happy valentine's day.

I hope you had an awesome Monday. I'm pretty pleased with CPS, seeing as they gave us the day off school to celebrate Lincoln's birthday. I celebrated by attempting to sleep in (and woke up at 6:45 this morning, urrgg), catching up with friends, catching up on work, grocery shopping, and going to class. I partied hard for Lincoln. How did you celebrate your Monday?

Now, more importantly, tomorrow is Valentine's Day! Can I get a high-five for valentines made with macaroni, sugar highs, red roses, and corny romance movies? I don't personally care for this holiday much, but it's infinitely more fun now that I have students and a whole day to plan valentine-themed activities, games, and songs. Tomorrow in room 104, we'll be baking and decorating heart-shaped cookies, singing songs, reading stories, and passing out treats in the afternoon. You wish you could be there, I know.

Instead of making progress on things like job applications, my IMPACT project, and lesson planning this weekend, I decided to search Pinterest for what to make my students for Valentine's Day. Heart-shaped crayons are all over the internet, so I thought I would give them a try this weekend.

The instructions are pretty simple. You need old crayons, a heart-shaped mold, and an oven. Peel the paper off the crayons and break them up into little pieces. I split mine up into color families. I have seen a few tutorials online that mix all of the colors together for a wild, rainbow crayon. I like the color families. Totally your choice though. Then, you heat your oven to 300 and bake your crayons for 15 minutes. If you're anything like me, you will check the oven every two minutes to make sure it's actually working. Just a heads up, it actually works. Then you take your wonderful, heart-shaped crayons out of the oven, let them cool for about 30 minutes, and ta-da ... you will be the coolest, craftiest person around.

To finish off the valentines for my students, I printed some valentine-themed coloring and matching pages. Overall I think this is a great way to use old crayons, and for students who have difficulty holding a regular crayon or pencil, the heart is easier to grip. Happy crafting! 

As one of my students says almost everyday, it's going to be a busy, busy day. Tomorrow will be a busy day. It will be full of red and pink, sugar, silly songs and activities, and celebrating our classroom community. I hope that your day is full of hearts and happy. I hope that in the midst of class or work, you recognize how deeply loved you are. I hope you slow down tomorrow and reflect on the ways your heart is full; full of love and full of joy and full of life. 

Happy Valentine's Day! How will you celebrate?