I’m seeing hearts everywhere which means Valentine’s Day is coming! Today I have a fun LoVe Bug Hat, perfect for your students to make and wear! There are so many fun ways you could use this Free Printable Love Bug Hat! Keep reading for some of our favorite ideas!

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There are so many fun ways you could use this hat! Here are some ideas:

• Have your students make the love bug hats as part of your Valentine’s Day party! You could have them make them at the beginning of the party to wear, or use it as one of your party/center rotations. Here are some more ideas for your Valentine’s Day party too.

• Have your class make the love bug hats. Then, read your class LuLu the Love Bug. It’s a great story about a love bug that is having a hard time making friends. Each new friend she reaches out to only points out how different they are and how they could not be friends. In the end, she realizes how you can be friends with anyone, even if you are very different.

• The students can make their love bug hats and then read one of our suggested read-alouds and make the literacy snack to go along with the book. You can check out The Day It Rained Hearts here., A Crankenstein Valentine here, and Love Monster and the Last Chocolate here.

Free Printable Love Bug Hat

To make the love bug hat, simply print the 2 pages of the hat out for each student. You can use card stock to make it more sturdy or just plain paper will work just fine too. Have the students color the hat and cut out the 2 pieces.

Have an adult help them staple it together to form the hat. You could also have them attach it to a sentence strip or as another option if you need to make the hat larger for some kiddos, print out a few extra of the back strap pages and use them to extend the hats.

Click the green box below to download the Free Printable Love Bug Hat.

Here are some of our other favorite Valentine’s Day activities!

This heart sort is a great way to practice phonological awareness! The students will sort the hearts into the correct bucket depending on whether it’s a real word or a nonsense word. You can grab the set here.

This quick-prep Valentine’s Day A to Z write the room center is a perfect way to incorporate movement in your reading / ELA center rotation. This is a great way to allow your students to get up and move about the classroom while being on task. They are a great way to introduce students to new vocabulary too!

Do you have any fun Valentine’s Day activities you like to do with your students? I hope they enjoy these fun hats to make the day special!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

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Have you been following along this school year with the joke of the day that I’ve been sharing? So much fun! Today, I have the printable version of the February Joke Of The Day for you.

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Each week day I post a joke of the day on my Facebook page. They look like this below.

I’ve gathered them all up for Febraruy and put them into an easy to use printable for you. This month there are a bunch of cute jokes for Valentine’s Day and a even more silly jokes that will make your students giggle and maybe sometimes roll their eyes.

These jokes of fun to add to your morning meeting, while you’re lining up to go to lunch or as your’re packing up for the day. I’ve made the printable in both color and black and white.

You can download the February Joke Of The Day by clicking the green box below.

In case you’re missed any of the other months of jokes that I’ve shared, you can find them here. 

August Joke Of The Day

September Joke Of The Day

October joke Of The Day

November Joke Of The Day

December Joke Of The Day

January Joke Of The Day

Make sure to come back next month to grab the February jokes!! See you next time!

Jenette

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Do you need an inexpensive Valentine for your students? Grab our Free Printable Valentine Tic Tac Toe and attach a pencil or some X and O cookies!

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These Tic Tac Toe Valentine’s are perfect to give to your students or for your own kiddos to give to their classmates. When I was at Target this past weekend, I came across these cute cookies and pretzels in the shapes of x and o’s. They just called for a Tic Tac Toe Valentine to go with them!

(Just as a heads up, the animal cookie packs have only 4 cookies in them so not enough to actually play a game, but still fun to attach and have them use a pencil to play. I did not purchase the pretzels to know how many are in each pack for sure.)

Free Printable Valentine Tic Tac Toe

These Valentine’s Are super easy to put together. You’ll need to download the Valentine Tic Tac Toe and print enough for the class. They come 4 to a page and both in color and black and white. I suggest printing them on cardstock to make them a bit more sturdy and card-like.

If you want to attach some of the fun cookies or pretzels. You’ll need a stapler. I just placed the cookies in front of the card and stapled them together.

And if you rather not hand out food, another great option would be to attach a fun Valentine’s Day pencil with some washi tape and you’re good to go!

You can download the Valentine Tic Tac Toe by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for another student Valentine’s day gifts, you also might like these Valentine’s Day word search valentines. You can get them here. for free too!

Let me know if you use these Valentine’s with your students!

See you next time!

Jenette

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I’m seeing hearts everywhere! That can only mean that  Valentine’s day is coming soon! We’re celebrating with hearts for our Literacy Snack Hearts Read Aloud this week and we will be reading, The Day It  Rained Hearts, by Felicia Bond.

One day it rains hearts, and Cornelia Augusta catches them. She realizes that the hearts are perfect for making valentines. Each heart is special in its own way, and Cornelia Augusta knows exactly who to send them to, her animal friends.

A fun way to spark creativity and thoughtfulness! The perfect book to pair with Valentine’s Day crafts.”

For our snack to go along with the book this week, I  found these sweet, yummy heart cookies the other day and just knew they were perfect!

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Ingredients

heart cookies or heart-shaped treat of your  choice (I found these heart cookies at Trader Joe’s)

free printable

Since we’re going easy this week and passing out heart cookies, we’ll move on to the free printable for the students to work on while enjoying their snacks.

They will get to draw/make their own valentine to give someone out of “hearts” they’ve caught. They will then write about who they would give the valentine to.

If you’re looking for some other extension ideas to go with this book, one of our favorites is making this Valentine’s mailbox craft with writing prompts.  They look absolutely adorable hanging in the hall!

You can download the Literacy Snack Hearts Read Aloud free printable to go along with the book from my teacherspayteachers store below.

What are some of your favorite ideas to celebrate with hearts in your classroom?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

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Valentine’s day is quickly approaching! So I’m trying to be ahead of the game and work on our valentines.

Both of my kids are obsessed with dinosaurs! I wanted to share with you these free printable dinosaur valentines that I made for my daughter to hand out to her classmates this year.

They are quick, simple, and inexpensive to put together.

Supplies needed

The free printable valentines printed on cardstock  (you can download them below)

twine or string

dinosaur erasers (we found ours in the Valentine’s section at Target)

scissors

needle (optional)

Assemble

You’ll want to download and print the valentines on cardstock and then cut them out. To attach the dinosaur to the valentine, I used a need to puncture through the cardstock in two different spots.

I then used scissors to make a slit using my holes as a guide to start. Next, you’ll cut a piece of twin and feed it up through the holes to the front.

Place your dinosaur down and tie in on with a bow. Don’t forget to have your kids sign their names too!

The valentines come together quickly and turn out super cute! My daughter is so excited to hand them out to her friends this year.

You can download the free printable dinosaur valentines below.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

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I saw these cute berry baskets at Michael’s the other day and LOVE that they come in so many different colors now! My daughter and I have been kind of obsessed with our gold Sharpie, so I thought this was a perfect spot to use it for Valentine’s Day!

First off, decide what you want to put in your basket. We chose to make heart sugar cookies. Don’t feel like you have to make them though if you are  short on time. Grab a container of frosted pink cookies from the Target instead!

Supplies needed:

Berry baskets found at Michael’s

Dollies (found mine at Dollar Tree)

Piece of gold glitter paper (or pattern of your choice to make a heart tag)

Gold Sharpie

Baker’s twine

Scissors

Hole punch

Cookies to put in the basket

Cellophane wrap roll

First, you’ll want to use your Sharpie to draw a bunch of little hearts on your basket. There’s no right or wrong way to do it!

Next, take 2 dollies and gently shape them into the bottom of the basket leaving a little bit sticking up over the top of each side. Fill up your basket with your choice of goodies.

Take the cellophane wrap and measure it so it’s about 12 inches tall on each side of the basket. Use your baker’s twine to tie it closed. We then cut a heart out of the gold glitter paper and she wrote a little note of the back. Punch a hole in the heart and attach it to one end of the twine.

I know I’d be happy to receive a cute little basket of cookies! Happy Gift Giving!

See you next time!

Jenette

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With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching and everything hearts and chocolate, I’m excited that we’re reading Love Monster and the Last Chocolate by Rachel Bright for this week’s Literacy Snack Monster Read Aloud.

“When Love Monster comes home from vacation, he discovers a box of chocolates on his doorstep. He knows he should share it with his friends, but what if there’s none left for him after everyone has a piece? What if they take his favorite-the double chocolate strawberry swirl? And even worse-what, if the only piece left, is the coffee-flavored one? Ick! In the end, Love Monster learns that sharing with friends is the sweetest treat of all.”

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Snack Idea

For this week, we’re not technically making a snack, but instead, we’re all going to share a box of chocolates! That’s all you’ll need is a piece of chocolate for each student.

We talk about how it made you feel to know that the monster’s friends saved the last chocolate for him and who they would each like to share their last chocolate with.

Free Printable

After we talk about the book, I created a printable for them to work on. They will continue the conversation we had by drawing and writing about who they would share their chocolate with. It’s a great way to incorporate kindness as well.

Click below to download the Literacy Snack Monster Read Aloud free printable,

If you’re looking for another great read-aloud idea for Valentine’s day, you might want to check out the literacy snack idea to go with The Day It Rained Hearts.

I hope you enjoy your special time with your Valentine’s!

See you next time!

Jenette

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For Valentine’s Day, we have a Friends Social. We are celebrating the friendships that we have!

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Food

Since we have this party in the morning, I like to change it up a bit and go for healthy red  breakfast foods. We have strawberries, raspberries, apple slices, red grapes and mini bagels with cream cheese with some fun sprinkles.

Valentine cards

Earlier in the week, we make our Valentine bags during class so everyone has one. We make these puppy craft bags to hold all of our goodies. You can print the template for free here.

I ask the students not to address the card, just to fill in the from. It makes it so much easier and quicker for them to go down the rows passing out their cards.

You can find this letter in my Room Parent Binder.

Activities

With the rock painting craze, we are doing a new activity this year during our party. We’re painting friendship rocks! You can get all the details here.

And for our game, my students are always begging me to play bingo so it’s a must during our parties!

Another fun option would be to have a cupcake or book walk as your party game. I have Valentine’s Day calk walk numbers here to make set up quick and easy.

What other kind of Valentine’s Day Class Party Ideas do you have for your parties?

See you next time!

Jenette

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This month we’re adding in some hearts and emojis! Make sure you check out the link to the free emoji ten frame cards at the end of the post!

Valentine’s Day Heart Counting Mats 1 – 20

These counting mats are a fun way to practice numbers for the students that still need a bit of help.  The students will help gather the correct number of hearts. They can then practice writing the number. Laminate the pages so they can be reused over and over with a dry erase marker.
We use heart table scatter found at Dollar Tree or colored puff balls from the craft section. For the smaller cards, we use our mini erasers.

Candy Hearts -Valentine’s Day Addition Mats – Addition to 20

These addition mats are a fun hands-on way to practice addition.  The students will use candy hearts to make the addition problem and find the sum. They can then practice writing the number. Laminate the pages so they can be reused over and over with a dry erase marker.
We use candy hearts or colored puff balls from the craft section, Mini erasers would be a great option here too.

Heart Ten Frame Task Cards

We’re moving into our ten frames and these heart making ten task cards are perfect for that!
These task cards are easy for the students to use and will help them with number recognition, basic addition and counting on. Using the ten frames will reinforce the students’ understanding of these concepts.

February Kindergarten Math Journal

These Kindergarten Math Journals are a great way to transition into your math lesson or to use for morning work. It includes 20 pages of fun and engaging activities for kindergarteners to help build a foundation of numbers, addition to 10, number pairs, graphing, what comes next, patterns, using a ten frame to make ten and number bonds.

Heart Number Bond Task Cards

A few of your students may be ready for these but maybe not yet, but they’re too cute not to mention. These task cards are easy for the students to use and will help them build their understanding of the part-part-whole concept, number recognition, and basic addition.

Emoji Ten Frame Cards

These FREE emoji ten frame cards are a great way for the students to practice counting on, one to one correspondence, and even decomposing numbers. Hop over to this post to get some more ideas for the emoji mini erasers and grab a free math printable from SimplyKinder while you’re there too!

I hope you’re able to incorporate some fun activities into your math this month!

See you next time!

Jenette

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With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, I’m taking advantage of a little extra time I had on my three-day weekend to get my Valentine’s Day gifts ready for the students. This Valentine’s Day Student Gift is super quick to put together and costs just a couple of dollars!

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Supplies you’ll need

Free printable word search download (at the end of this post)

Valentine’s Day pencils from Target or Dollar Tree

A roll of wash tape – I get mine in the Target Dollar Spot

Assemble

The printable word searches come 4 to a page and in both color and black and white options. If you don’t want to print in color, pop some fun pink paper in the printer and they turn out so pretty.

To attach the pencil I just tear off a piece of the wash tape and tape the pencil right to the word search. Sign your name and you’re good to go!

Such a simple project but the students always LOVE getting a special Valentine from their teacher and the best part is that it won’t break the bank!

Click below to download the free printable Valentine’s Day Student Gift word search

If you need some Valentine’s for your own kids to give out to their friends, I have a couple of those too!

Dinosaur Valentine here

Sticky Hands Valentine here

Let me know if you give them out to your students!

See you next time!

Jenette

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With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I’m sharing this adorable  FREE Puppy Valentine Craft.

He’s the perfect addition to your class’s Valentine’s Day party this year!

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Supplies needed

Each student will need the printout of the puppy.

Scissors

Glue stick or glue sponges

Paper lunch sack

There are 2 options included. A black and white version that the students can color and put together, or individual pages for the different pieces for you to print out on colored paper.

As the students are making their puppies, we talk about the shapes we use to put make them. It’s a great review of our 2D shapes. Each student will write their name on the heart so everyone knows who’s is who’s.

You can have the students make their own bags a couple of days ahead of time to use as a mailbox for their Valentine’s or you can have them even make them as part of your Valentine’s Day party. You can never go wrong with sweet puppies!

Click the green box below to download the Puppy Valentine Craft for FREE.

I’d love for you to share them with us on my Facebook page if your class makes them!

If you like this craft, check out some of my other crafts perfect for February learning.

And if you’re looking for more ideas for your Valentine’s Day party, I have a bunch of ideas gathered here.

I hope your class enjoys making this craft! See you next time!

Jenette

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Valentine’s for boys are tough, especially as they get older! My son’s in third grade and requested something with a Splatoon theme. This Sticky Hand Printable Class Valentine was my best attempt to make that happen for him. We went with the sticky hands since we obviously can’t attach a water gun to the Valentine and send it to school! He was happy with the paint splats though, so I’ll call it a win!

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The kids love these hands! The Valentine’s are quick, easy, and cheap to put together.

Supplies

Sticky hands I’ve ordered mine from amazon a few times.

Valentine printable printed on card stock. (download below)

Scissors

To Assemble

Cut each of the Valentine’s out. Have your child write their name on the Valentine. Attach the sticky hand. Our hands are very sticky so they stick all on their own but you can use tape if needed.

Note: A reader has mentioned the hands left an oil on her cards. Different brand sticky hands may have different residues on them so some may leave it and some may not. To be safe you can always just staple the little baggie onto the card as well.

I love having them all finished and ready to go for their parties in 2 weeks!

We even changed it up a bit the next year so that my daughter could use the same cards. We found these fun hand slappers in the Target dollar section and they go perfectly too!

Click the green box below to download the Sticky Hand Printable Class Valentine for free.

Let me know if you decide to use them!!

Jenette

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