Are you looking for a way to have some Valentine’s fun while still practicing Math skills? What about an activity that does just that, incorporates writing and promotes good behavior, too? Yes! Use the Valentine’s Day Cards Money Activity to improve and promote good behavior in your classroom while providing students opportunities to practice money, writing and social skills.

Valentine’s Day was always my favorite holiday in school. Getting to decorate our mailboxes (shoeboxes that we decorated at home), selecting the just right Valentine and addressing the cards to classmates, then getting to deliver those Valentines to each mailbox during the day at school and the excitement of opening and reading the Valentines before/during the Valentines party. And it was exciting, because back then, everyone in the class didn’t get the exact same Valentine. In 5th grade, I got 5 Valentines from a certain someone and I was over the moon! 😀
So, I’ve always hated that the rigors of academia has slowly stifled the joy of Valentine’s Day at school … along with so much more, but we won’t talk about that right now. Now Valentine’s Day at school is often a rushed affair where the teachers/parents do most of the “work” and the kids just get another party hosted by a less than thrilled teacher. (And it’s totally not the teacher’s fault … she’s WAY OVERWORKED and WAY UNDER PAID for what she’s asked to do.) And if it isn’t that way in your classroom, then I’ve got 5 special Valentines for your Valentines box! 😉
Valentine’s Day Cards Money Activity
Regardless, I’d like to bring some of that excitement of Valentine’s Day to your students with Valentine’s Day Cards Money Activity. As a result, they could have the opportunity to feel that excitement possibly on a daily basis. What a positive boost that could be to your classroom environment! If you use the Valentine’s Day Cards Money Activity in your classroom, your students can earn the money they need through good behavior to purchase their own Valentines at the Valentines Card store. Next, they decide to whom they’ll give their card to, address the back with a message and who’s it from and then put it into a classroom or individual mailboxes for daily delivery. Almost all students want to get mail, and this will encourage good classroom behavior.
The printable coins that are included, are enlarged to make them easier for students to keep up with. The Valentines Cards Pocketchart Money Activity is a great activity for not only promoting good behavior, but also for practicing counting coins. By displaying the Valentine Cards Store pocketchart where students can see it, students can even save up their coins for a favorite card, which also promotes planning skills. And by deciding who to give their card to and sharing their feelings, they’re interacting with them socially as well.
This file contains:
1 – Valentine’s Day Cards store pocketchart header
1 – Valentine’s Day Cards store example photo
1 pg – blank pricing tags
1 pg – blank self check cards
4 pgs – 8 colored Valentine cards
3 pgs – 8 blackline Valentine cards
1 pg – enlarged colored pennies
1 pg – enlarged colored nickels
1 pg – enlarged colored dimes
1 pg – enlarged colored quarters
To purchase: Valentine’s Day Cards Money Activity
You may also want to take a peek at the K-2 Winter Glyphs. It has a cute, cute Best Friends glyph that would work great for a Valentine’s Day unit or even a Friendship unit … which is a great alternative if you have students who are unable to participate in Valentine’s Day activities. I specifically included two formats of the Best Friends glyph with that scenerio in mind. One more for Valentine’s Day and one more generic. So take a peek!
Friendship Unit Writing Center/Station
I love the idea of doing a Friendship Unit during February and I’ve actually done that inconjuction with a Valentine’s Unit. I was thinking that I needed to clean out my stash of cards: notecards, thank you cards, envelopes, address labels, etc. That stash has accumulated and there are things I’ve outgrown in more than one way. So I had an idea rather than to just throw them away, why not turn them into a Writing Center/Station for a Friendship Unit. (You could use them anytime, but I particulary liked them for the Friendship Unit.) Once the students had written their messages to their classmates, addressed their envelopes if available, drawn on their stamps, then they could put them in a class mailbox or individual student mailboxes if they were available. They could even send cards to you or other school staff if you had a way for it to be delivered. What a surprise for the staff and a great organic way for student writing to take place!

Valentine’s Day or Friendship Unit Books
Love From the Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle
Llama, Llama, I Love You – Anna Dewdney
Splat the Cat: Funny Valentine – Rob Scotton
Pete the Cat: Vatlentine’s Day is Cool – Eric Litwin
The Pout-Pout Fish – Deborah Diesen
The Rainbow Fish – Marcus Pfister
Pinkalicious: Pink of Hearts – Victoria Kann
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose! – Lucille Colandro
The Valentine Bears – Eve Bunting
All for Love – Tasha Tudor
Franklin’s Valentine – Paulette Bourgeois
Biscuit’s Valentine’s Day – Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Valentine’s Day – Gail Gibbons
Arthur’s Valentine’s Countdown – Marc T. Brown
Little Mouse’s Big Valentine – Thacher Hurd
Corduroy’s Valentine Activity Book – Don Freeman
Froggy’s First Kiss – Jonathan London
Valentine’s Day – Anne Rockwell
Olive You!: And Other Valentine Knock-Knock Jokes You’ll A-Door – Katy Hall
A Charlie Brown Valentine (video) – Charles Schulz
The Story of Valentine’s Day – Nancy Skarmeas
Clifford, I Love You – Norman Bridwell
“Bee My Valentine” – Miriam Cohen
The Night Before Valentine’s Day – Natasha Wing
Arthur’s Great Big Valentine – Lillian Hoban
Big Bob and the Magic Valentine’s Day Potato (Hello Reader Lev 3) – Jill Pinkwater
The Valentine Bears – One of my favorite books to use during this unit is The Valentine Bears by Eve Bunting. It’s illustrated by Jan Brett and is a great introduction to bears and hibernation. The Valentine Bears wake up from their winter naps to surprise each other with winter treats!
Strawberry Bag Topper
When Dakota was about 3 years old, I created this Strawberry Bag Topper for her one Valentines Day to go with homemade Valentines cookies. I recently ran across the pictures and thought “hmmm …. that would make a cute Valentine craft”. And here it is. 🙂
Here are the original photos.


Printable version

Download Strawberry Bag Topper HERE.
Don’t forget you can Follow Me @ TpT and join my Email List at the top of the page. Follow Me at TpT to know exactly when new resources hit the store. Join the Email List at the top of this page to get updates on blog posts and freebies. Just make sure you click TEACHER or SCHOOL STUFF ONLY when joining.
Follow Me @
You can also find me on Pinterest.

I love this, Cindy! What an awesome list of trade books, too!
Thanks, Michelle! I’m sorry I’m just now seeing this. For some reason I’m no longer getting notices that I have comments. 🙁
After I posted the Strawberry Bag Topper I immediately thought of an improvement that would take it to the next level! 😀 Of course! So many times I have to see things online , literally, before I can see mistakes or see what improvements need to be made. So weird. So I already have plans for that project for next Valentines!
As always, thanks for your encouragement! <3