Incorporating
the holidays without sacrificing content can be a challenge in middle and high
school, but there are lots of fun ways to bring Valentine’s Day into your
classroom while still covering outcomes!
Read below to find 8 Valentine’s Day activities that you can use in
your classroom:
1. WRITING THE PERFECT BREAK-UP LETTER WRITING ACTIVITY
Try an anti-Valentine’s Day twist by having your students write the perfect break-up letter or text message. After I give students information on what should be included in the perfect break-up letter, I have them develop two fictional characters and create a deal-breaking issue in their relationship. Have students do some pre-writing to develop the couple’s relationship, personality traits, and past relationships. Then, after they create an outline for the letter or text message, they can start writing the heartbreaking message. Try the activity here: WRITING A BREAK-UP LETTER
2. VALENTINE'S DAY AROUND THE WORLD RESEARCH PROJECT
Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to bring nonfiction reading into your ELA classroom! Have students explore informational texts about how Valentine’s Day (and other celebrations of love) are observed around the world. One of my favorite countries to explore is South Korea, where there are unofficial love-related holidays on the 14th of every month, including White Day, Black Day, and Rose Day. Students can also learn about the Qixi Festival in China, Dragobete in Romania, or Dia dos Namorados in Brazil. Use these interesting traditions to get students practicing reading comprehension, research, and writing skills.
You could even have students compare celebrations in a short essay or create a presentation to share what they learned with the class!
3. USING FAMOUS LOVE QUOTES TO INSPIRE WRITING OR DISCUSSION
Another way to bring Valentine’s Day in is to introduce students to quotes that give advice or make a statement about love. These quotes can be used as a springboard for writing or discussion.A really fun way to engage with love-inspired quotes is to have students imagine that they are a psychologist, and the ONLY advice they can give their client is the love quote you provide them. Have them write a paragraph from the perspective of the client coming in to the office. They will have to consider what advice the quote of is giving and think of what the client might be like if he/she is not following that advice. Grab this free activity: LOVE QUOTE ADVICE
Another option for using love-inspired quotes is to have students discuss/write about what the quote means in their own words, how it applies to their own life, and whether or not they agree with the words. You could also have students make two columns and describe the personality and habits of a person who follows the advice of the quote and a person who does not follow the advice.
4. SET THE SCENE WITH A VALENTINE'S DAY MYSTERY
Bring a little mystery into your classroom this Valentine’s Day! Have students investigate the case of a missing love letter written by a girl who is too shy to tell her crush how she feels. The letter has mysteriously disappeared from her pencil case, and it’s up to your students to figure out who took it. Students work together to examine clues, including text messages, emails, notes, and other evidence, to solve the case. It’s a fun way to get students practicing close reading, inference, and text evidence without feeling like they’re completing a traditional reading assignment!
5. LEAN INTO THE LOVE SONGS
Love songs are packed with figurative language, which makes them perfect for bringing a little Valentine's Day fun into your ELA classroom. Have students examine lyrics from popular artists like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, and Rihanna to find examples of similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, and oxymorons. Students can identify the literary devices and explain how they contribute to the meaning of the lyrics. It's a fun way to get students practicing poetry analysis and close reading using music they actually know and enjoy!
6. CORRECTING CUPID'S GRAMMAR ERRORS
Let’s be honest, grammar is not the most exciting topic for
middle and high schoolers. I try to make
it more fun during Valentine’s Day by having students correct Cupid’s social media posts. Students read the post,
find the errors, correct them, and give reasons for their corrections. Try this activity here: CORRECTING CUPID'S SOCIAL MEDIA
It’s amazing how much more engaged students can be in finding errors by simply adding a twist to the context. I use them in task card format for a station or writing center, but you could also easily use one a day as a bell-ringer for the whole class on the days leading up to Valentine’s Day.
7. TURNING POP SONGS INTO SONNETS: POETRY ANALYSIS & WRITING
A tumblr account called PopSonnet by Erik Didriksen includes
a collection of 100 pop songs rewritten as Shakespearean sonnets! He also sells an eBook and Hardcover copy of Pop Sonnets: Shakespearean Spins on Your Favorite Songs. This would be an amazing contribution to your class library! The website where the book is sold also has a free Teacher's Guide with lots of amazing suggestions for implementation. Check out the rewritten version of Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" below!
The sonnets are perfect for middle and high school students
to examine Shakespearean sonnet structure in a fun and modern way. Here are a few things you could do with these
poems:
1.
Give students the poems without the titles and
have them try to rewrite the words into modern English then attempt to guess
the song the sonnet was based on.
2.
Have students examine the poetic
structure to see if it follows the typical Shakespearean sonnet (iambic
pentameter, rhyme scheme etc.)
3.
Have students write their own sonnet
based on a song of their choice!
8. EXAMINING SIX-WORD MEMOIRS
Six-Word Memoirs were introduced by Smith Magazine when they
asked readers to tell their life story in just six words. This request was inspired by the literary legend that Ernest Hemingway was once
challenged to write a short story in only six words. His story read: “For sale: baby shoes, never
worn.” The Six-Word Memoir official website has a section with submissions related to love and heartbreak which would be
perfect to use around Valentine’s Day! They also have a book that includes all of the best ones which would make a great addition to your classroom library.
The website also includes resources for teachers, including a blog all about how teachers bring Six-Word Memoirs into their classroom. You can also follow them on Twitter @sixwords and on Instagram at @six.words.memoirs.
Here are a couple of quick suggestions for using this around Valentine's Day
1.
Have students use one of the submissions as a
prompt to write an extended short story.
2.
Have students write a Six-Word Memoir
for a famous love story (movie, novel etc.)
Looking for other resources to use around Valentine's Day? The ladies of the Secondary English Coffee Shop have you covered! Click the links below.
Valentine's Day Escape Room by The Classroom Sparrow
An Interview With Cupid by Addie Williams
Valentine's Day Grammar Worksheets by The Daring English Teacher
Valentine's Day Writing Choice Menu by Secondary Sara
Valentine's Day Figurative Language Activities by Stacey Lloyd
Valentine's Day Challenges by Room 213
