valentines

Our Valentine quilt

This year we made heart lions for our quilt. This is the 2004 February Lesson of the Month at TLC Art (http://www.tlcart.com)

Valentine Candy Box Picture Magnet

These are magnets we used to decorate our lockers. Empty the candies from the boxes. Insert a picture to show through the cellophane window. Glue the boxes closed and put magnetic tape on the back. Thanks to Linda at http://www.kinderteacher.com for this idea.

Counting Valentines Book

(Black and White)

Counting Valentines Book

(Color)

Maureen Tumenas from Kinderkorner graciously offered to share her Valentine book on my website. Click on the links above to see the books. Here is how to assemble the book after printing it out:

Print out the first two pages--copy them back to back.

Print out the next 2 and copy them back to back. Stack this on top of the cover page.

The last two pages are the middle of the book (again copy back to back) and stack on top. Fold the book in half and staple in the middle.

This is the page order after the pages have been copied back to back, stacked, folded and stapled:
1. Counting Valentines Cover
2. blank page on back of cover
3. Valentines, Valentines, How many do I see?
4. Valentines, Valentines, Count them with me.
5. I have red ones,
6. orange ones,
7. yellow ones, too.
8. I have green ones
9. purple ones,
10. and some that are blue!
11. Valentines, Valentines, How many do I see? Count them with me!
12. blank back cover

Counting Letters in Conversation Hearts

Give every child one "conversation" heart. Have them count the letters on the saying, then place a heart on the graph under the correct number.

Vocabulary Practice

The children could put a sticker on the giraffe for every flashcard they could read.

Valentine Word Building

This is actually a tic-tac-toe game, but we used heart-shaped letters to build three letter words on it. The hearts and game can be found in the Valentine section of http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/holiday_pages.htm

Valentine Vocabulary Practice

At this center we practiced reading our vocabulary words and by reading the heart words and putting them on magnetic hearts.

Valentine Counting by Tens

At this center the children cut and glued on hearts to count by tens.

Candy Heart Estimation

Use conversation hearts for an estimation activity.

Get a copy of the Conversation Hearts Estimation Activity.

Candy Heart Sorting

Sort the hearts by color, place them on a graph and then color in the graph to show the results. These activity sheets came from http://www.abcschoolhouse.com.

Candy Heart Graphing

Valentine Addition

Valentine Addition was another center this week. Students would toss a die, count out that many peanut M&M's, and write the number in one of the broken hearts on the recording sheet. After doing this a second time, they would count and write the total M&M's to make a number sentence. This activity is from the book, Math Through the Alphabet, by Sue Kerr. (You may e-mail the author directly at kerrific@charter.net if you want to purchase her books.)

Valentine Heart Estimation

We estimated how many conversation hearts one hand could hold. (Can you tell we celebrated the 100th day of school the day before this activity?)

We used hand sanitizer first and then grabbed a handful of hearts, counted them, recorded the number and compared the actual number to our estimates.

Valentine Counting

We're working on teen numbers so I used the Box-It or Bag-It mailbox workmat to have the students count out sets. They put ten heart erasers on the left side and used the right side to add on for the number I called out. (15 is one ten and 5 more.)

The heart erasers could also be used on a double ten frame which is designed to help the students realize that 12 is made from one set of ten plus two more.

Valentine Patterns

The same heart erasers made an ABC pattern.

Valentine Teen Number Bingo

We played teen number bingo and used M&Ms for markers.

Valentine Mailboxes

We recycled a gallon milk jug for our Valentine mailboxes. Cut the jugs above the handle and down the raised ridges as shown in the photos below. To make the animal body, use a 12" x18" piece of construction paper and cut into a shape has four "paws". Cut an animal head from a 9" x12" piece of construction paper. Cut a large heart and write the name on it. To put it together, I staple the right arm and leg to the right side of the heart. Then I wrap the body around the jug and staple the other two paws to the other side of the heart. I secure it on to the jug with a few staples through the back and on each side. Then I place the head inside the jug and staple it to the back of the jug. It is best to have a "neck" piece below the face that extends down into the jug a few inches--this keeps the head from bending forward.