Valentine Party Pack- A Common Core Aligned Celebration! Plus a FREEBIE!

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!
We had so much fun at our Valentine's Day celebration last year!!! It went so smoothly with the help some amazing volunteers, and I am actually looking forward to celebrating Valentine's Day with my class this week!!! 

Here are some pics from the six stations that are included in my Valentine Party Pack! (All of the activities are Common Core aligned, except the good old fashioned mail delivery station ;-) 

Estimation Station 

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

Measuring with Hearts 

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

Make 100 card game

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

Graphing with Hearts

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

Exploring the Human Heart (this was a favorite station- so fun!!!)

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

We used the Exploring the Heart in 3D app on our iPads! 

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

And last but not least... 
Mail Delivery 

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

The card/candy/treat/sugar passing-out was confined to one little (quiet & calm!!!!) area! It was beautiful! ;-)

I have kids spend about 15 minutes at each station and rotate on through. It takes up the whole afternoon! And with a parent volunteer at each station, I'm able to walk around and take pictures and help out everywhere. You could also do all of these activities with whole group, or small groups, or even at a fun early finisher station! 

Here's a closer look at each station:

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

ANNNNDDDDD......
A freebie for you! 
Just click the pic to download! 
A fun, and learning centered way to celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom. All of these activities are Common Core aligned, and are great to use as small group centers, at rotations, as whole group, or even as early finisher activities. All you need to do is add conversation hearts!

I'd love to hear some of your favorite Valentine's week activities that you do in your classroom! Leave a comment with your email and I'll pick five random comments this afternoon and they'll receive this pack for free! 

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day week and are surrounded by students and colleagues and people and things you love! 

XOXO

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President's Day Fun with QR Codes {FREEBIE}

Happy February!!!!!!!!! Eeeek! Time is flying! It seems like we just started school! And now Spring break is right around the corner! (Wishful thinking, right!?!?)  

This is a super fun President's Day writing activity I've used in the past. 

If you're able to scan QR codes (using any device with a scanner- iPads, iPods, iPhones, and even computers can scan!), your kids will love this project and it'll keep them super engaged! 

There are 15 informational slides that include facts I want my students to know about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and all about the President's job today. I created each slide in PowerPoint, saved them as PDFs, and then uploaded each slide individually to my DropBox account. 


After they were uploaded, I clicked "Share Link" for each slide. This generates a URL, which I was able to use to create the QR codes with. I print out all 15 of the QR codes and hang them all around my classroom. When students scan the QR codes, they are taken directly to the slide with the information about the presidents. 

One benefit of creating these slides myself was that I am completely in control of what the students see and learn. I'm also able to tailor the project directly to my class' needs and reading abilities (which is impossible to do with some websites). 



As they scan, students use the graphic organizer to record and organize the information they are learning. 







Students then use their pre-writes to complete an informational writing piece about the presidents. Here is an example of a final writing project completed in Pages by a 2nd grade student. 



(We used the free version of the Comic Touch app to add the speech bubbles... ;-) 

Click the picture below to download all of the resources and QR codes you will need to complete this project with your class!

A fun President's Day reading and writing activity! Students can scan QR codes to learn about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the President's job today!


Happy scanning! Happy February! Happy almost President's Day! :)

For more techie ideas and projects, head on over to my collaborative blog I work on with my dear teaching partner and friend!  

iRock Common Core
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