Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to bring some festive fun into your classroom while keeping your students engaged in meaningful learning. With science-of-reading-aligned activities, decoding practice, and opportunities to build critical thinking skills, you can make this holiday both enjoyable and educational. Here are some activities and resources that are perfect for February and aligned with structured literacy principles.
Free Valentine’s Day Slide-it, Spell-it Activity
One of my favorite resources to celebrate Valentine’s Day in the classroom is the Slide-It, Spell-It activity. This freebie is perfect for helping students practice phoneme-grapheme mapping in a hands-on way. I found some heart beads on Amazon and knew I had to turn them into a phonemic awareness activity.
- Slide 4-5 beads onto a pipe cleaner.
- Say a word and have your students repeat.
- They will then segment the sounds in the word, sliding one bead with each sound.
You can stop there and use it just as a phonemic awareness activity or you can take it one step further and have students spell the word. They can simply write it on a white board or you can use some of the pre-made pages. Here is an example of one the pages:
This can be used in small groups or it can be a follow-up activity that students work on independently. They will color the hearts to show the number of sounds. Then, they will write the word.
Inferencing Activity: What’s in the Bag?
Bring a little mystery into your Valentine’s Day celebrations with this inferencing activity! Place four Valentine’s Day-themed bags around the room, each containing a secret gift. The outside of each bag has a written clue.
Students will use these clues to make inferences about the contents of the bag.
They’ll write down their inference on their student sheet and list the clues that led them to their guess.
(This photo is from like 2010 so it’s a bit fuzzy! Since then, I’ve updated this to have a decodable option.)
Not only is this activity engaging, but it also develops critical thinking and reading comprehension skills.
Click here to download this activity.
Valentine’s Day Literacy Worksheets
If you’re looking for a comprehensive set of activities to align with the science of reading, check out these Valentine’s Day Literacy Worksheets. With decoding exercises, spelling practice, word work, writing prompts, and decodable reading passages, these worksheets are designed to meet your students where they are and help them grow. They provide structured opportunities to build essential literacy skills while keeping a fun Valentine’s Day theme.
There are also 8 decodable texts. You can download one of them (shown below) for free in the preview!
Some bonus hands-on activities come with these printables! The picture below shows two of them.
There are three pages like the one shown on the left. This activity is great for practicing silent e. There is also a version for short vowels and vowel teams.
The picture on the right is for decoding practice with two-syllable words.
Learn more about this product here.
Interactive Decodable Differentiated Reading Passages
Looking for reading passages that are accessible and engaging for all learners? The Decodable Differentiated Reading Passages for Valentine’s Day are perfect for building fluency and comprehension. Students will read the text, and then build a scene based on what they visualized.
These passages come with differentiated levels, making them an excellent fit for a range of learners in your classroom. The picture below shows the silent e version. There is also an option with just short vowels and another option that is more challenging including bossy r and vowel teams.
Each version also comes with a color option, which is great for small-group or independent center, and a black-and-white worksheet option that students can do independently.
The version with “scoops” helps students work on phrasing. When using it in a small group, I instruct student to “whisper-read” to the end of the scoop, then we reread it together out loud. When we get through all the scoops in the sentence, we reread again, pausing between scoops. This is laying the groundwork for developing prosody, an important component of fluency.
Check this out here.
Get Ready for a Sweet Day of Learning
Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to disrupt your routine—it can enhance it! These activities and resources offer a perfect balance of holiday excitement and academic focus, ensuring your students are engaged and learning while celebrating the season of love. Be sure to grab the freebie and explore the linked resources to make this Valentine’s Day a memorable one in your classroom!
