Reading Spotlight Blog - Little Love Letters

In this era of widespread social media bullying, consider giving students a subtle nudge toward mutual respect and class cooperation.

We often think that behaviors follow attitudes, but the reverse can also be true. Mini prompts toward good relationships have the potential to have a great impact.

 When students are encouraged to find small qualities in their classmates, individual self- esteem and confidence improve, and class cooperation is boosted.

Students, even older students, might be more cooperative than you think in sending little notes of admiration to their classmates.

Here is a fun and helpful class project that I found to be quite successful:

1. I made a Valentine box with hearts and paper doilies to inspire students and, hopefully, show them that I cared enough about this activity to spend time constructing the box. I think the physical presence of this nostalgic Valentine device helped to motivate them.  I ignored initial hems, haws, and grumbles from some of them.
2. We brainstormed complimentary descriptive adjectives about people on the chalkboard, explaining those that needed clarification. We added some adjectives from a thesaurus when we couldn’t think of a sufficient number. (Good modeling, BTW)
3. I encouraged my students to include me when they wrote these Little Love Letters. (I still have them, and it gives me great pleasure still when I look at them. See below.)
4. I insisted that every student write a little signed note for every student in the class. If not completed in class, it was homework. If they were not returned, students used class free time to complete. I gave one extra credit point for each note. (25 extra points, oh my!)
5. I counted and read every note before each was placed in the Valentine box. The box was locked up when not in my sight. Trust, but verify. Happily, my students responded well. They knew meant it when I said I would deduct 2 points for any derogatory note, and of course, I would not allow it to be delivered. I also reminded them that I could identify each student’s handwriting.
6. On a day near Valentine’s Day, we had a round-robin delivery service, some delivering while others read, then vice versa. Moving around the classroom is an stress-relieving activity for students, too.
7. The kids were more cooperative about this project than I imagined they would be. ALL of them. I think everyone, even complainers, has a place in their hearts that feels good when we do something nice for others.
8. This activity was worth every minute of time it took. I loved the smiles in their eyes as they left my classroom after they received their Little Love Letters.

As you can see from the photo below, I originally used pink copy paper that was cut in to four parts. I drew lines on the paper for younger students. Later, I designed a lesson for descriptive adjectives. If you are interested in a no-prep format for this activity, you can find it here:

As a sidelight, these Little Love Letters also provide effective instructional value for both adjectives and character traits.

Little Love Letters

 You might also be interested in a different, fun project for adjectives:

Annie Adjective

Clip Art from: Sparkle in Second

You can find both of them in the

Reading Spotlight Store

Enjoy the smiles!

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Here are some interesting posts about education from my friends at TBOTEMC: