When your students think of Valentine’s Day they probably think of hearts, candy, and Valentine’s cards. Do they know why we celebrate Valentine’s Day though?
Take Valentine’s Day activities to the next level by adding in a lesson that teaches your students about the history of this day. Not only will you love adding additional elements of academic learning, but your students will also love learning fun facts to take home and share with their families.
Valentine’s History For Kids
To help your students learn more about the history of Valentine’s Day, we created one of our top-rated Learning Quests. Our Learning Quests are mini research units designed to support students in independent learning.
Just like all of our Learning Quests, our History of Valentine’s Day quest is ready-to-teach with several activities that can be used in one day or over the course of several days. Moreover, while it is designed to encourage independent learning, this quest can also be completed as a whole class or in small groups.
This resource is fully compatible with Seesaw and Google Slides. All you have to do is upload it!
History of Valentine’s Day Printable
While many teachers prefer to use learning quests as a digital resource, we recognize that many teachers (and students) still enjoy good ol’ paper and pencil. Therefore, all of the activities in this resource can be printed.
The only difference between the digital version and the history of Valentine’s Day printable is a couple of extra steps for preparation, such as printing and organizing the materials. However, all of the content is still fully planned and ready to teach!
History of Valentine’s Activities for Kids
Whether you choose to use this research unit digitally or as a printable, your students will get the same opportunity to engage with each resource in an interactive way. Take a look at the engaging activities below.
- Students begin their exploration of Valentine’s Day by reading an informational text. In addition, if using the digital version this text can also be read out loud. Then students will discuss the text as a class or with a partner.
- After the discussion, students will return to the text, gathering evidence to answer text-dependent questions. To demonstrate their learning they will record their answers on a note-taking sheet.
- Students will then use their notes to write a summary about the legend of Valentine’s Day. In addition, students have the option of writing friendly notes to others.
- To wrap up the lesson, students will make a heart craft out of yarn.
Whether you choose to have students explore this topic for one day or throughout the week, we know they will love an opportunity to learn more about Valentine’s celebrations.
Mini Research Units for First Grade
Valentine’s Day isn’t the only holiday with an interesting history. If yoour students enjoy learning about this holiday they may also enjoy exploring other holidays.
Here are some of our other Learning Quests that teach students about holidays. In addition, we have mentioned some of our other favorite mini-research topics!
