WW: Valentine's Day Homework for Parents

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Hey everyone! This month, the Weekend Warriors are bringing you some super sweet Valentine's Day ideas!
Every year around this time, I give my students' grown ups homework. The kids are SO excited to take the homework home for someone else :)

Their assignment? Make their kiddo a valentine. I love how this project brings home to school. I give them a giant heart cut out of tagboard, and the rest is up to them. I encourage them to decorate, write messages, use pictures, etc. The grown ups always rise to the occasion!

I don't have many examples to share because mine are due back next week, but here are a few of the ones that came back early. I've covered up the kids' photos, so trust me, they're so much cuter in person!!


This was a first for me: this family used magazine clippings! Very cool, just like their child :)

You should see the smiles my students have when they see their hearts! I hang them up above each student's coat hook in the hallway. They're such a happy reminder of the kids and families we teachers are entrusted with every day. I'll update this post next week once I get them all back and hang them up :)

I've had quite a few students and parents tell me that they still have the heart years after they've left second grade. This is truly a homework "assignment" that everyone LOVES!

Want to see some more LOVELY ideas? Check out these ladies' blogs below!


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Organizing Your Classroom Library

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I'm so excited to be hoppin' along with my Primary Powers gals for this super fun Organization blog hop.
I will be the first to admit, organization is NOT the name of my game. Observe…
OMG. Did I really just admit to this on the world wide web? Classic case of "Do as I say, not as I do" for my students.

Anyhoo, I do my best to keep all my students' supplies organized. One area that is a MUST for organization is my classroom library. I have 3 areas of books in my classroom for my students.

BOOK DISPLAYS
I have two display shelves that I switch out monthly. One of the shelves I use for seasonal books, and the other one has books related to the science or social studies topic we are learning about. I also put our class books here.
The shelves are looking a little bare because my kiddos have scooped up the books and put them in their book boxes :)
LEVELED LIBRARY
We use F&P levels at my school, so on the counter by my windows, I have a bin for each reading level in my classroom.
GENERAL LIBRARY
While my kids all know their independent reading levels, I don't what them to solely rely on their level when choosing books to read. Therefore, most of my books are organized by either genre, series or author.
The smaller black shelf has all of my chapter books on it. These bins I scored from Walmart several years ago, and they're perfect for chapter books!

I have two taller bookshelves that hold my magazines, fiction, and nonfiction books.
So how do I keep all these books in the right bins? I thought that my students would just know that a Magic Treehouse book went in the Magic Treehouse bin, but I was finding books all over the place! So last year I overhauled my entire library and numbered every. single. book. All I can say is THANK GOODNESS for AMAZING parent volunteers!! On the label of each bin there is a number, and I put a rummage sale dot sticker on each book to match the bin. So if someone finds a #14 book laying around, they know to put it in the #14 bin. Problem solved!

I'm guessing I'm in the extreme minority with a hippo themed room, so I've made my classroom library labels a little more generic as a freebie. It's an editable document, so all you'll have to do is type in what you want each of your bins to be called. The labels fit perfectly in the Really Good Stuff label holders, if you have them. For my bins that don't have these label holders, I just covered the entire label with clear packaging tape.


That's all for now! Hop on over to see Deirdre at A Burst of First for your next classroom organization tip!


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