Valentines Day

What we did to celebrate:  We spent the week making watercolor Valentines for family and the help in the house.  The boys did a great job using white crayon and pretty color schemes when they were creating.  Some of them wrote sweet little notes, while others looked up poems and quotes on the internet.  We talked about how you are supposed to sign and start notes and letters.

Today began with a graffiti wall about chocolate.  Then, I used a short article about the history of chocolate with the boys.  I found Tweet Tribune on Smithsonian website that I love using.  They e-mailed out the article and some lesson plan ideas, which I tweeked to work for us.  Instead of printing out the article, I just posted it to Edmodo, and we took turns reading it aloud.  We talked about what surprised us from the article.  Did you know Americans eat half a pound of chocolate a month?  Did you know that chocolate was used as part of the rations and salary of soldiers in the Revolutionary War?

Then, I read aloud a short article about the chocolate shortage.  Lastly, I read aloud some chocolate facts.  The boys added to the graffiti wall more words about chocolate.

The Tween Tribune suggested the students create a skit where two book characters meet.  The scene must include chocolate.  I turned it into a creative writing assignment instead of a skit.  I specified the boys needed to use characters from the two books we just finished, In Search of Honor and The Sherwood Ring.  I really love The Tween Tribune, and they just started doing weekly e-mails with articles and lesson plan ideas.  What an awesome resource.

One of my boys even wrote his story in the style of one of the novels we read.  The Sherwood Ring is set up with flashbacks to the past written from a different character's perspective.  He mimicked that style for his own assignment.  I was filled with so much joy when I found that out.

Here's a resource from Hershey's with more lesson plan ideas about chocolate.

In the afternoon we played Loaded Questions, and we snacked on chocolate and cookies.

Tomorrow I am going to New Hope in la Vega to make Valentines with the girls!  It will be a day filled with love, I hope.

Con mucho amor.