February Fun!

Love is in the air... take a look

Valentine art makes my heart happy! The heart fish and butterflies are what graced the walls in my classroom for February. Simple but adorable.  In addition, to the heart themed art we learned a poem titled Valentine.  

Here are a few of my favorite valentine themed books. 

This months family project was to create a mailbox using recycled materials.  The finished products always amaze me! I love how the children feel so proud of their creation.

It's always a challenge to think of new ways to engage five and six year olds, especially when practicing a new skill.  With that in mind, I set out to create a game that would allow the kids to practice  adding with the help of a number line.  The game is simple - one child throws a heart shaped beanbag and hits a number on the red heart and another student throws the beanbag and hits a number on the white heart. 

  

A student recorded the number sentence on my board (pictured below) and the class recorded the equation in their interactive journal (pictured below). We then used the number line to find the sum.

My class loved this game! 

One of my all time favorite Valentine books is called the Valentine Surprise.  The main character in the story makes a bunch of different shaped hearts while trying to create the perfect heart.  After reading the story we graphed which heart they liked the best.

We analyzed the data in the picture graph (sorry it was cut off in this picture). 

I created yet another game this time to allow my class to practice making/ reading cvc and cvce words.

The life size game board really grabbed their full attention.  Here's how it works - first one student rolls the die and moves the game piece that many spaces. Another student turns over a card in the center of the game board.  We put the onset and rime together and read the word.  The class had their interactive journals in front of the them to record the words.  We made two categories real/ nonsense.  If the game piece landed on "pick a friend" the child who rolled the die would pick a friend to help them make a word.  If the piece landed on "nonsense word" we had to make a nonsense word with the card that was turned over.

Here is another picture of the game board.  The hearts are from the dollar store.

On Valentines Day my class sorted and graphed their conversation hearts.  This activity is always a hit with the kinders!

During writers workshop my class worked on writing two sentences the first one telling who they would give their valentine to, and the second to describe their valentine. 

I love art projects that require the kids to be creative- this one sure fits the bill.  I gave each table a bunch of different materials, and told them to decorate their heart... simple as that!

Happy Valentines Day!