When the end-of-year holiday season comes to a close, children start to get excited about the new celebrations ahead. New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and St. Patrick’s Day are a few examples of start-of-year holidays that bring the opportunity to weave fun and exciting festivities into the curriculum.
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, now’s a great time to start thinking about different ideas for seasonal activities you can add to your lesson plan. Whether you’re teaching fully in-person, remotely, or your students are utilizing a blended hybrid learning option, there are many ways to get your class excited about the holiday of love and encourage more participation and engagement.
Here are a few examples of Valentine’s Day activities you can incorporate into your curriculum this year:
English Class
Write Notes of Admiration
Valentine’s Day is typically associated with cutesy, pre-made cards handed out to those we adore. This year, spend some time teaching your students how to express their emotions and gratitude to someone they admire. Whether it’s another classmate, a family member, or a friend, ask students to pick the first person who comes to mind when they hear the words “love” and “appreciation.”
This activity poses an opportunity to work on sentence and paragraph structure, and it also encourages students to put their feelings into words — an action that can be very helpful later in life.
Art Class
Create Unique Valentine’s Day Cards
As previously stated, it’s common for students to head to the store and buy a box of valentines to hand out to their classmates. This year, encourage them to create their own unique cards that explore their personal style. This can be an inspiring way for them to show off their creative side and engage with other students based on the similarities in colors and decorations used to design the cards.
Math class
Estimate the Number of Valentine’s Day Candies in the Jar
Grab a clear jar and place chocolate morsels or candy hearts inside. Ask your students to estimate the number of candies inside the jar using the context of the size and volume of the container. Once all of the predictions are in, and you’ve declared the winning guess, gift the candies to the lucky student.
Science class
Make Valentine’s Day Potion
Want to teach your students how to make a love potion? Inspiration Laboratories suggested this fun and seasonal science project. Some fruit juices change colors based on their pH levels. When mixed with certain materials, their acidity levels are shown through different hues. To create the potion, you need:
- Cherry juice
- Baking soda
- Vinegar
- A clear glass
- A mixing spoon
- A straw
Instruct students to place the cherry juice in the glass with a straw, observing its current color and taste. Next, add a small amount of baking soda, about 1/4 teaspoon, and stir.
Encourage students to reassess the mixture. How is the juice reacting? What does it taste like now? The mixture should be bubbly, purple, and have a hint of salt in its taste. A drop or two of vinegar changes the mixture further. This is a great lesson in chemical reactions.
How a New and Exciting Curriculum Can Help You Plan Fun Activities for Your Students
It’s difficult to say when things will get back to “normal” and it’s imperative to acknowledge that fact. With so many children learning remotely, it’s important for teachers to reconsider their current teaching methods and think about ways they can keep students engaged throughout the school day.
At TCI, we want to help you make it easy to incorporate fun activities into your lesson plans, even when students aren’t in your physical classroom. We can help you create a curriculum that supports your students no matter how they learn or where they’re located.
Our implementation process makes moving to a new and improved curriculum simple and seamless. We incorporate easy-to-use lesson plans that pay close attention to techniques for keeping kids engaged by providing fun activities students and teachers alike can get excited about.
With many upcoming holidays approaching and many students continuing to learn from their own homes, now’s a great time to consider a new approach. Contact us today to learn more.
