As Valentine’s Day
approaches, I thought of some ways to tie in the holiday with Core Standards.
How many ways can
you say, “I love you”? Teach
children sign language for the term, and then challenge them to demonstrate
other ways to say “I love you.”
(For example, curl in your fingers and then touch your thumbs to make a
heart shape. Hug yourself and then
point to someone. Explain that
people put “X O” at the end of a letter to represent a kiss and a hug.)
*Make a list of
all the school helpers that you appreciate and make cards for them using
thumbprints or handprint flowers with sign language for “love.”
Fold two sheets of
paper in half and staple. Ask
children to write predictable books starting each page with “Love is…” Younger children could draw pictures
and older students could write detailed sentences.
Draw a heart in
the middle of a sheet of paper and write the word “love” in the middle. Younger students could draw pictures of
things they love, while older students could write synonyms for the word.
*This would be a
perfect opportunity to demonstrate the use of a thesaurus.
Ask children to
find an illustration in a book that demonstrates the word “love.”
ROOTS OF LOVE
Take the word
“love” and use it for teaching tenses, comparisons, prefixes, etc.
“He love me.” What would sound better?
Love – unloved
Love - loving
STICKER POEMS
Put a heart
sticker in the middle of a sheet of paper. Challenge children to write a poem about the sticker and
around the sticker. They could
also write an acrostic poem with the word “valentine” or “heart.”
You can use a
paper heart or three-dimensional heart for this activity. Have children close their eyes while
you hide the heart somewhere in the room in plain sight. When they open their eyes, they can
stick up their thumb when they spy the heart. If they are called on, they have to describe where the heart
is using positional words. For
example, “The heart is under the clock beside the calendar.” That child then gets a turn to hide the
heart.
POINTERS
Make pointers by
attaching heart stickers to craft sticks.
Children can use these for reading and also for demonstrating positional
words. “Put your heart over your
head. Put your heart under your
chin. Put your heart behind your
back…”
