My FAVORITE Valentine's Day Reading Lesson (and a freebie!)
Valentine’s Day is almost here! I’m going to be honest with you all. I love celebrating Valentine’s Day with my students, but it kind of comes at a time of year when it’s hard to take a break. By mid-February I’m always ‘feeling the pressure’, if you know what I mean. I’m looking at my post-break data, and stressing a bit that these kids aren’t going to be ready for the next grade, or end of year testing, or that they won’t show the growth I projected for them. and on and on it goes.
So, when a fun day like Valentine’s Day arrives right, smack in the middle of my sense of urgency, I feel like we have to keep working, and maybe take an hour at the end of the day to exchange Valentines at the MOST. But, a few years ago, I decided to try to develop a lesson that allowed my students to practice a variety of skills, but still felt like a celebration! I want to share that lesson with you today. :)
My Favorite Valentine’s Day Read Aloud
So, it is a truth universally acknowledged that Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch is the greatest Valentine read aloud of all time. (Did you pick up on the Jane Austen reference there? If you didn’t, you’re not as nerdy as I am, and I give you props.)
But, in all seriousness, it’s the greatest story ever. If you haven’t read it, I need you to go watch Hector Elizondo read it to you here and soothe your soul. The theme of loneliness being healed by acts of friendship is so moving. I loved this book when I was a kid and it has stood the test of time for me. I wanted to find a way to read this story with my class, and celebrate the warm fuzzies that Valentine’s Day gives us…but I also didn’t want to lose my 90 minute literacy block. So, here’s what we did!
My Favorite Valentine’s Day Reading Lesson
Step One: Read the story (or play it for your class) one time through. Just read it to enjoy the story. Discuss the major comprehension points, and let your kids bask in the sweetness of the story for a bit with no accountability.
Step Two: Place students in groups of 4-6 I know this is the year of the Covid, so you may need to get creative here in how students ‘work together’. Meeting virtually will work for this lesson, too!
Step Three: Assign each group a skill that you have practiced finding text evidence for this year. Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch lends itself beautifully to identifying:
cause and effect
compare contrast
elements of fiction (character, setting, plot)
theme
To create more groups, you can break the character/setting/plot group up into a problem/solution group, a character traits group, a sequencing group, etc.
Step Four: Re-read/listen to the story, but this time each student individually journals about text evidence they see for their skill. This is done on their own, without the discussion from their group members. You’re letting each child have a chance to practice identifying a skill in a text on their own first!
This can be done on graphic organizers, or have students create their own graphic organizers in reading journals or on paper. If you want your own set of printable + digital graphic organizers to go along with this story, you can download those below!
Step Five: Students get in their groups, share the evidence they each found of their skill, and work together to create a poster to teach the class about their particular skill! I gave each group a piece of anchor chart paper, and let them go to town. (Again, if this is done virtually, you can totally have kids work collaboratively on a google slide presentation).
I created some loose requirements for their posters, because we all know some kids just need that. They needed to:
create a title for their posters
define the skill
chart at least three pieces of text evidence that support that skill
illustrate one example
Grab Your Free Graphic Organizers!
if you want to try this lesson with your students, I have a set of FREE graphic organizers that you can use this year! There are printable and digital ones included in this download! You can grab them by signing up below! This sign up will gain you access to my freebie library, where these graphic organizers are stored…along with dozens of other free resources!
