Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to introduce enjoyable, themed activities in your classroom that reinforce important skills such as reading comprehension, grammar, and critical thinking. To make this holiday both engaging and educational, I have developed a series of activities that your students will enjoy while learning about legends, practicing grammar, and even decoding secret messages! These five activities will make Valentine’s Day memorable for students.
Lesson Handout
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5 Valentine’s Day Classroom Activities
Activity 1: Legends of St. Valentine Booklet
Start your Valentine’s Day celebration by looking at the holiday’s history. This printable booklet contains two different legends of St. Valentine and informative paragraphs about Valentine’s Day symbols like Cupid, Love Birds, and Sweethearts. Students will expand their vocabulary through words from the legends and answer comprehension questions that ask them to compare the two stories.
Activity 2: Valentine Picture Book Activities
Bring love and kindness to the classroom with a selection of Valentine’s Day picture books. This activity features three heartwarming titles: Love by Matt de la Peña, Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat, and Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli.
Each book has a teacher’s guide, including a summary, vocabulary list, constructed response questions, and teaching ideas. These activities are perfect for class discussions about empathy, friendship, and forgiveness. Students can also use the included printable organizers to plan their answers to the constructed response questions.
Activity 3: Valentine’s Day Crossword Puzzle
Are you looking for a quick activity this Valentine’s season? This crossword puzzle is the perfect solution. With vocabulary words centered around Valentine’s Day symbols like hearts, chocolate, and Cupid, this puzzle reinforces spelling and word recognition.
Activity 4: Cupid’s Grammar Game
Cupid’s Grammar Game contains 16 cards, printed front-to-back. Students must determine which side of the card contains the correct sentence. This game reviews subject/verb agreement, run-ons, comma rules, and other skills listed in the Common Core Standards for grades 4-6.
Activity 5: Vigenère Cipher Valentine Cards
Have your students become code-breakers with the Vigenère Cipher Valentine cards for a fun and secretive twist. These printable cards come with coded Valentine’s Day messages that students can decipher using a keyword. The cards can easily be turned into personalized Valentines, as they are printed on colored paper and let students decorate the front. To help them solve the puzzle, they can watch a quick one-minute YouTube video explaining how the Vigenère Cipher works. Students will love finding the hidden messages, making this an excellent activity for problem-solving skills.
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Valentine’s Day provides a great opportunity to add meaningful activities to your teaching plans while keeping students engaged. These five activities, from historical legends to grammar games and secret codes, will add fun to your classroom this Valentine’s season.
2 comments
I like your picture books about love and caring. I will try some of those with my older students, there are some good reading skills that are covered.
Author
I hope your students enjoy them!