Valentine's Day Ideas for Upper Grades

Valentine's Day and the days leading up to it can be a fun time for lower grades, but why should lower grades have all of the fun? This can also be a fun-filled time for upper grades as well. Here are just a few ideas and activities that your upper grade students may enjoy that will also keep them engaged and learning.

Write Valentine's Day Poems

Holidays are a great time to read and write poetry, and Valentine's Day is no exception. Poems about love for their parents, grandparents, pets, or even friendship are perfect topics for Valentine's Day. I personally enjoy having students to write a haiku or an acrostic poem (to spell V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E). For years, my students have written these in their writing journals and have drawn pictures to go along with each poem. This year, I'm excited to have my student try this Haiku Poem Interactive from Read, Write, Think. This is a free interactive page in which students can brainstorm, compose, customize, and publish their haiku poems. Of course, this fun website could be used anytime of the year.

Create Valentine's Day Bulletin Boards

Getting your students involved in creating a Valentine's Day bulletin board can be a fun activity. If you have visited my blog, you probably know that I love decorating my classroom. I don't change it up very much throughout the year, but holidays often call for a cute new bulletin board. Well, this Valentine's Day, I thought that our hall could use a little Valentine's Day cuteness, and so, my students helped to create this one to brighten up our hallway.

I love my school "beary" much!

Each student was given a heart and asked to write something that he/she loves about our school. I reminded them that the people are what make up our school: our students, faculty, staff, parents, and volunteers. I asked them to not write about the stuff that we have (for example the playground equipment), but to instead write about the people that make our school so special. There responses were full of thoughtfulness and sweet praise for others in our school. We have had so many compliments on this sweet bulletin board, and the students' responses were precious!

Have Fun with Valentine's Day Mad Libs

Students love mad libs, and this is sure to bring laughter and fun to your Valentine's Day grammar lesson. I like to use a mad lib as a whole group activity. I simply call out the part of speech needed, call on a student to name an example for the part of speech, and write the word on the board. When complete, I read the story, filling in the blanks with the words the students gave. There is always laughter and giggles with these nonsense stories. This is a great time filler that takes only five minutes or less. For some great free Valentine's Day Mad Libs simply visit here.

Valentine's Day Parts of Speech Quilt

Another fun way to review grammar during the days leading up to Valentine's Day is to use this Valentine's Day Parts of Speech Quilt Packet with your class. This is not only a great way to review the parts of speech, but my students love having an excuse to color! They have enjoyed these printables so much, and I love seeing my students having fun reviewing the parts of speech. Having these colorful quilt pieces to decorate my walls and hallway is an added bonus. They make a bright display that will be sure to get noticed in your hallway or on your bulletin board.

By the way, I'm Kelly from Teaching Fourth, and I am thrilled to be back with this amazing group of educators on Upper Elementary Snapshots, and I am looking forward to blogging and posting with this awesome group!