Candy Heart Stories

Teaching Theme of the Week

from Education World®

Students in grades K-8 write a story that includes the text of the candy conversation hearts you chose.

Subjects: Language Arts, Social Studies

Grade Levels: K-2, 3-5, 6-8

Objectives
Students will:

• write stories that include the text of the candy conversation hearts they chose, and
• use quotation marks properly (if that is a grade-appropriate skill).

Keywords
Valentines Day, valentine, candy, heart, conversation, quotation, quotation marks

Materials Needed

• a bag of Valentine's "conversation heart" candies
• a bowl
• glue (optional)

Procedure
Purchase a bag of "conversation heart" candies. Pour half of the candies into a bowl. Let each student pick out randomly from a bowl five to ten of the candy hearts. If students pick out any duplicate candy phrases, you might have them return the duplicates to the bowl and choose replacements. Then challenge students to write a story that includes in it all of the conversation heart phrases they picked out of the bowl.

Activity Notes

• The number of hearts students choose will be up to you. If you teach primary grade students you might have them choose 5 hearts; older students might choose ten (and if they choose duplicates, you might require them to include the duplicate phrase two times).
   
• The instructions above call for emptying half to candy hearts into a bowl. You might set aside the other half to distribute later as a sweet reward. The reason for setting aside the unused candies is that you won't want students to eat the ones they pull from the bowl since a bunch of other kids' hands have been digging in that bowl too!
   
• Students might glue their conversation hearts to the story in the exact places where they inserted the text of the heart.
   
• If you teach elementary or middle-school students, you might require them to include the conversation heart phrases in a conversation -- proper use of quotation marks required.
   

Assessment
Did students work all the candy heart phrases into their stories? Did the phrases sound natural within the context of the story? You might invite students to share their stories and for their peers to vote privately on their favorite stories.

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