I would also like to put together a free Valentine's Day Party handbook like the Christmas one I did in December. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it if you would share your Valentine Party games, student made card holders, crafts, food, activities, anything so I can make another handbook! If you don't know what I mean, check out the link to the Christmas party handbook. Please share in the comments below!And, last but not least, don't forget about the giveaway I'm doing for free flippy books. There is still time to enter if you want to!
Use the candy hearts in sentences. The student will think of a sentence that they can use the word on the heart with. For example if the heart says " you're cute" the child might write a sentence " My gramma always says YOU'RE CUTE as a bug's ear." The heart would be glued on in place of where those same words are.
ReplyDeletePatty
I always send home Hearty Homework, which is for students to create their own valentine box with their family, so it becomes a family project. It can be any shape. The only directions I give are: the base of the box must not be any bigger than the paper the letter is written on, and it must stand up by itself. It is really neat to see the creative ideas come back to school.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea that I like to do is make valentines for nursing homes in the area. Since Valentine's Day typically falls around our 100th day of school, we make 100 valentines to share.
At my school, we aren't allowed to have a Valentine's Day Party, but we do exchange valentines and do other fun Valentine's Day activities. One of the activities that we do is graph Valentine M&Ms. Each student is given an individual bag of Valentine M&Ms, and they must sort, graph, and analyze their data. They love it because after the analyzing, they get to eat the M&Ms, of course!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the freebie! LOVE it. :)
ReplyDeleteLisa @ Stories From Second
As far as a party, I am going to run the show this go round. I am going to have my students make a L-O-V-E banner with ribbon and die cut letters, play some games with candy hearts, MAYBE do a photobooth, and pass out Valentine's. I am also thinking of just ordering pizza rather than having lots and lots of snacks. The kids never eat the snacks and they just get thrown away. We are only allowed to do store bought snacks, so sadly no homemade things for us. :(
ReplyDeleteLisa @ Stories From Second
Thanks for the stationary!! Can't wait to see the Valentine's Day party ideas - not sure what I will do for our class party this year! Lots of great ideas on blogs and pinterest too!! :)
ReplyDeleteAmanda
Learn, Laugh, Grow!
At the beginning of February, I put a large box (usually one to hold office paper) covered in paper and Valentine stickers out in our classroom. When the kids bring their Valentines, they place them in the slot at the top of the box. On Valentine's Day, I open the box and give each student a handful of valentines to pass out. They have their own baggies to put their Valentines in. It's a little chaotic at times but oh so much fun!
ReplyDeleteWhen introducing the box and Valentines list and often again before I open the box, I tell a little story about having received a valentine from a secret admirer when I was in school. Unbeknownst to my kiddos, I always sneak an extra Valentine in the box to one of them signed from a secret admirer! I keep a stash of Valentines on me from years past (often for kids who can't bring their own valentines) and use one they won't recognize and sign it in a pencil with my best kid-impression handwriting. I always choose to give it to a student that likes to pick or joke around. It is so much fun to watch them squirm and go around to ask everyone if they sent the Valentine. I always have to put on my best acting face to keep from laughing! I never tell them the truth. I promise it's all done in the name of fun on Valentine's Day!
After exchanging valentines, we have a small party with pizza, cheese cubes, cookies, etc. I usually share a Valentine story and we watch A Charlie Brown Valentine or another cute Valentine movie.
Kayla
Primary Junction
Hey Christina - I have a blogging question - I tried to add my blog button to my page with the "published" code box below... but my code box is huge!! It doesn't seem to be matching the format of my blog; any ideas??
ReplyDeleteAmanda
Learn, Laugh, Grow
All of our parties are held in the morning. We start with a school breakfast in our classrooms. Then we continue into the "party." (We do this at Halloween too.) This prevents all those "when is the party starting?" questions all day long. Once we have opened our Valentines, we are free to do other activities that revolve around Valentines and our day is much better. We never ask for parents to bring in cupcakes or candy, but somehow they manage to appear. . . but starting with a healthy breakfast is far better than all the candy that would be brought in if we held a traditional party like I had when I was in school.
ReplyDeletePatty
Hi Christina,
ReplyDeleteI am a huge fan and fellow Michigan teacher :) As far as the party goes, in years past I have done centers with math and literacy activities. But, this year, thanks to Pinterest and a lot of bog-stalking, I'm going to do more hands-on activities where the kids are creating something they can take home with them. As far as Pinterest ideas I'm going to try incorporating:
I am loving the "Paint Chip Valentine's Day Bookmarks", the "I Really Dig You" bag of m&m's with a tiny plastic shovel(I have a beach themed room so it's perfect), and of course conversation heart math and graphing (bc they LOVE it!) I also love reading the books "I Love Words" for activities and "The Day It Rained Hearts" :)
Lisa :) (new follower)
http://madeintheshadeinsecondgrade.blogspot.com/
In my school we write "Love letters." We pretty much review the components of a friendly letter and write the letters on beautiful Valentine's stationary (very similar to yours). We address the letters to various teachers, administrative assistants, teaching assistants, tutors, and other adults in our building. I never tell who my students to write to, but we do brainstorm together. In the letters we thank the people we are writing to and tell them why we love what they do. It's a very special Valentine that many adults treasure. :)
ReplyDeleteAshley
freefallinintofirst.blogspot.com (new blog :) )
Oh another idea for a party game: Valentine's bingo! You can put whatever you want on the bingo cards. But for the markers, I use candy hearts. Then the students can eat them when we're done!!!
ReplyDeleteAnother vote for valentine's bingo! Also, I put cute stationary on each student's desk and then give everyone about 5 minutes to walk around and leave some love for their classmates! Kiddos write compliments on their classmate's stationary and have fun reading them while enjoying some Valentine treats.
ReplyDeletePlus a cute Disney montage (Taylor Swift's 'Today is a FairyTale)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6QGXamlB6M&feature=related
This blog is a great source of information which is very useful for me.
ReplyDeleteFOR BEST COLLECTION OF VALENTINE DAY PARTY GAMES FOR ADULTS.