upper and lowercase letter activities,

 A Heart-y Surprise: Lessons With Heart!

valentine activities, free common core lessons for 1st grade, free common core lessons for kindergarten, math games, addition activities, subtraction activities, addition lessons, subtraction lessons, heart-themed activities, valentine crafts, contraction list, compound word list, 2,718 compound word list, 69 contraction word list, upper and lowercase activities, Daily 5 word work activities, Daily 5 word work lessons, addition equation lessons, subtraction equation lessons, I LOVE Valentine’s Day.  It’s my favorite holiday. I wanted to design a valentine that you could use for more than just a Valentine.

There are lots of things you can do with this folded heart pattern.

valentine activities, free common core lessons for 1st grade, free common core lessons for kindergarten, math games, addition activities, subtraction activities, addition lessons, subtraction lessons, heart-themed activities, valentine crafts, contraction list, compound word list, 2,718 compound word list, 69 contraction word list, upper and lowercase activities, Daily 5 word work activities, Daily 5 word work lessons, addition equation lessons, subtraction equation lessons, I made an example of each one.

A Special Valentine:

First off, run the owl template off on white construction paper, and the “Me!” heart insert on red & pink,, if you want to give your students a color choice.

Students cut out their hearts and fold the large one on the dashed lines.

Children glue their red/pink insert in the center of the middle heart, which can be viewed when you open the flaps.

To make it more of a keepsake, print off a copy of your class composite.

Students glue their picture somewhere on the inside of their card.

Children sign their name and perhaps x’s & o’s, or repeat “I love you.”

valentine activities, free common core lessons for 1st grade, free common core lessons for kindergarten, math games, addition activities, subtraction activities, addition lessons, subtraction lessons, heart-themed activities, valentine crafts, contraction list, compound word list, 2,718 compound word list, 69 contraction word list, upper and lowercase activities, Daily 5 word work activities, Daily 5 word work lessons, addition equation lessons, subtraction equation lessons, The Alphabet:

You can also assign a letter to each one of your students.  If you don’t have 26 you can ask who wants to make an extra one, or you can make up the difference.

Children write the uppercase letter on the left heart flap, and the lowercase letter on the right heart flap.

Students think of a word that begins with that letter and write it on the inside.

If you want, they can also draw a picture or find clipart or a sticker to put under the word.

This is a great Daily 5 “word work” activity, or send it home as a home-school connection.

When they are completed, each child shares their letter heart.

Collect and keep, so you have a nice set of cards for your students to practice sequencing with.

Compound Words:

The flaps are also perfect for compound word practice.  I have a list of 1,718 compound words that you can use to choose for your students to work on.

Click on the link to view/download this comprehensive compound word list.

Each child does 2-3, writing the two words (1 on each front flap), and then what compound word the two make, when you open the flap.

If you want they can draw a picture, or add a sticker or clipart to illustrate the new word.

valentine activities, free common core lessons for 1st grade, free common core lessons for kindergarten, math games, addition activities, subtraction activities, addition lessons, subtraction lessons, heart-themed activities, valentine crafts, contraction list, compound word list, 2,718 compound word list, 69 contraction word list, upper and lowercase activities, Daily 5 word work activities, Daily 5 word work lessons, addition equation lessons, subtraction equation lessons, Contractions:

Just as with the compound words, contractions can also be reviewed in this fun way.

I’ve included an alphabetical list of 69 contractions to choose from.  You could run off the page and cut the words out.

Toss them into a container and have students glue X number of contractions in that many hearts.

Students write the two words on the outside and then open up the Valentine to see the contraction.

Math:

Assign numbers to students and have them make a math heart.

Students can do addition or subtraction, by writing the equation on the front flaps: (1 + on the left side, 1 = on the right flap.)

When you open it up you will see the answer 2, and the word two and a group/set of 2 things.

Students can draw the objects, use stickers or clipart.

Practice spelling & writing.

Students could also have fun writing 2 spelling words on the front and then making up a sentence that includes the 2 words on the inside.

http://content.mycutegraphics.com/graphics/valentine/owl-hugging-a-heart.pngPaper love:

You can also just run off a variety of colored hearts and have students practice their fine motor cutting and folding skills, and then write “I love you,” or whatever other “secret” message they want to give their family.

My Y5’s enjoyed making “paper love” and hiding it around the house, and then telling me where they hid the PL, and the result when someone found their note.

Bulletin board:

Do an assortment, or all the activities and sprinkle them on a bulletin board with the caption: “We LOVE Learning.”  Or “We have a heart for learning.”

Click on the link to view/download the Folded Heart Activities.

If you think of any other things you can do with the hearts, I’d enjoy hearing from you,  diane@teachwithme.com, and then I’ll add them to this list.

valentine activities, free common core lessons for 1st grade, free common core lessons for kindergarten, math games, addition activities, subtraction activities, addition lessons, subtraction lessons, heart-themed activities, valentine crafts, contraction list, compound word list, 2,718 compound word list, 69 contraction word list, upper and lowercase activities, Daily 5 word work activities, Daily 5 word work lessons, addition equation lessons, subtraction equation lessons, Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything from my site that you think others may find helpful.

"A New Year is unfolding-like a blossom with petals curled tightly, concelaing the beauty within." -Kushal Verma

Ring In The New Year With ABC's and 1-2-3's

FREE common core lessons for kindergarten and 1st grade, snowman activities, skip counting by 2's, skip counting by 3's, skip counting by 5's, skip counting by 10's, skip counting activities, sliders, snowman slider, penguin slider, upper and lowercase letter activities, winter games, letter games, snowman activities, penguin activities, penguin lessons, snowman lessons, snowmen, penguins,number games, math games, Daily 5 activities, Sliders are a fun way for your students to review upper and lowercase letters, counting by 1's to 30, skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, plus counting backwards from 10-0 and 20-0.

Students trace the letters and numbers and make a snowman or penguin slider to insert their strips into.

I've included a colorful snowman and penguin as well as ones that are plain, so students can color their own.

FREE common core lessons for kindergarten and 1st grade, snowman activities, skip counting by 2's, skip counting by 3's, skip counting by 5's, skip counting by 10's, skip counting activities, sliders, snowman slider, penguin slider, upper and lowercase letter activities, winter games, letter games, snowman activities, penguin activities, penguin lessons, snowman lessons, snowmen, penguins,number games, math games, Daily 5 activities, You can jazz them up even more by mounting them on construction paper, as I did the snowman. 

Give students a glue bottle or for little ones, put a dollop of glue on a small paper plate and have them use a Q-tip to make X number of dots as they count, then sprinkle with silver glitter after you have finished working with the sliders and have reviewed whatever lessons you wanted to.

Students set their sliders some place safe 'til they are dry and can take them home.

How do you make a slider?

Simply run off the templates, (I use white construction paper so they are more durable) and rough cut them, so that students can practice their own cutting skills, which will exercise and strengthen hand muscles.

You may want to slit the lines in the slider's body before hand.  This is difficult for little ones to manage with safety scissors.  I use an X-acto knife.

Students trim, color and trace their slider and then insert whatever strips you want them to review.

FREE common core lessons for kindergarten and 1st grade, snowman activities, skip counting by 2's, skip counting by 3's, skip counting by 5's, skip counting by 10's, skip counting activities, sliders, snowman slider, penguin slider, upper and lowercase letter activities, winter games, letter games, snowman activities, penguin activities, penguin lessons, snowman lessons, snowmen, penguins,number games, math games, Daily 5 activities, Have students fold down their long ABC strip to manage it better and for ease of taking them home.

Encourage parents, via a newsletter to reinforce these lessons at home.

You can sing the Alphabet Song while pulling letters through the window.

You can play "I Spy" and have a student call out a letter or number.  Everyone pulls their strip through til they find it and then raise their slider, so that you see at a glance who has what so that you can whole group assess and help those who are struggling.

Laminate a set for yourself and use as a fun way to assess individuals as well.

Click on the link to view/down load the Snowman Alphabet and Number Slider or The Penguin Slider.

 FREE common core lessons for kindergarten and 1st grade, snowman activities, skip counting by 2's, skip counting by 3's, skip counting by 5's, skip counting by 10's, skip counting activities, sliders, snowman slider, penguin slider, upper and lowercase letter activities, winter games, letter games, snowman activities, penguin activities, penguin lessons, snowman lessons, snowmen, penguins,number games, math games, Daily 5 activities, Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.

"Tomorrow [January 1st] is the first blank page of a 365-page book.  Write a good one!" -Brad Paisley