Valentines and Core Curriculum

As a fifth/sixth grade teacher, I want my students to have the fun and innocence of Valentine's Day in the classroom.  But, with so much to teach, I don't want to let go of academics at any time.  Every classroom moment counts!  So, how to do both?

Since it was mid trimester for us, I took the opportunity to show the students their updated grades - then we talked about the areas each student needed to focus on.  Next, I offered the students an extra credit opportunity.  Every student in my class, was to make a valentine's box at home to bring in on the day of our Valentine's party.  They could decorate their box with hearts, flowers, and Cupid - or - they could look at this year's curriculum and create their box to teach or reteach the class about something they are to learn this year.  I don't particularly care if the students go ahead in their books, or they reteach something that we already covered.  Students could choose any subject to focus on, but they must focus on the grade level standards.

For example:

• The solar system is covered in third grade and fifth grade - they must share information from the fifth grade standards, not just discuss things that they learned in third grade.
• If a student wants extra credit in Reading, they must focus on the elements of literature of a book.  They cannot simply summarize a book that they read for us.
• If a student wants extra credit in Math or Writing - their box must focus on some of new standards that they learned this year - not simply a review of previous years' learning.

Students were required to make their box into something that fit their topic, they had to write a paragraph explaining their topic, and they had to present their findings to the class orally.  This was a great time filler on the day of the party as well!

I couldn't have been more pleased with their efforts.  Let me share a few of the highlights with you:

This student has always been a reluctant learner - he would rarely complete assignments and turn in his work.  And extra credit????  Not a chance!  Yet, here he is with his Revolutionary War Valentine box! He not only wrote one paragraph - he wrote three!  And you should have heard his presentation!  He recreated a scene of the Battle at Bunker Hill, and talked about it with intelligence and passion.  He knew his facts, and easily answered questions for the other students.  I couldn't have been more proud!

I must give sixth grade Social Studies fair time here!  This student recreated the first Olympics in Ancient Greece and told us all about it.  She talked about the fact that only men were allowed to participate at first, and told us when women were permitted to join in!  This was clearly a topic of interest for her.  The sides folded up - and she had pictures of Ancient Greek architecture.  Then she told us about how our White House was modeled in the design of Ancient Greek architecture.

Other subjects, oh yeah!  I must say, however, that most of the students did topics in either Science or Social Studies.  These subjects are the easiest to use for an assignment such as this.  But, here is an example of extra credit in Reading.  I have been reading the book Touching Spirit Bear with my class, and this is a spirit bear.  Not only did she create a great looking box, but her analysis of the elements of literature was spot on!  She discussed the theme of the book, the mood, the character development, and examples of figurative language.  Probably more than I would have asked for in a book report!!!!  

And one of my favorites was the Fractionator BoomBox!  This student created an adorable Valentine's box with examples of how to work with fractions.  He included things like, LCD, finding a common denominator, simplest form, adding, subtracting, multiplying fractions.  Really nice work!  But it was his paragraph that I really loved.  He talked about how music and math are linked, and how important fractions are to reading music.  He talked about multiplying a note by 1/2 if there is a flag added to it, and by 1/4 if there are two flags added.  He talked about adding notes together to create a full beat.  

These are just a few examples.  They all did an amazing job - even the students that only decorated for Valentine's Day.  They were so proud of their masterpieces, and anxious to get up in front of the class to share their work!

What a fun and educational day we had!  What could be better than that?