💖💙💛 Historical Heartbeats: Spreading Love Through Time in Your Classroom 💚💝💜
As a kid and as a mom, I loved elementary school Valentine's day rituals. That kindergarten year was particularly memorable with my son. Being the teacher-mom, I knew that I shouldn't help my son make that box for his Valentine's Day cards. We sat at the kitchen table and grabbed our thick pile of construction paper and discussed what he wanted to do for his Valentine's day box. He decided to make a penguin and glue it to the top of his shoe box. He drew the design himself, used the scissors himself, and glued the whole thing together. We had fun and we were both so proud of his box.
The next morning I had the small luxury of walking him to school before heading into teach. This is a special treat as a teacher mom, it's a somewhat rare occasion that I have the morning free for morning drop off. When we arrived, my son was apparently the only kid who actually made his own box. All the other boxes looked professionally done. My son immediately deflated as he thought he had the worst box in the class. What he didn't realize was that he had the only kid-made-box of the 24 wiggly students in that room.
Regardless, he rebounded. By the time he came home, he had a big smile on his face and lots of candied cards in his box. Filled with sugar and the joy it brings him, he reveled in the time honored Valentine's Day ritual of the card exchange between classmates.
Somewhere along the way we eschew the small seasonal rituals which bring great joy of learning to our adolescents. Not only do we not decorate our classrooms for each holiday (how could we, we are buried with stacks of papers to grade, parent and student emails and online gradebooks to maintain), we don't do some of these fun rituals. Maybe by high school these holiday rituals would be stale. Still, a few years ago I started a card exchange on Valentine's Day in my classroom.
I have had a lot of fun over the years with my students on Valentine's Day as both a college prep, ESL and AP teacher with this lesson. I ask students to make a Valentine's Day card from the perspective of a historical figure that we have studied. The kids would come up with some brilliant stuff.
John Locke: You've got a Locke on my Heart.
Catherine the Great: Please come climb my social ladder.
Some successful cards were short and pithy just like the tiny cards in my son's Penguin decorated card box. Others were longer verses. There's many ways to do this!
From the Perspective of Jean Jacques Rousseau:
As the ink of my quill dances upon the parchment, my thoughts are consumed by the enlightenment that is you. In the spirit of reason and the pursuit of happiness, I offer you these words;
In the social contract of our hearts, my love,
A pact forged with reason, a gift from above.
Embracing direct democracy, so true,
With every heartbeat, I choose you.
In the garden of reason, our love does bloom,
An intellectual embrace, dispelling gloom.
As we navigate life's philosophical stream,
You are the sunbeam of my romantic dream.
Emile may have been my written guide,
But you, my love, are my joy, my pride.
Through the book of life, hand in hand we turn,
In the school of love, together we learn.
No chains of convention shall bind our hearts,
For reason and love, a symphony that imparts.
With every dialogue and every kiss,
Our minds entwine in pure bliss.
In the forum of love, let reason preside,
With passion and logic, side by side.
A Valentine's ode to our shared delight,
In the enlightenment of love, we take flight.
So here's to you, my philosopher-queen,
To the harmony, our love does bring.
Happy Valentine's Day, my reason, my rhyme,
In the book of love, you are my prime.
With reason and affection,
Jean Rousseau 📜💖
So without further ado, I bring a Valentine's Day card assignment to you!!
Please visit my Teacher's Pay Teacher's page for this free download.
