Building Friendships on Valentines Day

Hello everyone!  This is Lisa from Pawsitively Teaching and I am excited to be sharing a simple, meaningful idea with you today.  I know it is only January, but I wanted to share one of my favorite teaching ideas for February with you today so, if you wanted to try it out in your classroom, you would have plenty of time to prepare.

Does this look familiar?  Will your room be full of these next month?  Although some of these cards are cute...I like to have my kids create something a little more personalized for their classmates for Valentine's Day that helps to strengthen their friendships.  

I begin by sending home a note to my parents during the last week of January asking them to help their child create a mailbox from a shoe box that reflects their personality.  

Next, we review the format for a friendly letter and I place a sample letter template in our writing center. The students spend the next several days writing letters to their classmates during writing time.  

Here is a peek at a couple of my students' letters from last year.  Once the letters are completed, they are placed inside the receiving child's Valentine box.  The letters are not read until our Valentine's Party.  During the party, the kids have a chance to open and read each letter that was written by one of their classmates.  It is so sweet to see the smiles on their faces when they read the words written about them by each of their classmates.  

If you would like to try out this activity in your class, you can download the template that my students use by clicking on the image above.