
Day Breakfast: This reminds me of something I use to do with my daughter
when she was young. When she got up on Valentine's Day, I'd already
have her breakfast plate waiting. I would tape heart-shaped balloons
to the edge of the plate and use a cookie cutter to make an impression
in her toast. :) Beside that would be her Valentine treats.
You can
treat your class to breakfast as well! How about pink scrambled eggs,
heart-shaped waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, Cran-Strawberry
juice, and pink or strawberry flavored milk. Yum!!! Go
all out with pink and red paper, or Valentines paper plates, etc.
This yummy breakfast deserves it!

Love Trees:
Provide each student with a bare tree trunk to color. Have them add
candy conversation hearts and heart-shaped redhots for the "blooms".
An additional activity would be to have them write about whom they'll give
their "love tree" to and why.

Estimation
Station: Fill a small jar with conversation hearts or heart-shaped
redhots (hearts for the younger kids, redhots for the older kids).
Provide small slips of paper and a basket. Each student will estimate
how many pieces of candy are in the jar and write their answer on a piece
of paper and place it in the basket. After everyone has made their
guess, count the candy with the class. Discuss and graph the results.
Is My
Valentine at the Zoo?
Valentine,
valentine, who will you be?
A
yawning sloth that hangs from a tree, or a
Long-legged
giraffe with big brown eyes,
Elusive
elephant of enormous size,
Nattering
parrot or yackety yak,
Thirsty
camel with a hump on his back.
Itching
monkey, bumbling old bear,
Nosy
narwhale, or panda rare,
Earnest
emu who cannot fly,
'Smallest
chickadee in the sky, or
Dandy
kangaroo who bounds so high?
All
of these animals in the zoo
Yearn
to be mine ... but I'd rather have you!
~ Author
Unknown
*Note* Can
you tell that the letters going down spell Valentine's Day?

Valentines
Are Made to Share
(tune:
Mary Had a Little Lamb)
Valentines
are made to share,
Made to
share, made to share.
Valentines
are made to share,
With my
friends at school.

Be My Valentine
(tune:
Mary Had a Little Lamb)
You're a
special friend of mine,
Friend
of mine, Friend of mine.
You're
a special friend of mine,
Be my valentine.

Do You Know
My Valentine?
(tune:
Muffin Man)
Do you know
my valentine,
My valentine,
my valentine?
Do you
know my valentine?
His/her
name is _________.

Five little
valentines were having a race.
The first
little valentine was frilly with lace.
The second
little valentine had a funny face.
The third
little valentine said, "I love you!"
The fourth
little valentine said, "I do, too!"
The fifth
little valentine was sly as a fox.
He ran
the fastest to your valentine box.

Walking , Talking
Valentine Cards: Turn your students into the Kings and Queens of
Hearts! Design a crown pattern for them to make or have them glue
heart cutouts, stickers, etc. to a sentence strip. Fit the sentence
strip to their head to form the crown and staple.
For the
costume, cut a large rectangle of red or pink bulletin board paper.
Fold the rectangle in half. Cut a "V" shape for the neck opening
and round off the shoulders. Then trim off the bottom into a point.
The neck opening is the top of the heart, and the points are the bottom.
Using a large font, type up the following poem and glue it to the front
of the costume. Students decorate as desired. When complete,
they slip the costume over their head and ... ta da! King or Queen
of Hearts.
There's
a valentine standing at your door.
I'm just
one of a kind -- you can't buy me at the store!
I've got
something for you that you don't want to miss,
So just
pucker up and give me a great big kiss!
*Note* As
you can tell, this is a costume for wearing home to their mom or dad.
:)

Valentine Magnets:
We're back to those Conversation Hearts that come in the individual boxes!
:) Empty the boxes , insert a child's picture in the heart-shaped
"window" on the front o f the box. Hotglue a magnet to the back of
the box.

Patterning:
Use red, pink, and/or white heart cut-outs to practice patterning skills.
They can be used to practice AB or ABC, etc. patterns.
These same
hearts can be patterned and glued onto a sentence strip to make a hat or
crown.

Missing Hearts:
Cut out 26 heart shapes and sequence them in your pocketchart. Remove
some of the hearts and have your students work on getting them back into
the correct sequence.
These same
hearts can be totally removed from the pocketchart. The students
put them back in order in the pocketchart.

Matching:
Heart shapes can also be used to make many matching activities. Program
one set with capital letters and a different color set with lowercase letters..
Students match the letters. This can also be done with one large
heart for the capital letters, and a small heart for the lowercase letters.
They can
also match colored hearts to color words (words are all placed on the same
color hearts). They can match colored hearts. They can match
dots to numbers. (a new pencil eraser and an ink pad make perfectly round
dots) They can also match rhyming words, rhyming pictures;
make compound words using one heart cut in half, match words to their contraction,
match opposites, match synonyms, etc. The list is endless!

Valentine
"Wreath": This is an idea that I've never got to try out, but I'm
going to try it this year. Hotglue the crooks of two candycanes facing
each other together, then hotglue the bottoms together to form a
point. Now it should look like a heart. Add a red bow.
And somewhere,
I read that you can do this same thing, but instead of gluing them together,
you lay them on a nonstick pan and melt them in an oven ... watching
closely. Then when they're cool, add the bow. This idea my
TA tried out last year. It was pretty, but very fragile.

Another Wreath
idea: For Halloween , we made paperplate wreaths using Ellison die-cut
jack-o-lanterns and ghosts. You could change that idea and use it
to make a Valentine wreath. You would need pink and red (maybe even
white) heart cutouts, and another type of cut-out like a cupid or something.
Cut out
the center of a sturdy white paperplate (don't use styrofoam as the glue
doesn't want to stick as well to it). Glue the cut-outs around the
paperplate in an alternating and overlapping style. Hang on a pushpin,
or glue a loop of yarn to the back as a hanger.
Optional:
curl some short pieces of ribbon and glue around in between the cut-outs.
This is the
wreath that I made to hang on my door. I didn't have any raffia ribbon
there that day, so I cut up strips of paper for the ribbon. My students
did these the next week in a Center.

Matching Hearts:
This is a whole group matching activity. You'll need 8 1/2 x 11 inch
hearts cut in half vertically. Program them with a matching
skill such as compound words, color words, etc. Laminate.
For instance,
if you're working on compound words ... you'd program one half of the heart
with the word "hot" and the other half with the word "dog"; programming
each heart with a compound word. Then each student would receive
one half of each heart and the teacher would keep one half of each heart.
To play,
the teacher would hold up one half of the heart, and recite the following
poem:
My friend
gave me a valentine,
But signed
it as "Guess Who?"
Our hearts
are a pair, you see.
So stand
up if it's you!
~ Author
Unknown
(adapted by Cindy Montgomery)
The student
with the other matching half would come forward.
This idea
was adapted from one where the following poem was used and the activity
was simply a matching activity for matching patterned/decorated hearts;
such as hearts cut from wallpaper.
My friend
gave me a valentine,
But signed
it as "Guess Who?"
Our hearts
are just alike, you see.
So stand
up if it's you!
~ Author
Unknown
Measurement:
Cut out a huge red heart from red paper, or draw one on a paved surface
using sidewalk chalk. Read the book, A Village Full of Valentines
by James Stevenson. Then allow each student to estimate and pull
off enough red yarn from a skein or roll to go around the heart.
Cut off the estimated amount of yarn for each student. After each
student has their own piece of yarn, actually allow them the opportunity
to measure the heart with it. Graph the results ... too much, too
little, shorter, longer, more, less, equal to, or just right!
Next, measure
the heart using a strand of yarn and cut off the results. Allow the
students to measure their estimates against the actual size of the heart.

Valentine Mobile:
Using Ellison die-cuts, but out pink, white, and red solid and "frame"
hearts. (what I call "frame" hearts are ones with the centers cuts
out) Glue to varying lengths of color coordinated yarn. You
can also use cupid cut-outs if you have them.
These can
be hung from an even larger heart shape, or a piece of red construction
paper cut in half vertically. Glue or tape the ends of the two pieces
of construction paper together and have the students glue on white heart
cutouts. When dry, staple the two remaining ends together to form
a cylinder. Hole punch two holes and hang with yarn.

Fingerpainting:
For the younger ones, let them fingerpaint on a large sheet of paper with
red and white paint. When dry, cut out each piece of paper into a
large heart shape. You could also use this activity to introduce
the color pink ... which is what you'll get by mixing the red and white.
An extension
for this activity would be to place red and white icing in a ziploc bag
for each student. Allow them to smush the bag around until the icing
is mixed. Then they use their icing to decorate their own cupcake.
Candy hearts, red hots, etc. can be provided for decoration as well.

Lacy Hearts:
Provide each student with two red pipecleaners and a length of white crepe
paper streamer. Demonstrate how to use a hole punch to make a small
triangle shape using 3 holes (without the holes touching) on one
edge of the paper. Repeat this pattern all the way down the streamer.
When gathered the streamer should have a "lacy" look. On the opposite
side of the streamer, punch holes in a straight line down the streamer.
Again, make sure the holes do not touch.
Next, thread
the streamer onto the pipecleaner through the "straight line" holes.
When one pipecleaner is full, connect the other pipecleaner to it by twisting
the ends together. Continue threading the streamer onto the pipecleaners.
Once the streamer is totally threaded onto the pipecleaners, twist the
remaining ends of the pipecleaners together. Last, form the pipecleaners
into a heart and adjust the "lace". A red satin bow may be added.

Placemats:
For some reason or another, "weaving" always seems to become a Valentine
craft activity. :) So here's a woven Valentine placemat.
Start with
a
large sheet of red construction paper and the same size sheets of pink
and white construction paper cut into 1 inch strips. Cut slits in
the red construction paper, making sure not to cut within an inch of the
edge either way.
Now's the
fun part .. trying to teach the kids how to weave the pink and white paper
strips into the red ones. Have fun! :) When finished,
glue down the ends and add tiny die-cut hearts. Laminate.

Counting activity:
Empty a box of chocolates, but keep the paper candy liners and the heart
shaped box. (I'm sure you'll figure out something to do with all
that chocolate candy!) Program each paper liner with a stick on dot
programmed with a number. Have the students count out that many red
hot hearts or candy hearts into each candy liner. When they've completed
the activity, of course they need to be able to sample some of the candy!

Lacing:
Cut different color and size hearts from posterboard. Laminate.
Hole punch holes around the edges. Supply appropriate lengths of
color coordinated yarn that have had a "needle " formed on one end with
masking tape. The students use the yarn to lace around the hearts.

Patterning:
Those colored candy hearts make excellent manipulatives for patterning
activities. Depending on the level of your students, you can have
them use them to reproduce patterns that you've glued to a strip of cardboard
or posterboard, or have them extend patterns that you've begun, or provided
them with the candy and let them create their own patterns.

Graphing:
They can also be used just as well for graphing. Provide each student
with an appropriate graph and a small bag of hearts. Have them graph
their candy according to the graph. They can graph by color or by
saying. Questions can also be provided at the bottom of the graph
for them to answer. To answer the questions, they must be able to
interpret the graph. If you need a "worksample", have them color
in one square for each heart, then they can take their candy home as a
treat.

Valentine Pattern
Necklace: Provide each student with a heart shape cut-out and
a piece of yarn. Hole punch each heart with two holes side-by-side,
but not touching (this will keep them from hanging side-ways). Thread
the yarn through both holes. Provide each student with red and pink
uncooked, dyed pasta. If you want to include white, you can
spray paint the noodles white. Have them thread the pasta onto each
side of the necklace in a pattern.

Mailing Center:
Set up a Post Office in your classroom as a Center. Provide students
with scrap paper, construction paper, stickers, markers, glue, scissors,
stamps, old Valentine cards, etc. and let them make cards or write notes
to send to their friends and family. A small, multi-student
class mailbox can be made by covering an empty wine or glasses box.
These types of boxes come with built in dividers to keep the contents from
smashing together. Each "cell" in the box can be labeled for a student
using a stick on label. Don't forget to put one for yourself and
your assistant!
*Note* A
brief lesson on appropriate letter content might also be in order.
:)

Florist Drama
Center: Turn your Drama Center into a floral hub of activity!
Flowers are abundant on Valentine's Day, and your classroom will be no
exception. Provide the students with silk flowers, ribbon; plastic
pots, vases, and other containers fitted with styrofoam pieces glued into
the bottom, as well as To: and From: cards, pens, pads, a calculator and
a telephone. Now just sit back and watch the orders roll in! :)

Fine Motor
Center: Provide red, white, and pink play dough and heart shaped
cookie cutters. If you have access to different sizes of heart cookie
cutters, encourage your students to cut out the shapes, then line them
up sequentially according to size.
Students
can also be provided with laminated work mats containing heart shapes.
They use the play dough to fill in the heart shapes on the mat, then decorate
the hearts with different colors of play dough.

Another activity
for a fine motor center would be to provide each student with a large heart
shape pattern photocopied onto white construction paper. The students
fill in the heart shape with either pieces of torn red or pink construction
paper or tiny pieces of tissue paper twisted around the end of an unsharpened
pencil. They could also just twist the tissue paper, dip it into
glue and stick it onto the heart.

Just for fun:
Show your students how to fold a piece of construction paper and cut out
half of a heart on the fold. Once you open it up to show them the
results, and they get the hang of it, there will be millions of hearts
around!

Heart Flowers:
Photocopy a vase pattern onto a sheet of construction paper vertically.
Provide each student with 3 heart cut-outs. The students color or
paint the vase, glue the hearts "above" the vase as the flowers.
Then use a marker or crayon to add the stems.
*This would
be a good time to introduce or reinforce the concept of "above".

Kissy Fish:
Provide each student with a pattern containing a large heart, a medium
heart, and three small hearts. The large heart is the body (point
towards the tail), the medium size heart is the tail (point towards the
body and underlapping), one small heart for each fin, and the last one
for fish lips (also underlapping)! :) Add eyes with a
crayon, marker, or wiggly eyes. If you dare, you can have them make
two fish facing each other on a large sheet of construction paper!

Money:
If you're looking for an idea to reinforce money concepts, a store is perfect.
This store contains supplies to make Valentine cards or crafts. Each
student is supplied with a certain amount of money, or the money could
be earned through good grades, good behavior, and/or good attendance.
All supplies in the store are priced, and the students purchase what they
need to make their Valentine cards or Valentine crafts.
A different
spin on this concept would be to supply the students with the supplies
and the money, then let them set up their own store and sell their ready
made cards or crafts to their classmates.

Valentine Bracelets:
Have students thread red, pink, and white pony beads in a pattern onto
a leather thong. Tie carefully.

Parent Valentine
Card: Provide each student with a flimsy, white paperplate
and a sentence strip. Have them decorate the paperplate as their
face and glue on yarn hair, etc. The students copy "I love you this
much!" onto the sentence strip. Then trace their hands, cut them
out, and glue them onto the ends of the sentence strip with the thumbs
pointing up. Last, staple the paperplate to the back of the sentence
strip in the middle. Fold the sentence strip (arms) in towards the
face with the hands resting under the chin. When the parent opens
the arms up, it will say, "I love you this much!"

Valentine Bulletin
Board: Make a large red heart, then lay it onto a piece of white
paper and make another larger heart with scalloped edges. Glue
or staple the red heart over the white one creating a red heart with white
lace. Staple white cupcake liners (Valentine ones would be great)
inside the red heart giving the effect of a box of chocolates. Glue
each student's picture into one of the cupcake liners. Caption:
Life is like a box of chocolates ... always full of surprises!
Susan Miller,
a kindergarten teacher in Chestertown, NY at North Warren Central School,
liked this Valentine bulletin board so much that she decided to use the
idea to enter into their school door decorating contest. Her class
won First Place! Congratulations, Susan, and thanks for sharing your
picture of your door below ...
Feb. 2002

Wrinkled Heart:
This idea was shared on the 'net and I surely need to do it with my class.
Some of my students are into laughing at others and saying they aren't
going to be someone else's friend.
The activity
is to cut out a red heart and gather your class around you. Have
them say mean things to you or laugh at you. Every time they do this,
wrinkle the heart in your hands. Afterwards, show them how their
mean remarks where hurtful and that you can smooth out the wrinkles in
the heart, but they're never totally gone. Explain that when
they do this to someone, it's the same as with the heart. They may
get over the mean remarks, but they never will be totally forgotten.

Heart Glyph:
Provide each student with a heart with a lacy edge and tiny die-cut hearts.
Boy ~ color
your heart red
Girl ~
color your heart pink
Have a
dog ~ color your lace purple
Have a
cat ~ color your lace yellow
No dog
or cat ~ color your lace green
5 years
old ~ glue on 5 hearts
6 years
old ~ glue on 6 hearts
7 years
old ~ glue on 7 hearts
etc.

Valentine Memento:
Glue a white heart cut-out to a piece of red construction paper.
Have students make fingerprints using red ink on the white heart.
Glue the following poem to the bottom of the page:
Dirty little
fingerprints
On windows,
doors, and walls.
Prints
that tell you I've been by ..
Cards to
mark my call.
Now they
are a nuisance,
But soon
I'll grow so tall ...
You'll
miss those little tokens
That told
you I was small.
And so to
make sure that you'll remember me this way,
I've made
this heart just for you on Valentine's Day!
~ Author
Unknown

Snowman Valentine:
Provide each student with 3 die-cut white circles, a tiny red die-cut heart,
and a piece of dark blue construction paper. Have them glue the circles
on the paper to form a snowman, glue the red heart to his chest, and add
the other features with a crayon. Glue the following poem onto the
page as well:
I made
a snowman yesterday
So jolly
fat and fine.
I put a
red heart
On his
chest.
And called
him Valentine!
~ Author
Unknown

Valentine
Candy Colors
(tune:
Miss Mary Mack)
I need a
clue, clue, clue.
Do you
like blue, blue, blue?
Which color
candy, candy, candy
Tastes
best to you, you, you?
Miss Jackie
Jell-O, Jell-O, Jell-O,
She likes
the yellow, yellow, yellow.
Mr. Sammy
Sight, Sight, Sight,
He likes
the white, white, white.
Miss Linda
Link, Link, Link,
She likes
the pink, pink, pink.
Mr. Benny
Borange, Borange, Borange,
He likes
the orange, orange, orange.
I need a
clue, clue, clue.
Do you
like blue, blue, blue?
Which color
candy, candy, candy
Tastes
best to you, you, you?
~Author
Unknown

Number Words
Pocketchart Activity: This is another idea shared on the 'net.
The person posting the message said the text came from Kim's Big Book Ideas,
but she turned it into a pocketchart activity. So it can be a book
or a pocketchart activity.
One heart
Two hearts
Three hearts
Four.
Five hearts
Six hearts
Seven hearts
More!
~ Kim
To use in
a pocketchart, have students add the correct number of hearts to each row.
Personally, I'd use it for both simultaneously. You could also change
the number words to just numbers if needed.

The Love
Bug
It begins
with a grin (smile broadly)
It turns
to a giggle (put both hands on mouth and giggle)
You start
to laugh (throw head back and laugh out loud)
Your legs
start to wiggle (put feet in the air and shake)
You look
all around for someone to hug (move eyes back and forth)
You've
caught the love bug! (hug another child or yourself)
ACHOO!
~ Author
Unknown

Valentine,
Valentine
Valentine,
valentine,
Gooshy,
gooshy, goooo.
Valentine,
valentine
Always
saying I love youuuuu!
~Author
Unknown

Valentine
V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E
That spells
valentine you see.
First, I
take my scissors,
Then my
glue.
Valentines
from me to you!
~Author
Unknown

Valentine Estimation:
Cut out a red heart shape. Have students estimate how many candy
hearts it would take to fill in the heart. Graph the estimations
of the students.

Some roses
are red,
Some roses
are white,
It's Valentines
Day and
There's
no homework tonight!
~ Author
Unknown

I'm a Little
Valentine
(tune:
I'm a Little Teapot)
I'm a Little
Valentine
Red and
white.
With ribbons
and lace,
I'm a beautiful
sight!
I can say,
"I Love You"
On Valentine's
Day.
Just put
me in an envelope
And give
me away.
~ Author
Unknown

I'll Make
a Valentine
(tune:
London Bridge)
I'll make
a bright red Valentine
And give
it right to you.
I'll trim
it with lace and bows,
Lace and
bows, lace and bows.
I'll trim
it with lace and bows,
And give
it right ot you,
~ Author
Unknown

Ten Little
Valentine's
(tune:
10 Little Indians)
One little,
two little, three little valentines,
Four little,
five little, six little valentines,
Seven little,
eight little, nine little valentines,
Ten little
valentines here!

Five Little
Valentines
Five little
Valentines were having a race.
The first
little Valentine was frilly with lace.
(hold up one finger or add a frilly Valentine to a felt board.)
The second
little Valentine had a funny face.
(hold up two fingers or add this kind of valentine to feltboard)
The third
little Valentine said "I love you."
(hold up three fingers or add this kind of valentine to felt board)
The fourth
little Valentine said "I do too."
(hold up four fingers or add this one to felt board)
The fifth
little Valentine was sly as a fox
(hold up five fingers and run behind back or make a surprise valentine to add to others)
He ran
the fastest to your valentine box.

Patriotic
Valentine
My Valentine
is red.
My Valentine
is white.
My Valentine
is blue.
We'll cut
and cut
And glue
and glue
Then send
it home to you!

Five Pretty
Valentines Fingerplay
Five pretty
valentines waiting at the store.
(Name)
bought one and then there were four.
Four pretty
Valentines shaped like a "V."
{Name}
bought one and then there were three.
Three pretty
Valentines said "I love you."
(Name)
bought one then there were two.
Two pretty
Valentines, this was so much fun
(Name)
bought one and then there was one.
One pretty
Valentine sitting on the shelf.
I felt
so sorry for it, so I bought it for myself!

February Door:
This is a door display that we did last year. We were learning
about Lincoln, Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Valentine's Day.
So this door depicts all of those things. The lace on this heart
was made from crepe paper as described in one of the ideas previously mentioned.
The silhouettes are of the three men , along with their dates of birth
and death.
Keys to My Heart:
Sites:
The Teacher's Bookbag
www.teachersbookbag.com/valentines.html
Printable Valentine Craft
http://www.theknackkids.com/ProjectView.aspx?ProjectCode=kn0562&mode=direct
Alphabet Valentines (printable)
http://printables.familyeducation.com/alphabet/printable/34088.html
Counting Valentines (printable)
http://printables.familyeducation.com/valentines-day/printable/55017.html
KD
Craft Exchange -Heart Bingo
www.kidsdomain.com/craft/bingo-heart.html
Valentines
Coloring and Cards
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/val/color.html
Valentine
Note (printable to use in Mailing Center)
http://copycatpress.com/NavArch.htm
Poems
http://www.geocities.com/hickschicksk/valentines.htm
valentine
http://www.homestead.com/kindergarten2/valentine.html
Valentine's
Day
http://www.geocities.com/calicocookie/valentinesday.html
DLTK's
Valentine's Day Printable Cards
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/valentines/cards.htm
Valentine
Projects in the Primary Classroom
http://www2.arkansas.net/~mom/valproj.html
Valentine
Coloring Page
http://preschool.topcities.com/valencolor.htm
valentine
word scramble
http://preschool.topcities.com/wordval.htm
Dot
to Dot Heart
http://preschool.topcities.com/dotval.htm
Valentines
Day
http://preschool.topcities.com/valentines_day.htm#Songs
Valentines
Day
http://preschool.topcities.com/valentines_day.htm
Easy
Valentine's Day Kids Crafts
http://www.cabbey.com/Crafts/valentine.htm
Free
Valentine's Day Crafts at AllCrafts
http://www.allcrafts.net/valentines.htm
Valentine's
Day eCards from BlueMountain.com
http://www.bluemountain.com/eng/valentine/indexjump.html
Crayola
Happy Valentines
http://www.crayola.com/valentines/index.cfm?dc_cid=197
Crayola
Electronic Love Cards
http://www.crayola.com/cardcreator/index.cfm?cat_id=17&cat_name=
Love&dc_cid=197
Crayola
Electronic Valentine Cards
http://www.crayola.com/credirect.cfm?id=2863
Crayola
Creativity Central
http://www.crayola.com/parents/celebrations/celebrations.cfm?display=color_
heart.cfm&dc_cid=197
Planet
Pals Valentine Craft
http://www.planetpals.com/valentine.html
Heart
Basket - KinderCrafts
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Heartbasket.shtml
Printables:
Valentine Party Invitations
http://familyeducation.com/printables/piece/0,2357,22-11892- 669,00.html
Valentine
Crafts - Tipz Time
http://familyeducation.com/printables/piece/0,2357,22-11892-669,00.html
New
page 9
http://pages.cthome.net/jtburn/new_page_9.htm
february
http://www.kindernetonline.com/february.html
Index
http://sherrysseasonal.homestead.com/
Friends
http://www.geocities.com/melissajl2000/friends.htm
Valentine's
Day
http://hometown.aol.com/il2teach/pubpage.valentines.htm
Love
Letters - Mrs. Ritter's First Grade Critters
http://www.myschoolonline.com/folder/0,1872,23847-107973-26-18722,00.html
Nuttin'
But Kids Valentines Day Page
http://www.nuttinbutkids.com/valentines.html
February
http://www.theschoolbell.com/Links/months/February.html
Preschool
Education Music and Songs - Valentine's Day
http://www.preschooleducation.com/svalentine.shtml
Preschool
Education Arts & Crafts - Valentine's Day
http://www.preschooleducation.com/avalentine.shtml
Valentine's
Day at ChildFun
http://childfun.com/valentine
Songs
4 Teachers - Valentine's Day Songs, Poems, & More
http://www.songs4teachers.com/valmain.htm
DLTK's
Valentine's Day Butterfly Craft for Kids
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/valentines/mvbutterfly.html
DLTK's
Valentine's Flower Craft for Kids
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/valentines/mvflower.html
Everything
A Teacher Needs For Valentine's Day
http://www.geocities.com/athens/thebes/9893/valentinesdaypage.html
Hearts reproducible
emergent reader
http://www.teachersbookbag.com/valentines.html
Valentine's Day reproducible emergent
reader
http://www.teachersbookbag.com/valentines.html
Electronic
Valentine's Day Cards
http://www.valentinesdaycards.net/
Valentine's Day
http://www.geocities.com/mrs_pohlmeyer/valentinesday.htm
Valentine's Day Crafts
http://www.thebestkidsbooksite.com/valentinesdaycrafts.cfm
Valentine's Day Links - Debbie's Units Factory
http://www.themeunits.com/Valentine_bk.html
Valentine's Day
http://www.ecewebguide.com/valentines_day.htm
Crafts from the Attic
http://www.kathyross.com/craftweek14.html
Grandma George's Country Valentine Graphics
http://www.grandmageorge.com/free/valentine/valentine.html
Grandma George's Country Valentine Gift Certificates
http://www.grandmageorge.com/free/valentine/valcert.html
Heart Pinwheels
http://homeschoolzone.com/craft/ripplepinwheels.htm
Kate.net Valentine Game Match
http://www.kate.net/holidays/valentine/images/katevalmatch.gif
Kate.net Valentine Word Scramble
http://www.kate.net/holidays/valentine/images/katevalscramble1.gif
Valentines Word Ladder
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/val/word/ladder1e.gif
Valentines Word Ladder (2)
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/val/word/ladder2.gif
Valentine Recipes
http://parentingteens.about.com/parenting/parentingteens/library/sp/blval.htm
Valentines Coloring and Cards
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/val/color.html
Valentine Character Mailbox
http://www.kid-at-art.com/htdoc/lesson17.html
Secret Valentine
http://www.kid-at-art.com/htdoc/lesson18.html
Cast
a Paper Valentine
http://www.kid-at-art.com/htdoc/lesson42.html
Valentine's Day
Related Websites
http://www.123greetings.com/links/events/valentines_day/
February Ideas and
patterns (including Conversation Hearts Graph printable)
http://www.abcschoolhouse.com./seasonal_pdfs/February_ideas.pdf
Valentine's Day
E-Cards
http://www.valentinesday4u.com/
Valentine Turtle
Tote
http://www.copycatpress.com/images/J-F98Pg.gif
Valentine Heart
Mailbox
http://www.verybestkids.com/item.aspx?cat=ca&itemid=200211151220181921681620
Heart Health - Units
on a Healthy Heart
http://www.units4teachers.com/healthyheart.php
Valentine Ideas
http://kinderteacher.com/ValentineIdeas.htm
 Added
2.13.04 
Cupid Poop
http://holidayorganizer.com/gifts/stuffers/cpidpoop.html

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