St. Valentine's Day
In three minutes, how many words can you make from the phrase above?
Take the next five minutes to write a story using as many of the created words as possible. You will receive one point for each word used correctly.
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Valentine's Web
Have students form circle. Toss ball of red yarn to one student, saying, "I love _______ because ___________." Student should wrap yarn around wrist, then toss ball to another student saying "I love _______ because ___________" ("he is kind to me," "she shares her crayons with me," etc.). No student should receive the yarn a second time until all have received it at least once. Play until all yarn is gone.
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Valentine's Alpha Toss
Needed: bean bags (These may be made by filling socks with dried beans and sewing or tying them shut.); 26-6" hearts cut from heavy paper, one bearing each letter A-Z (Laminate if possible.)
Place ABC hearts on ground 6-8' from students. Have student approach line and toss bean bag. He or she must give a word beginning with the letter the bean bag lands on within five seconds. (To increase difficulty, you may require more than one word or ask student to use word in sentence.)
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Broken Hearts
Cut 6" heart shapes out of poster board or heavy paper. Write antonym on both halves of heart (i.e. in/out; up/down; good/bad; dark/light; hot/cold; day/night; large/small; wet/dry; left/right; etc.). Cut hearts in half. Laminate halves if possible. Place heart halves on table face down. Students must match halves to mend the broken hearts.
Variations: Use clock face/digital time, consonant/picture of word beginning with sound, color/color word, digit/number of items, upper case/lower case letters, synonyms, homonyms, etc. in place of antonyms.
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Heart Match-Ups
Cut an equal number of pink and red hearts. On each pink heart, write a mathematical equation. On red hearts, write corresponding solutions. Place all hearts face down. Students try to collect pairs of matching hearts.
*This isn't just for children. I used this activity to help beginning algebra students practice using the quadratic formula, much to their delight!
Variations: Use equivalent English/native language words or phrases, consonant/picture of word beginning with sound, digit/number of items, upper case/lower case letters, synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, etc. in place of equations.
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Word Jumble
Unscramble the following words:
teahr
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dcuip
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elvo
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acdny
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ssroe
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inedrf
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pypah
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racd
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gfit
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aowrr
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1. heart 2. cupid 3. love 4. candy 5. roses
6. friend 7. happy 8. card 9. gift 10. arrow
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Who Am I?
Pin name or picture to each student's back. Students must ask questions of others students to discover who they are. When they do find out, they may look for their partner. For older students, use famous couples in history--i.e. Anthony and Cleopatra, William and Mary, Pocahontas and John Smith, George and Martha Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd, George and Barbara Bush, etc. For children, use cartoon couples. Suggested couples include . . .
Beauty and the Beast
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Simba and Nola
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Aladdin and Princess Jasmine
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Mickey and Minnie Mouse
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Donald and Daisy Duck
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Pocahontas and John Smith
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Barbie and Ken
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Lady and the Tramp
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Heart Tic-Tac-Toe
*Especially good for literature, science, and history (subjects which don't always lend themselves to games)
Cut out nine pink hearts and nine red ones. Laminate if desired, for durability. Compile list of review questions.
Draw a tic-tac-toe grid on board. Divide students into teams. Call on one student at a time, alternating teams. Ask review questions in order. If student answers correctly, s/he may place a heart on the board. The first team to get three hearts in a row wins.
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Cupid's Arrow
One student (Cupid) is blindfolded. Cupid's arrow is taped to his back. Another student sneaks up and steals Cupid's arrow, then returns to his seat. The blindfold is removed and Cupid must identify the thief. He may ask up to five yes/no questions ("Was the thief a boy?" "Does he have glasses?" etc.) before making his guess. If Cupid correctly identifies the thief, he may retain his position (up to three turns). If he fails to identify the thief, the thief becomes the next Cupid.
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