I am so ready for January to be over and February to be here. February is a month filled with love and warmth! I love cute Valentine's Day crafts but I know that with everyday demands, fitting in crafts can be a challenge. There are plenty of ways to make crafts educational. In the midst of Valentine's Day excitement, I wanted to share with you some sweet ways to celebrate this lovable holiday. Plus, I wanted to give you a BIG freebie this week! You can grab an entire month's worth of February Phonics Bell Ringers down below.
My second graders are focusing on r-controlled words this month. They are finally ready for this vowel pattern, after months of short vowels. Here are a few sweet ways you can incorporate phonics into fun Valentine's day activities! I did some of these activities with my 2nd graders this week and they loved it!
Heartfelt Word Sorts: Cut out a set of heart-shaped cards, each featuring a word with an 'R'-controlled vowel, or other pattern like vowel teams. Have students sort these words into categories based on the spelling pattern. For example, bird vs. barn. The word bird has -ir while the word barn has -ar. This keeps it super simple with a flair of Valentine's Day love!
Valentine's Rhyme Time: Students love to practice anything educational if it seems fun! Write R-controlled words on heart cards, make sure each word has a rhyming pair. For example, card and hard. Students can match these rhyming words and share their findings with the class. I made a freebie for this activity and posted it to my TpT store. You can grab it here! You can also write rhyming words on your heart cards with any pattern, like cat and bat or maid and paid.
Scavenger Hunt: Begin the month with an exciting scavenger hunt. Create heart-shaped cards with a specific spelling pattern, and hide them around the classroom. As students find each card, have them read aloud the word to the class and identify the pattern.
I created these super cute Phonics Bell Ringers last year. There is a bell ringer for every single day of school in this complete bundle here. I just LOVE this resource, so in the spirit of Valentines Day, I felt I must share an entire month with you! The month of February also targets r-controlled vowels, how perfect! I wrote a whole blog post about the benefit of bell ringers here. You can also grab a freebie from the September Bell Ringers at that post!
Phonics bell ringers are short activities that can be completed in just a few minutes at the beginning of the school day. These activities boost engagement in your classroom while providing you with ongoing student growth data. They also provide opportunities to practice new skills and spiral skills that were previously taught.
I hope you enjoy this sweet and loveable freebie this week! Hope you have a great start to your February, let's ring in the new month with a lot of love and positivity. Happy Teaching!