i {heart} valentines.

I. love. Valentine's. Day.  I was never the girl who boycotted the holiday {and no, not because I was never single on the 14th!} but I was the girl who passed out valentines in junior high when no one else did.  In 7th grade I was actually injured from spraining my ankle during cheerleading practice and decorated my crutches for school with tinsel and hearts.  My mom had this totally rad pair of red hightop reeboks that I wouldn't let her get rid of because I wore them EVERY year as part of my Valentine outfit.  Matching scrunchie and all!  Oh yes, I was the epitome of fashion.

Even now I love it.  I wear my heart on my sleeve in daily life so it isn't too shocking for my friends to hear that I love them or to get a big random hug, but it seems like the whole word is sensitive and caring for that one day...and it's so nice.

Ok, ok...and it's another holiday that let's me do fun crafty things at school.  ;)

We make these cute heart people every year and they're soooo easy to do.  I cut the large hearts but use the diecut machine to make the hands and feet.  If using diecuts isn't an option you could hand cut the small hearts or teach the kids to cut them out themselves!  They'd be even more unique that way!  The legs and arms are my favorite part because when the kids accordian fold them, they kind of wobble around.  If only I could do my wobble-leg impression for you...but I guess that'll stay with my teammates!

These are the glyph directions that we use.  I kept them generic in case your heart people don't look exactly like mine.  All you need is construction paper in red, purple, and 2 shades of pink, red and pink glitter {or glitter glue} and x's and o's for noses.  Mine were foam shapes from Valentine's Day pack but if you don't have those, the noses could also be glitter or hand-drawn!

I've used multiple valentine boxes in the past but am sticking with kleenex boxes again this year.  I've been collecting them all school year but since it's cold season I'm sure you can find plenty empty boxes to be donated throughout your school and in the homes of your students!

I have a big scrap bucket that all of our construction paper goes into and I drag that out into the middle of the carpet for the kids to use.  I show them how to cut hearts but let them do the rest.  Depending on what I have in my art cabinet, I'll lay out doilies, foam shapes and stickers.  The Target dollar bin is a great place to look right now if you're need of crafty things.  The teacher who first came up with this idea wraps the entire box in butcher paper then cuts out the hole but I don't bother to take time on that step!

I'm having trouble locating my pictures from last year {eek!} but I borrowed this picture from Mom Daze.  This is basically what they look like, depending on what your kids decide to use as decorations.

For math, keep those heart boxes {even if you throw out the coconut candies!} and save them for a fun math game.  I wrote numbers in each section for my students to practice counting and matching numbers to amounts, but you could also write an addition or number sentence in the bottom for differentiation.

 I teach the game using foam stickers or colored pom poms.

Then I bring out the candy hearts for people who follow directions and do a good job, although it's ultimately for the kids who need a little reminder to focus.  ;)  Each kid has their own bag so they can play multiple times without worrying about germ cross-contamination.  They use the same bag on Valentine's Day to graph the candy hearts!

Happy heart month!  :)